SURVIVORMAN?

I've received quite a few emails about this TV program "Survivorman", and I finally purchased the 1st season on DVD.

The show features a guy named Les Stroud who puts himself in some quasi-realistic survival situations where he must live off the land and find his way out. All of these quests magically last exactly one week. It's uncanny how he always wanders out precisely on day 7. Aside from this glaringly obvious flaw, the show is okay at times.

Les has some skills... I grant him that. BUT, as an educational tool, his show falls VERY short in the common sense department. What can I say about Les Stroud? I think he’s a dangerous guy for quite a few reasons. One problem is that he tries to use all his skills in every outing, yet has never once stressed any sort of prioritization. If he has any priorities, they are WAY OFF.

He doesn't stress the rule of threes, and thus often creates even more dangerous situations than necessary. He does things that you should NEVER DO in survival situations. In short, if people watch "Survivorman" and the only survival information they have is what they learn from him, he could kill those people.

Below you'll find just a few examples of the issues I have with this program.

I have watched Les Stroud...
This list is off the top of my head. It is by no means a complete list !

...drink water directly from a jungle stream.   No boiling, no filter, he just stuck his head in and drank his fill. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. But then again, Les KNOWS he's going to get rescued at the end of his stay, right?

...eat a wild mushroom in a field in the Canadian mountains.  This is a great way to DIE, and for what? A mushroom has almost ZERO calories or vitamins. They are 99% air and water. Most are poisonous. Mushrooms are NOT WORTH IT! Even if Les is an expert on mushrooms, he should have edited this scene out! Les was simply showing off for the camera. And he was doing so at the possible expense of the lives of any viewer who tries to imitate him.

...build what would otherwise be decent shelters, except that he stops piling on brush after a few inches of cover. Not enough to shield from rain or wind, never mind hold in any body heat. I think Les is worried about killing plants.

...wander into a jungle or forest to "find his way out" of places he entered by water. Gee Les, why not just follow the river or coastline back the way you came? Is it that it wouldn't make for good TV? It's fine to be entertaining, but not at the expense of giving bad advice.

...waste hours making the shittiest slingshot I've ever seen.  Why not emphasize simple hunting tools that actually work? We all know the answer to this one. Les's heart bleeds for every critter he kills, and he's constantly railing on about environmental crap. Not something people who are struggling to survive should be worried about!

...waste hours making the worst figure 4 trap I've ever seen only to forget to bait it. Was this an oversight? Is the reason that he's never built one, or is the real reason that he doesn't want to actually catch anything? (don't want to harm those animals!).

...opine about not hurting plants and animals, and in the same episode he's worried about bears eating him!   You can't make this stuff up. This last one was perhaps the most disgusting display of shrub cuddling being prioritized over survival that I’ve ever seen.

Go ahead and enjoy "Survivorman", but just remember that this is NOT an educational program. As I said, Les DOES seem to know what he’s doing... and what he’s doing is making sit-coms!