Just saw the viewer special of Survivorman, really let down

[GearedForwards]

I was interested to see it after not getting around to it for a few years now but honestly bleh the whole thing just felt...

Punitive.

The guy is asked to pick two survival items as priority and voices his thought process assumes being with Les... because he came on a show with Les. Then the reveal happens of not getting anything else and it ends up feeling like a gotcha moment for a couple reasons:

-Les has never been that ill equipped, he usually has a few items and then his multitool on top of that , having a random clearly underskilled fan play by tougher rules than he normally does?

-I get the whole 'you can get separated from your partner' thing, I do, but the whole thing about choosing two items completely defeats that. Why would you ever go away from camp/hiking with literally nothing on your person but a hatchet and waterbottle? Could it happen, sure I guess but it's more incredibly unlikely challenge (like the restrictions on Alone contestants) than actual survival simulation like Les wants to produce. Then there's the fact that he isn't separated, he has the reocurring emotional sucker punch of Les telling him repeatedly he's leaving him to twist in the wind, yet telling him he wants to be able to rely on him?

This whole thing just seemed like a set up to show how hard surviving is, but at the expense of the person and realism. Yet when he films with his son (who presumably has a decent amount of skill Les has pressed upon him over the years) it usually looks more like camping than anything else?

When Les did start to more actively help it also felt like he just made things worse honestly, that guy was never going to push forwards through a horrendous swamp (or probably choose it on his own) without Les deciding and leading the way.

This wasn't a teaching exercise, it was just uncomfortable to watch and that made me a little sad, I love the show 

[Chako]

I have not seen it...but not overly surprised. I lost interest in him when he did that series about Bigfoot a while back.

What you stated sounds like something Bear would do. 

[GearedForwards]

I have not seen it...but not overly surprised. I lost interest in him when he did that series about Bigfoot a while back.

What you stated sounds like something Bear would do. 

I've not seen one of Bear's shows since he first got big, like 14/15 years ago? 

Now that you mention it the extremeness of it did seem more Bear than Les, it was unnecessarily tough for what it was...

[pfrsantos]

[dks]

Bear - Promotes Gerber, uses Gerber.
Les - promotes Camillus, uses Leatherman

[dks]

I guess that could be an interesting topic as well- Bear Grylls versus Les Stroud...

On the one hand we have a sensationalist with good tools that he rarely uses, and on the other hand we have a proper survivalist that rents his name up to whomever comes to his door with a spare dollar or two.   
..................................

Def

from an older thread

[Aloha]

At whatever point in their careers it clearly became a business.  By that I mean it was and is about money. 

[Chako]

For everyone, it always is. Got to make a living somehow. 

[GearedForwards]

Les is reaping the benefits now he has been publishing all of the content on his YT channel, the pandemic brought him a resurgance in popularity.

Overall I like his content a lot (disclaimer: I haven't seen the bigfoot series), it was just jarring to see such hypocrisy for shock value when I'm sure fans and that guy in particular would have been waiting almost a decade for a chance like that.

[dks]

I find both entertaining  - Les when he interacts with other people and Bear in general