allegations and confirmed instances of
fakery have surrounded the production of
man vs. wild over the years and there
are even some things Bear Grylls and his
producers have admitted to making up so
if you ever thought the show was
unbelievable
you were right let's take a look at all
the reasons man vs. wild is totally fake
although Bear Grylls claims to be a
survival and bushcraft expert a closer
examination shows he wasn't closely
involved in that world before starting
his show which isn't to say he's
completely clueless Grylls was in the
military as a member of the UK's Special
Air Service for three years and as part
of that unit he was trained in combat
survival skills but Grylls didn't come
to prominence for his military exploits
before his big TV break with man vs.
wild in 2006 he became famous for his
widely publicized adventures including
climbing Mount Everest at age 23
crossing the North Atlantic and an
inflatable boat and hosting a dinner
party in a hot-air balloon at 25,000
feet while these were no doubt ruling
experiences they don't necessarily
qualify somebody to be a survival expert
when you compare Grylls his resume to
those a fellow TV survival hosts Ray
Mears and Les Stroud it becomes clear
that his experience pales in comparison
to theirs Mears has taught bushcraft
skills since 1983 to both private
citizens and the military
similarly Stroud has served as a
wilderness survival instructor since
1990 and teaches survival skills to the
Canadian military so while Grylls may
look cool when he heads into the wild
he's not necessarily the one you want
keeping you alive out there
the premise of man vs. wild is one man
alone against the elements but on
several occasions those elements involve
four walls and a roof along with room
service according to survival experts
who worked for the show while filming an
episode in the Sierra Nevada mountains
Grylls enjoyed the nightly hospitality
of the pines resort that past Lake a
modern lodge resorts offering two
on-site restaurants a spa and other
amenities during another episode Grylls
was supposedly stranded on a desert
island that turned out to actually be
Hawaiian archipelago where he again
spent his nights in a local hotel
sometimes
right some guys you gone on I Ont pan
back on many occasions grills has
presented dubious survival techniques
that are actually usable in real life
while filming one episode in a
sweltering locale grills claimed that
you could squeeze and drink water out of
elephant dung Survivorman star and
bushcraft instructor Les Stroud who has
filmed several episodes of his show
among elephants went on record during
the reddit AMA to debunk that technique
he wrote it is not possible to squeeze
drinkable water out of elephant dung
well it is when your cameraman is soaked
it with bottled water in a real survival
situation many of the techniques that
Grylls casually Illustrated on man
versus wild could actually endanger
people and we're not even going to get
into the urine drinking incidents the
worst is even simpler than that
the two dangerous moves that Grylls most
frequently demonstrated on his show
involved hurrying to cross through
dangerous terrain and getting himself
wet when he doesn't have to for those
familiar with the show you know Grylls
hardly ever walked anywhere particularly
when he was on the mountain instead he
ran jumped leapt and swung his way down
cliffs mountain sides and crevices that
may work for a video game hero but in a
true survival situation any injury could
drastically decrease your chances of
making it out alive
a simple broken ankle miles from
civilization could be a death sentence
the smart move is to take your time
finding the safest route it may take
longer but it'll help keep you alive if
you're really in the wild on your own
girls also seems to make a point of
getting wet at every opportunity
he's repelled with vines down waterfalls
gone for swims across frigid Arctic
waters and gone down River Rapids on a
pile of plastic tarp and branches he
called a raft beyond the very real
danger of drowning in such situations or
injuring yourself in a slip or fall
getting wet in the wild is one of the
worst things you can do
hypothermia occurs when the body's core
temperature drops three degrees or more
from normal and it can set in extremely
quickly especially when you're wet on
numerous occasions former crew members
have alleged that entire scenes on man
vs. wild were faked for the viewing
audience in one example a wild mustang
that Grylls attempted to catch and ride
in one episode was really a tame animal
rented from a local trekking lodge in
another episode Grylls leaped OH
chasm of flowing lava which was actually
an illusion created by hot coals lighter
fluid and a smoke machine in another
episode Grylls is shown constructing a
bamboo raft it was later revealed that a
hired expert and the show's crew
actually built the raft for Grylls
before dismantling it so he could be
shown reassembling it on camera after
controversy emerged in 2008 over the
show's less than honest presentation
Grylls and Discovery both apologized for
the fakery deployed on the show girls
told the BBC if people felt misled on
how the first series was represented I'm
really sorry for that the Discovery
Channel only went so far as to admit
that small isolated elements of the show
were fabricated promising viewers that
future seasons would be more transparent
to fulfill that promise a disclaimer was
added at the beginning of each episode
to acknowledge the occasional use of
support crews or fabricated situations
but as much as they tried to diminish it
the message is still the same you just
shouldn't trust what you see on this
show
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