I would have pegged him at 5’ 8", tops.
You eccentric Englishmen…
I had no idea that he was the new Chief Scout.
Goddamn locals.
Also, he told Will Ferrell it was his sister who nicknamed him “Bear.” His real name is Ed! True story!
My opinion on the whole Les vs. Bear thing is well known, but frankly the most embarrassing thing is that he would choose Marmaduke as a cartoon with which to associate his child forever. It’s like wanting to name your kid after a city, and choosing Gary, Indiana. Marmaduke is what The Family Circus mocks for being unfunny.
H.
Did the two of them then have a brief argument about whether or not something the one was carrying constituted a knife, with the other offering material evidence to clarify the conundrum?
Maybe I’m misreading you, but these seem like opposites, not equivalents. Marmaduke is intrinsically linked to the comic, while Gary is an extremely common name.
This. Watching Les’s show is the cure-all for insomnia.
Between Les and Bear, I’m not sure who I’d rather get stuck in the woods with. Bear will probably get you killed more quickly, but Les is a tiresome bore. I think I’d choose Bear.
Oddly enough, my six-year-old son loves to watch Bear Grylls, and frankly I find the show pretty entertaining myself. Grylls is a crazy sonofabitch, for certain - his dietary habits would put Andrew Zimmern to shame.
I didn’t realize Qt3 was packed with such speed freaks and adrenaline junkies. I find both shows equally entertaining and compelling. The reality of Les’ show is what works for me, while the contrived high stakes and insanity of Bear’s stuff makes it easy to overlook the how planned much of it seems. If Les doesn’t catch food, he goes hungry. There’s been a number of times Bear has failed to catch an animal and so one is given to him. However, then he’s forced to wrestle it to death or drink the water in its entrails and stuff himself in its carcass. Was any of that really necessary? Nope, but it’s still ridiculous and awesome.
I dunno, I think you guys are missing the essential comedy of Les Stroud. Part of the joy of survivorman is watching him work so hard and fail at everything that he does.
Look, here’s my shelter and fire!/Oh crap, the fire burnt my shelter down!
Here’s my collection of deadfall traps!/Damn, they’re empty, I’m really hungry now!
Well, Man vs Wild has a very clear disclaimer at the start that says that they set up situations for Bear so that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Oh, it’s not a surprise. And it feels like since they added that disclaimer it’s really freed them up to do even more insane stuff. They don’t even have to pretend anything is recommended or necessary anymore.
I do wish there was even a bit more transparency. Seeing the contrast between him free climbing and the crew on mountain rigging as you see in the behind the scenes stuff is fascinating. You think, “Is that really as dangerous as you looks?” Then you see the amount of safety gear the crew are using and you realize, yup, that’s pretty dangerous.
Agreed - Bear drinking his own urine out of a hollowed-out snake corpse? Sold. And the ‘urban survival’ episode in Eastern Europe - all that climbing stuff in the abandoned factory made me queasy.
My favorite was when he went dog sledding, broke into an emergency cabin for stranded people, ate all of the dogs’ food and then lost the dogs before having to be evacuated by helicopter. It was a failure of such extraordinary proportions, I was surprised they even aired it.
Les Stroud’s show always was about worst-case scenarios, which is what most people WOULD experience if they were alone in the wild. Bear Grylls’ show is all about how an action figure might survive in a cartoon world where things miraculously work out for the best.
My favorite Grylls fraud is where he was crossing some treacherous lava fields that turned out to be about 100 yards from a major highway.
Yeah, the more recent seasons have much scarier antics. I’m always terrified when he goes spelunking. I can’t remember where he was, but once he was exploring a cave, trying to squeeze through this tiny hole into an area he had no idea how deep it was or if it lead anywhere or if it would be possible to get back up. And then I thought for sure he was just going to get stuck. That one made me ill.
I can’t remember where he was, but once he was exploring a cave, trying to squeeze through this tiny hole into an area he had no idea how deep it was or if it lead anywhere or if it would be possible to get back up.
I don’t know how to break it to you, but he knew exactly how deep it was and if it lead somewhere. It’s fiction.
The back story may be (can’t say for sure) but he’s still in the cave, doing the climbing, potentially getting stuck.
That just sounds stupid.