Anyone watch Survivorman?

[DAA]

I don't watch much TV at all. I've seen a few episodes of Survivorman though, including the one I'm linking to below. I think the show is better than average for what it is - way better than Bear Poop's asinine antics, but, being TV and "reality" TV at that, I just take it for granted that it's all bull crap.

Anyway, Aldaron and Nick over on BCP decided to figure out exactly where the episode filmed in Utah took place. I'm AMAZED at how they were able to figure out EXACTLY where the camps in the episode were mostly just from Google Earth imagery - although they did make a trip down there to verify and document too. Those guys are good at that stuff! I mean, really good!!

What they found just cracks me up.

Where Les is "camped" and saying how he's three days from a road and can't find water and blah-blah-blah he's only a hundred yards from the highway and he could walk two minutes and grab a Gatorade and a cliff bar out of the truck anytime he felt like it . You can actually SEE cars passing on the highway from where he was camped and talking about how remote his location was. In another camp, where Les was talking about how hard it was to get to water, you can actually see a giant ass water tank from his camp - and I mean actually see it during the episode! Funny stuff! I've been on all the dirt roads around there and hiked some of those canyons myself. Parked my truck and slept overnight by that big water tank once, in fact.

I find it both interesting and funny at the same time. Actually, the most interesting part to me is how these guys were able to sleuth out the sites like they did. That's just way cool. Aldaron put up a web page with all the skinny if anyone is interested in all the details:

http://analysis.elementfx.com/locations/Locations/Analysis.html

- DAA

 

[sixstringsteve]

I'm AMAZED at how they were able to figure out EXACTLY where the camps in the episode were mostly just from Google Earth imagery - although they did make a trip down there to verify and document too. Those guys are good at that stuff! I mean, really good!!

x2

I think we should do a re-creation video of the episode, with the actual facts.

 

[Herzog]

Ha, wow that's awesome. Great sleuthing. I've only caught a few episodes in the past and I thought Les was the hardcore guy since he did all his filming by himself. Well, now we know better. Heh.

 

[Kevin B.]

I like Les Stroud, and I learn interesting tricks from his shows. But they're still just shows, and I don't believe there's any way whoever is bankrolling the insurance for that program would actually let him get as remote and as far from help as he claims to be. Which is cool with me, as long as he's accurately simulating being that far from help and not running back to the trailer for a hot meal and warm bed every night the way Bear does.

 

[B2-Bomber]

*sigh, any person who watches anything on TV (or the internet for that matter, including forums), and believes it's 100% true, or real is a sucker indeed. I bet these are the same people who though pro wrestling was real in the '90s

in the show's defense, the techniques he showed, and the scenario are valid, and useful things to know.....but it is still entertainment.


if you want a shocker, sleuth Man vs. Wild.

bear grylls practically has an rv just off camera. not to mention a support staff of safety crew, nutrition experts, regional terrain experts...the works, also just off camera.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Ha. Awesome!

 

[B2-Bomber]

kevin, I didn't see you had posted when I typed out mine about bear grylls it looks like we were saying the exact same thing

 

[B2-Bomber]

Les Stroud at one time was 100% legit. I even had a cousin take his class about 15 years ago (long before his discovery channel deal), and yeah he took them out to the middle of nowhere, and taught them. he let them have a knife, but said "if you have a knife, you might as well be at the Ritz-Carlton"

he is legit, but an actor too. just like the pro-wrestlers: they are real athletes, but they are actors too don't forget that.

it is so sad that someone felt the need to dig this info up, that's like someone watching pro-wrestling, and then going back to the arena to find evidence that it was staged, of course it is! we know it, the people doing it know it. get with the program.

the only thing more sad than being the dude wasting his own time to find, and then publish this evidence, is any person that reads it, and takes it as some profound revelation

 

[DAA]

...as long as he's ... not running back to the trailer for a hot meal and warm bed every night the way Bear does.

You don't think he is? After seeing where he was actually camped, vs. what he claimed, I'm pretty sure he was eating steaks at the lodge with the crew every night... Well, at the very least, he's getting as much good food and good drink as he wants, and sleeping comfortably after getting the obligatory "miserable night" footage in the can. I think he just packages his crap different than Bear does. Not even better. Just different. Actually, I think Bear is trying to appeal to adolescents and MILF's. I think Les is trying to appeal to middle aged white guys.

I bet these are the same people who though pro wrestling was real in the '90s[/I]

Whoa, whoa, WHOA dude! Wrestling is REAL!!! REAL!!! Do you hear me?!

the only thing more sad than being the dude wasting his own time to find, and then publish this evidence, is any person that reads it, and takes it as some profound revelation

I don't think I could possibly disagree more. Totally, 100%, zero agreement with this. It sounds like you are taking it way more seriously than the guys who put this together did. There wasn't anything sad about it. It was interesting. They had fun. The stuff they found is interesting and fun. What's sad, is sitting there judging people the way you are when you know not one fawking thing about them. That's sad...

- DAA

 

[B2-Bomber]

wait, someone on RME4X4.com taking something too seriously? no freaking way, that never happens, I am the first and only to ever do it.

I don't think I could possibly disagree more. Totally, 100%, zero agreement with this.

