Having always had an interest in survival scenarios and the now, mainstream idea of being a survivalist meant I was always looking for things to watch and read about these things. Whether it was movies, magazine articles, web forums or TV shows there never seemed to be a lack of good entertainment value in the subject of just surviving a situation.
Above all, I think the best medium for this was Les Stroud's tv series: Survivorman. Not only was it entertaining, but incredibly educational whereas its higher-budgeted counterpart: Man vs. Wild was marketed more towards married couples who needed something for fun and shock value and admit it, most women prefer and watch Bear Grylls for his looks and accent and nothing more. "Big whoop." Most of the things he does are staged and he always has a full crew with him. When Les Stroud goes out, he almost always goes out alone and does all his own filming in sometimes very dangerous situations where he could actually die. It was also revealed in 2006 that some scenes from Man vs. Wild are misleading and even fake.
I understand that there is a need for pure entertainment, I mean, look at all the reality tv shows currently on - it's the majority of what's on these days. People don't want the truth, they want what's easily accessible. "Yawn."
If I want to watch a show about survival I want it to actually teach me something so I will say this: "Thank you, Les Stroud because you actually stayed true and tried to stay educational."
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