Bear Grylls - Gerber Spokesman

[Landrew]

I've been noticing a few threads about Bear Grylls with regards to Gerber products, and I couldn't resist weighing in.  Grylls as Gerber's spokesman is probably the biggest reason the Gerber portion of my personal collection is so small in comparison to other brands.

The ridiculous and sometimes dangerous survival advice, such as drinking one's own urine or eating weeks-old carrion in combination with staged, unrealistic survival scenarios, could put someone dangerously at risk who seriously considers using some of the survival tactics put forward in the TV series.

I have nothing against Gerber products, which are generally quite excellent, but I question the wisdom of appointing someone as their spokesman who deliberately rubs mud on his face for no apparent reason, therefore I will continue to boycott their products until they rectify their error.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

You need to realise the programmes are not meant to be educational - it's merely sensationalism because that sell programmes, DVDs, books and yes tools. From that perspective he's the best in the biz, because no one else would be insane enough to do what he does. He pretty much admits as much in his autobiography which is an excellent read.

Don't deny yourself the pleasure of trying out new tools just because you don't appreciate a TV producers particular style of making a living. Bear gets a lot of flak, but only part of it is justified  The rest of it should be attributed to the faceless wonders who are making even more money off his sensationalism than he is and turning him into a marketable brand

[dks]

The topic of the best TV survival expert comes up quite often, surprisingly  .
As 50Ft said it is just entertainment.
I know a lot of people go moist just thinking about Les Stoud but from a TV watching point of view I find him very boring in the shows that he is alone; much better in the shows that he interacts with tribes etc.

People who are interested in survival will not expect to learn their skills from the TV.

As for the branded tools endorced by Bear or Les or whatever (or Jamie Oliver frying pans    ) I do not own any but they seem to be as good as the regular stuff the companies sell, with the extra "tweek" added by the endorcer.

[Landrew]

The topic of the best TV survival expert comes up quite often, surprisingly  .
As 50Ft said it is just entertainment.
I know a lot of people go moist just thinking about Les Stoud but from a TV watching point of view I find him very boring in the shows that he is alone; much better in the shows that he interacts with tribes etc.

People who are interested in survival will not expect to learn their skills from the TV.

As for the branded tools endorced by Bear or Les or whatever (or Jamie Oliver frying pans    ) I do not own any but they seem to be as good as the regular stuff the companies sell, with the extra "tweek" added by the endorcer.

The big difference is that Les Stroud is trying to provide valuable survival training to the casual viewer. Even though some of his tactics are questionable, his intent is clearly to help people survive in the wild.

Bear Grylls on the other hand should not make the pretense of providing serious survival advice, when he is clearly providing entertainment. As such, he should get off the fence, and either stick to reality, or jump off the cliff into pure entertainment, where the more ridiculous the scenario, the more entertaining.

[AimlessWanderer]

They (not he) opted to make those programmes "edgier" with their way of doing it, because if they played the wise and cautious approach, everyone would be bored to tears and he'd have disappeared into the background by now. As a result he's one of the most talked about in his field (whether for the "right" reasons or not) - so from their perspective - it worked!

Bottom line is take everything you see in the media with a pinch of salt - news, entertainment and particularly anything deemed as educational. Their primary aim is making money, NOT providing the best impartial information with an ecclectic mindset, and their two best used tools for doing this are fear and sensationalism.

[dks]

Les also tries to provide entertainment. He is just not very entertaining. It is TV, not the Army (Or the Malls  ).
Les idea of just sitting there waiting may be worse than Bear's one of trying to escape quickly. If Les had a crew with him so that he did not have to do everything twice, one for the camera, one for real (how realistic is this; going down a cliff twice) then his SOLO shows would have been more entertaining.

There is enough survival material in both shows, as well as in other similar shows, for anybody who intends to learn from them; just skip the weird bits.
However their purpose is to keep me amused with the energy and topics they cover, not to train me.
Despite Les’s Demi-god status there is no suggestion that he will be able to survive more than Bear; they are both good enough and better than most of us and good to have with you in real bad situation.