I direct you attention to my signature. This is the only forum I have that as my signature. it's because this board usually disagrees with me.

hell, I get more agreements on Pirate, (which is notoriously full of argumentative people) than I do here

DAA, don't feel bad. you, and your RME buddies never agree with me

 

[Herzog]

wait, someone on RME4X4.com taking something too seriously? no freaking way, that never happens, I am the first and only to ever do it.



I direct you attention to my signature. This is the only forum I have that as my signature. it's because this board usually disagrees with me.

hell, I get more agreements on Pirate, (which is notoriously full of argumentative people) than I do here

DAA, don't feel bad. you, and your RME buddies never agree with me

You are such a badass.

 

[B2-Bomber]

You are such a badass.

why the jackass response? oh wait....duh this is RME4x4.com

 

[Kevin B.]

You don't think he is? After seeing where he was actually camped, vs. what he claimed, I'm pretty sure he was eating steaks at the lodge with the crew every night... Well, at the very least, he's getting as much good food and good drink as he wants, and sleeping comfortably after getting the obligatory "miserable night" footage in the can. I think he just packages his crap different than Bear does. Not even better. Just different. Actually, I think Bear is trying to appeal to adolescents and MILF's. I think Les is trying to appeal to middle aged white guys.

I'm a middle-aged white guy, so maybe I just want to believe.

I've never met Les, but from what I know about him he's legit. He lives off grid, he's a wilderness guide, adventure racer, and survival instructor, I believe he has the skills he's portrayed as having. When he says he just spent the night under a tree with no fire, I'll buy it. When he says he hasn't had anything to eat but grubs for two days and that robins egg he just found is going to taste really good, I believe him. On the other hand, when he says he's sleeping multiple nights in a hammock made from a parachute on the African savannah and there's nobody nearby with a weapon to chase away lions and hyenas, I call BS.

 

[B2-Bomber]

as I recall Herzog, you were the very first on RME to show how weird (and wrong) members here often are.

right after I joined RME you pm'ed me back and forth 14 times arguing the definition of Radius arms. and that a specific vehicle didn't come from the factory with "radius arms"
even though that manufacturer's site listed the replacement part as "radius arm"

but since it didn't meet your definition of "radius arm" you argued strenuously with me about it.

way to represent your site that you "part own" by treating new members like that (being veritably wrong, and a jerk), I almost left for good. (and I bet the rest of you wish I had)

you sir are the badass

 

[cruiseroutfit]

You are such a badass.

Hardcore badass. My New Years resolution...you got it, be more like him. JL Rockies has me in a rigorous training regime.

 

[DAA]

I'm a middle-aged white guy, so maybe I just want to believe.

Nothing wrong with that. I actually feel like it reflects poorly on me, that I'm so cynical. But, that's who I am. And I'm a middle aged white guy too, well, maybe getting towards more of an old white guy, but I still feel middle aged . I see the appeal. Heck, as far as it goes, from what little I've seen, I'd rate this show best of breed. The two dorks, one with no shoes and the other ex-military steriod guy, I only watched about ten minutes of one episode. Bull crap piling up so fast you'd need wings to stay above it. Just absolutely ridiculous. Made Duck Dynasty seem pretty realistic...

I've never met Les, but from what I know about him he's legit.

I don't doubt he has the skills portrayed. Likewise, I bet Bear Grills is every bit as much of a tool in real life as he portrays himself to be on his show.

This is all my speculation though. And of no importance to anyone anywhere - just making talk, having fun. And I really do think the guys who did all the leg work on this were just pursuing a fun, interesting project though. Somebody came up with the challenge of finding the spot, and it morphed a bit from there. Heck, I could care less about this show, figured it was all bull crap from day one, but I thought their geo-sleuthing project was cool as hell! Just out of line to call them out as "sad" - in the most insulting sense of the word - over it. Kinda pissed me off, frankly...

- DAA

 

[skeptic]

Check out the show "Dude, You're Screwed!" if you want something that at least on the surface appears to be real. From the web page http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/dude-youre-screwed/about-the-show/about-the-show.htm :

Each survivalist is captured one at a time by the other four. The capture could take place at work, at home, at a coffee shop, ANYWHERE! They must always be on guard. Then, they are dropped in one of the world's harshest environments and must make their way back to civilization, alive and unscathed, all within 100 hours, or it’s game over!

The wife and I have been watching these and they are great!


BTW, I watched one of those behind the scenes things with Les and he talked about the fact that he isn't always far from civilization and occasionally has to shoo away people that come up to him during filming. Of course it's staged, and he has an emergency crew on standby, but he also shows real and generally realistic survival skills.

 

[rockdog]

I have watched every episode of this show. Including the one referenced. The shows I watched recently were ok. But they kinda stretched it a little. He's on a tropical island with turtles everywhere and looks at eating rotten bird eggs. If he's really that hungry I think he would eat a slow easy to catch turtle. Kinda hard to believe.

 

[skippy]

why the jackass response? oh wait....duh this is RME4x4.com

If you disagree with everybody on here and you feel so picked on why dont you just leave and never come back.....

 

[N-Smooth]

Typical RME4x4 response