September 26th, 2005

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Television
5 Comments »

Survivorman is Dead Cool

There are very few shows that I’ll stop and watch when channel surfing (then why am I channel surfing? Good question). One such show is Survivorman, a one-man documentary about surviving in extreme environments:

Airing on The Science Channel in the U.S., and The Outdoor Life Network in Canada, each episode finds Survivorman Les Stroud abandoned in a remote location. He carries little more than the clothes on his back – and his cameras. Les not only needs to survive for a week without supplies, but he has to film everything himself, lugging over fifty pounds of camera gear the entire time. The Costa Rican rainforest, Arctic ice-flows, Georgian swamp and the high Sonora desert include a few locales where Les has overcome seemingly impossible obstacles.

It’s like Survivor without the bitchiness and goofy games. It’s compelling television, as he tries to build shelters and fires, collect water and find food all by himself. After the first day, there’s no camera crew–just the host and the elements. It’s pretty educational, and certainly will be valuable watching should I ever, you know, get lost in the jungle.

Comments: 5 Responses so far

Chris
September 27th, 2005
1:55 am

It sounds like a take on a guy that should be a British Institution, Ray Mears. Whilst from m understanding, Survivorman is just an average guy battling for survival, Ray can be dropped anywhere on the planet with just his trusty knife and the guy doesn’t just survive, he creates a palacial living space. He appears has an encyclopedic knowledge of what will and wont kill him, should it be labelled as potential dinner.

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richard
September 27th, 2005
3:34 pm

It’s an excellent show; I added it to my Myth recording schedule, and love it.

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Myles
September 27th, 2005
8:03 pm

Definitely one of my favourite shows. It was neat to see him set up a trap using flat rocks to get some sort of ground squirrel in the New Mexico desert and then find artifact examples of the same thing from the aboriginal people that used to live there.
Another favourite was when he tried to make it in the Arctic and there was a running total of calories needed per day and the deficit of needed calories. Something like 6000 Kcal/d needed.

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Ed
October 8th, 2005
12:46 pm

Thank you for finally putting something worth watching on T.V,I play around with survial methods alot, I’ved learned a few things you will never know how much I appreciacte the reality of what your doing,please keep it up

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L woodard
October 16th, 2005
3:11 pm

Survivorman is the best show on T.V. It,s about time to find a real show,not staged!

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