As 50ft suggested, have a look at Bear’s book.
For the serious survivalist they have both written speSmurfpillsed books etc. They also both endorse products that seem OK.


EDIT: just saw 50ft posted before me 

[SAKnight]

While what you say is correct, i still love BG because of how awesome he actually is, i mean falling 16000 feet then climbing Everest, is very impressive

*edit*   this post was more relevant when i typed it, last night... 

[Syph007]

Ya the show makes him look like a tool.  Which is sad if he is actually a knowledgeable person.  But then again, he probably got paid alot, and Id probably 'sell out' too if someone drove a truck full of money over too me.  Then again, they cancelled his show so maybe they got tired of that style of show.

As for a spokesman for a product though I totally agree that his image is not one Id want associated with something of mine.  I really dont like Gerber stuff though so using him doenst effect my view of their tools at all, as I dont like them with or without his BG logo on it. 

[Gareth]

I've got somewhat conflicting views on the whole Bear Grylls thing.  First of; I've not bought any gear with his name on it, I really do feel he's done his reputation near irreparable harm with his early shows.  Lets be honest, he out and out lied about what was going on (set-up situations, fake bear attacks, "wilderness" locations right next to highways etc).  Now that he's been caught out and is more honest about how the programme is made I have less of an issue.

Sadly though I also feel that his advice is often crazy, taking risks that could easily get him injured if not killed outright.  Taking these risks is OK if you have a film crew that can call in an evac if things go wrong, but as a supposed survival advice??   The argument that it is all in the name of "entertainment" really doesn't convince me either, it's certainly not how the early series were marketed and watching some of his more recent stuff hasn't convinced me that the message is being made clear enough, if at all.

None of this has stopped me buying Gerber gear though, just the stuff with his name on it.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Regardless of what you think of his show, the man himself has a hell of a record.  He was in the SAS, which are some of the toughest buggers on the planet. You don't get that by being a phony.  He had his back broken following a bad jump from an aircraft, and he recovered almost completely, and that's a hard one to fake.  He climbed Everest and survived, despite several in his party who were more experienced than him not making it.

The show is simple entertainment, and yes, if one follows his advice then chances are they will end up getting splattered somewhere.  However, if you think that Bear Grylls' show is going to teach you how to survive then you might as well get yourself a semi auto pistol and some flippers and start calling yourself a Navy SEAL.

As for Gerber using him to sell tools, well, it works.  The tools that bear his name (other than the Suspension, which was done under odd circumstances and not actually authorized by Bear) are actually pretty good.  I give credit to Les for what he does, but I'd rather have the Gerber made Bear Grylls knife going into the woods than the Les Stroud Camillus abominations.  Gerber is making good knives and tools and that's what matters more than whose name is on them.

Def

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[Taxi Dad]

oh dear me i think i agree with everything 50ft-trad said 
So if you don't like Bear don't watch it !
anyone who thinks he's a survival instructor and you should follow his advice is probably not going to survive long enough to p**** me off , or cause me any harm 
oh and good luck doing it if you're not super fit, or if you want to do it all in 'one take'.
As for him 'faking' , he may 'fake' some of it but that elephant poo looked real to me,and those insects and the water he jumps into has ice in it so i'm guessing that WAS cold, so kudos to him  (he's making a living)
If you do the 'sensible' thing in a survival situation it would be very boring TV , hours of not making things worse by doing nothing but waiting. waiting for day light, waiting for rescue, waiting for the rain to stop or the storm to pass ! not a rating winner 
I watch wayyy to much TV, and love ALL the 'survival experts' and their shows ... we need more of them i doubt i will ever go to most of these places let alone have to use the skills taught by TV gurus , if i was going there i think i'd get a 'local' to show me the ropes and not count on Bear, Les, Cody or Rambo... or even youtube 

[Gareth]

You may know that his advice is poor, I know his advice is poor, but a lot of folks don't.   Doesn't make them stupid, just they know no better.  My issue is that young and impressionable guys watching the show think "cool, that looks great".  I know because I've met them and had to stop a couple of them doing something really, really foolish.  

