>>106075>MFW Bear Grylls got fired by Discovery.I don't buy the line that it's all about presenting him with the worst case scenarios that you would otherwise avoid, because he never says it's better NOT to do the crazy shit he does.
It would be okay if he gave a few lines on the best, safest course of action (ie the sensible approach), then proceeded to explore what would happen if, through bad luck, those options weren't available to you (ie the entertaining TV approach). But he doesn't. The fucker just dives in headfirst as if that what you're supposed to do, with not even a snatch of information on what you realistically should do.
I remember once he was in the desert with no water, so he decided to climb these fuck-off cliffs in the fuck-off heat, for no good reason. Completely dangerous and wholly gratuitous. The whole sequence was clearly put in there for drama and to show off his action man skillz. The worst part? He could have just walked around them. You could argue that it wouldn't be good television, but I disagree. The other survival shows haven't got that sort of recklessness, but they're still entertaining.
That's what I like about Ray Mears. He never breaks a sweat and he never puts himself in danger. He sits down, thinks things through, uses his knowledge, and doesn't take risks. There was an episode where he talks about what to do if you break down in the desert; stay with the vehicle no matter how tempting it is to walk off into the distance (But he also showed what you could do if you absolutely had to walk in the desert, and it didn't involve leaping across a canyon or eating camel shit).
All of the problems with Grylls' show can be summed up in the title: Man Vs Wild. He acts as if nature is something to be conquered (like a lot of military survivalists). Mears knows the wild is something you don't fight against, but something you use respectfully. It's one of the reasons I tend to prefer civilian bushcraft folks to ex-army types.
