Man vs. Wild

Man vs. Wild is a survival television series on the Discovery Channel hosted by Bear Grylls. The series is produced by British television production company Diverse Bristol. The show premiered on November 10 2006 after airing a pilot episode entitled The Rockies on October 27 2006. The program follows Grylls as he survives harsh conditions with minimal resources and finds his way back to civilization. The series is currently airing on Channel 4 in the UK and Discovery Channel Europe as Born Survivor: Bear Grylls.^[1] Grylls is currently filming for the next season.

Man vs. Wild
File:Man vs. Wild title screen.jpg Man vs. Wild title screen
Starring	Bear Grylls
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	9 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	45 Minutes
Original release
Network	Discovery Channel
Release	November 10 2006 – Present

Man vs. Wild shows Grylls purposefully demonstrating more extreme methods of survival in harsh conditions. The program has shown him eating raw meat and live fish, staving off hypothermia after intentionally jumping in a frozen lake, and drinking the fluids of elephant feces for hydration. The format of this show is similar to that of Survivorman, with the exception being that Survivorman is recorded by the host, while Grylls travels with a two-man camera crew during daylight. Grylls contends that the crew is "under very strict instructions not to get involved or help" unless he is in a fatal situation.^[2]

The series accentuates the dramatic aspects of wilderness survival, as Grylls goes out of his way to demonstrate techniques usually required only under extremely dire circumstances. In advertisements for the upcoming Season Two of Man vs. Wild, the screen shows a disgusted Grylls eating an enormous grub while the announcer states, "Does Bear Grylls really need to do these things? Probably not. But you might." ^[3]

Season One

1. Rocky Mountains - Pilot - (October 27, 2006)
2. Moab Desert – (November 10 2006):
   Bear Grylls demonstrates how to survive a situation like that of someone who got lost in the desert. He is left in the harsh Moab Desert in Utah, in 110 degree temperatures, and goes about finding food, water, shelter and shows how to use the flow of rivers as tools to find civilization.
3. Costa Rican Rain Forest – (November 17 2006):
   Bear parachutes into the Osa Peninsula to demonstrate how someone lost in the jungle can make it to civilization. He encounters snakes, mosquitoes and dangerous river currents, while searching for food and water and setting up camp.
4. Alaskan Mountain Range – (November 24 2006)
5. Mount Kilauea - Hawaii (December 1 2006)
6. Sierra Nevada – (December 8 2006)
7. African Savanna – (December 15 2006):
   Bear skydives into North Kenya to face the dangerous landscape of African brushland. He encounters lions, elephants and hyenas on his trek to find civilization.
8. European Alps – France (December 22 2006)
9. Deserted Island – (December 29 2006):
   Bear emulates what it would be like to be stranded on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. He demonstrates how to make shelter, find food, get hydrated and ultimately, after resources run out, to make a raft and try to be rescued on the high seas.

Season Two ^[4]

1. Everglades - (June 15 2007):
   With one million alligators, thousands of snakes and even black bears, these waterlogged lands of South Florida have many hazards. Bear Grylls demonstrates how to keep the alligators at bay, deal with vicious razor-sharp sawgrass, and find stomach-churning food that will keep you alive if you found yourself stranded in this beautiful but deadly tourist destination.
2. Iceland - (June 22 2007) :
   Bear Grylls demonstrates how to survive the extreme cold and windiness of Iceland. Among other things, he creates a snow shelter, and snares birds.
3. Mexico - Copper Canyon - (June 29 2007)
4. Kimberly, Australia - (July 6 2007)
5. Ecuador - (July 13 2007)
6. Scotland - Cairngorms - (July 20 2007)

Survival techniques

File:Bear-Quicksand.png

Grylls demonstrates escaping from quicksand.

• Glissading down a glacier using a broken ski pole
• Using trousers as a flotation device by tying off the leg holes to trap air
• Climbing up a tree to survey the land
• Hunting a rabbit with a throwing stick
• Soaking his shirt in urine and using it as a headdress to cool down in the desert
• Crawling over two ropes suspended above a deep chasm (Tyrolean traverse), with only improvised safety equipment (paracord wrapped around rope and secured to parachute harness)
• Making scrambled raven eggs by cracking the egg open onto a flat rock in the desert heat
• Rubbing feces on his face to prevent sunburn
• Drinking water squeezed from elephant dung
• Using a length of knotted rope (weighted down at one end with his pack) as a self arresting device to stop from falling down into a crevasse.
• Climbing up a knotted rope using Prusik loops
• Using a hammerstone to make a disc knife from flint
• Making a pair of snow shoes from branches and parachute cords
• Removing clothes to swim more easily, or to prevent hypothermia while wet in cold climates
• Making a torch from kukui nuts
• Fashioning a raft from bamboo and palm fronds
• Using coconut oil to avoid sunburn and dehydration from sea spray
• Using a scratch-built fishing rod to catch a surgeonfish while adrift
• Using aloe leaves on a cut
• Tying shoelaces together for a foothold to climb an otherwise unclimbable tree
• Scavenging and eating the raw flesh of a zebra carcass

See also

• Survivorman
• Ray Mears (author)
• Tom Brown (naturalist)
• Les Hiddins, the Bush tucker man

References

1. Bear Grylls' Official Site: Latest News. Retrieved on November 30 2006
2. Discovery Channel: Man vs. Wild: Live Chat, Page 3 Retrieved on January 25 2007
3. [1]
4. [2]

External links

• Man vs. Wild official site
• Man vs. Wild at IMDb