By the way, I truly hope the Elephant poo thing was faked.  'Cos to me it sounds like a perfect way to get very, very sick.  I also know at least one of the cold water swims was 'faked' in as much as he was wearing a flesh toned dry suit when he did it.  I had a very interesting chat to one of the guys who worked on the first series and lent him the suit.

Sorry if I am coming across a bit grumpy about this, I really don't mean too.  Normal, cheery service will resume shortly.

[Taxi Dad]

Sorry if I am coming across a bit grumpy about this, I really don't mean too.  Normal, cheery service will resume shortly.

you don't come across as 'grumpy' mate 
GRUMPY is my middle name ! I've reached that wonderful stage in life where it's expected of me 

[Syph007]

You may know that his advice is poor, I know his advice is poor, but a lot of folks don't.   Doesn't make them stupid, just they know no better.  My issue is that young and impressionable guys watching the show think "cool, that looks great".  I know because I've met them and had to stop a couple of them doing something really, really foolish.  

That's exactly my feeling about it.  Ive only seen a handful of the shows and that was enough for me.  But when you get 'advice' like.. I like to test an axe for sharpness scraping across my tongue or whatever survival info he has, its not good information, nor entertainment to me.  Its completely irrelevant to me if he has real knowledge, if he doenst share it on the show, then hies just an actor in a ridiculous show.

I like Les, but hes not my fav of the tv people either. I am a ray mears fan though, as at least I feel he portrays the proper ideal for me, of how one is supposed to interact with nature.  And it was with his example that I finally learned how to do a proper friction fire. 

Oh but the one Bear does is great too, 3 rubs of a stick and magically some coals from a campfire appear on the surface he's 'bearing' on.  So somehow a pile of dust transform themselves into hardwood coals!  Just like real life.

[Gareth]

Sorry if I am coming across a bit grumpy about this, I really don't mean too.  Normal, cheery service will resume shortly.

you don't come across as 'grumpy' mate 
GRUMPY is my middle name ! I've reached that wonderful stage in life where it's expected of me 

You only say that 'cos you can't see the look on my face.

 

[Landrew]

They (not he) opted to make those programmes "edgier" with their way of doing it, because if they played the wise and cautious approach, everyone would be bored to tears and he'd have disappeared into the background by now. As a result he's one of the most talked about in his field (whether for the "right" reasons or not) - so from their perspective - it worked!

Bottom line is take everything you see in the media with a pinch of salt - news, entertainment and particularly anything deemed as educational. Their primary aim is making money, NOT providing the best impartial information with an ecclectic mindset, and their two best used tools for doing this are fear and sensationalism.

I agree with most of what you say, except for one big exception:
Doing "what works" is not always "doing right." It's much easier to get some things done without integrity than with, but doing things the hard way is usually the only way to achieve excellence.  It's a sign of character not to compromise one's integrity just to get results.  It speaks volumes about Gerber if their spokesman takes a lot of shortcuts along the way.

[dks]

Seriously, we are now questioning Bear's and Gerbers integrity?
What about "Camillus" and Les... Leatherman and the OHT... , various knife companies etc. I assume we should only buy from companies with 100% integrity, according to whatever standard you want to use for that
... that leaves out just about every company.
If you do not like a show or a product do not buy it or watch it.
Reminds me of children trying to jump from buildings and blaming the superheroes for that.

I just buy a product based on what it does rather than on who uses it.

It is a TV show, some people like it some do not. There are plenty of shows to keep everybody happy.

[Taxi Dad]

 

[Landrew]

Seriously, we are now questioning Bear's and Gerbers integrity?
What about "Camillus" and Les... Leatherman and the OHT... , various knife companies etc. I assume we should only buy from companies with 100% integrity, according to whatever standard you want to use for that
... that leaves out just about every company.
If you do not like a show or a product do not buy it or watch it.
Reminds me of children trying to jump from buildings and blaming the superheroes for that.

I just buy a product based on what it does rather than on who uses it.

It is a TV show, some people like it some do not. There are plenty of shows to keep everybody happy.

There can be no quality without integrity, and quality is what this forum is all about, otherwise we'd all buy the Chinese knock-offs instead.

[Gareth]

That's a very black and white view of things I'd say.  Do I like Bear Grylls' shows?  No, not much.  Do I think that somehow affects Gerber's build quality?  Not in the least.

[dks]

There are several good Chinese products too.
Obviously if you do not want for whatever reason to buy or watch something it is up to you.
Quality is very objective. Do a search and you will see that all tools will have their bad points and their good points, their fans and their haters.

Regarding what these forums are about, the main object is to discuss all tools (Chinese, American, Swiss etc) and allow people to form and express their opinions freely. Stick around a bit more and you will get a good taste of what Multitool.org is all about...... 

[Lynn LeFey]

Let me stray a bit closer possibly to the OP with this comment. I recently got the Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Pack. Not because of the name, but in spite of it. I also hear the BG mini MT is pretty good, both from what I've heard and experience with similar Gerber products.

I would have preferred more orange and less grey in the coloration. I had a bad experience of losing a camouflage flashlight in the underbrush once, and zero need of tacticool black, So I like my gear to scream HERE I AM at me.

They really need to get the Mythbusters to endorse Leatherman tools. I'd buy a Buster Blaze Orange Wave.

Gerber makes some decent stuff. Ignore the marketing and take the tools at their value, nothing more or less.

I don't give a smurf that Gunny endorses SOG stuff. It has zero impact on my interest in their stuff. I don't care what vic McGuyyer carries, or what kind of ammo Stallone is shooting in his newest flick. Ignore the hype. Focus on function.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't think you'll see a Mythbusters Leatherman any time soon. They have each used Leathermans, SOGs and SwissTools and Jamie is also very much against branding.  In fact he usually carries a Spirit in a Leatherman sheath.

I also read an article a few years ago in Popular Mechanics (or maybe it was Popular Science) with Jamie talking about a Fenix light he has. It wasn't a big name at the time and he bought it because it did what he wanted and he liked it better than all the big names out there.

In short, I don't think the name matters- to paraphrase Bruce Lee, keep what works, discard what doesn't.  I don't recall ever using a brand name to fix something.

Def

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[Pacu]

[Gareth]

 

[Northern Geek]

My biggest problem with the Bear Gear (I love the show to be honest.. but I do know that it's plenty staged and faked.. but it's bloody entertaining and Bear's a fun guy) is the design of them. I feel like I'd be a walking Bear/Gear advertisement if I used one.

I've been tempted by the plain edge ultimate survival knife since they fixed the issues with the pommel for instance since it seems like a nice fixed blade that come with some nice goodies like the firesteel and the sharpener and so on. Just wish they'd tone down the logos a bit.. Might still buy one though.

So, bottom line for me, I find the show really entertaining and Bear's charming and fun to watch so I enjoy it and some of their gear seems nice enough to buy. (Some of it make me wonder though.. like that grandfather knife..)

[jets1230]

I just buy gerber with usa on it not BG. Dont care for peoples names on anything but my check on payday,not theres

[Landrew]

I have less of a problem with a reputable company like Fiskars utilizing offshore production, while ensuring high quality standards. My problem is with the backdoor knockoffs that get presented as reasonable alternatives to the original concept.

[Pacu]

Prob is as with a lot of companies you gotta rummage around to find the good stuff in a sea of smurf merchandise. Gerber, SOG, Craftsman still make some good stuff but it's hidden behind a wall of thrown together junk for the masses.


At Academy early today i see what Northern Geek is saying about the Gerber-Grylls logos. Tone it down a bit Gerber..geez. 

[Northern Geek]

At Academy early today i see what Northern Geek is saying about the Gerber-Grylls logos. Tone it down a bit Gerber..geez.

Well yeah.. right?

It's pretty bad when it makes a fan of the guy think twice about buying it.