Hmmm.... Some island in the warm tropical climate is where I see
Likely not the best I've seen of Les
and certainly not something I will copy for
tripping in the park,

Les Strouds at his not so best , Seems his only concern
is water and food whereas coconuts are plenty and it has been raining
for going on 20 hours and now his worried about the rats peeing or doing #2
in his rain water catcher.. Perhaps it should of been placed higher than ground
level

Les Magic
Creates a fire from his diver emergency kit that has
flares and matches... He goes for the flare
and the tinder has been dampened with gas

I wonder if he thought it was special magic when the fire started
as he stated he has yet to try this technique. I wonder if the gas dampened
tinder helped?

Why no use the susposed matches in the survival kit

I guess his next trick is to signal for rescue with the matches.

Well at least he had some cooked booby breast... Some body should
tell him rats are edible (e.g. Coming out of the Ice by Victor Herman)

Rac n

I agree. As I watched the desert island show I was continually thinking how much better the show could have been. Lighting a fire with a flare that will shoot 100's of feet in the air is risky business. And who would use up a signaling device to start a fire? Nobody.

Hanging the sparkly things 1 foot off the ground lacked imagination also. Hanging from a tree would be better but I wouldn't think a ship would bother investigating either way. Perhaps a flare might be useful.

I also expected to see somes bikini clad beauties come walking along the beach from the resort on the other side of the island. Perhaps that was the problem--he spent too much time at the resort partying.

A close up scene showing Less with his strength almost gone, dehydrated, delusional, suffering under intense unrelenting sun--the camera pans across the beach and focuses on a sailboat on the horizon. The sailboat turns---heads toward the island---camera pans back to Less---he feebly opens his eyes and sees the blurry image of the boat---with his remaining srength he focuses to reveal a boat with scantily clad beauties waving and calling out "Less, Less are you ok?"

The show could have been excellent if he could have included some of the mystic and sense of adventure of being lost on a desert island. Instead he focused on how much trouble he was in--so many coconuts-- so much rain--my camera crew isn't coming back for a week--why did I pick the rainy season? Why?

I saw that episode also. Sure there are different ways he could have started a fire, but what he does in his TV program is to show people different possible ways of doing things in order to survive. I'm sure Les is 100% completely aware of everything you have said. Every episode he has to start a fire, so he has to come up with new ways how to do it. In every episode he is given a few items, and he comes up with ways to use these items in order to make his situation more comfortable.

No, he probably wouldn't have used the flare if he was really lost somewhere, but for the pupose of his show, he was just showing the public one more possible way of doing things.

Anybody catch the Man vs Wild show that was on after? I only caught a bit and the guy caught a snake in the swamp and bit its head off...then ate the thing right there...damn that was gross!

I have watched both shows.....Les Stroud makes sound decisions normally. Bear Grylls and Man vs. Wild is a joke, loaded with bad judgment and bad advice. I'm sure that Bear Grylls watches Les and thinks, boy if I'm every really stuck outdoors I sure hope Les happens by to save me.

I agree. That man vs. Wild show is crap. I watched the same show with the snake in the swamp. He's poking sticks at Crocs. Then the guys kills a croc eats a little meat throw the rest away. Then day he kills big catfish......eats it little raw then throws that away. That guy isn't trying to survive he going to get himself killed!

I really like Les but I also have really been getting into Ray Mears Bushcraft on OLN. I watched him last week carve a paddle out of a cedar log with an axe and help make a Birch bark canoe.


www.raymears.com


SBA

I agree. I tired watching both shows. I changed channels within a couple of minutes, laughing the whole time.

I am a big Survivorman fan however.

I love the dude, and I think that Bear is the most dangerous Englishman on the planet.
Les is the real deal, warts and all. Bear's most repeated line seems to be, "if I was spending the night out here."
Les doesn't come across as a Survival God. He shows his mistakes (the Alaskan shelter fire, for one). Every time he tries to fish, he comes up empty.
Despite putting himself at risk, Les manages to survive.

Formerly Foxco

Southern Georgian Bay
Ontario

While I admit to being entertained, I wonder if it should not be called barely Survivorman. He seems to spend most of his time fighting his hunger and dehydration. I often wish his schemes and traps were succesful because I am tired of watching him do things to keep his mind off his appetite... how about eating something!!! Lol.

Oh Les and his fires. Yeah I wouldn't use a flare over matches and fuel. I've seen him set his shelter on fire. I've seen him walk through boreal scrub with one hand full of burning tinder and the other operating the camera. If he ever comes to a sticky end on one of his trips my money is on fire being the cause.

For a contrived situation, it's not a bad show. Not like Man Vs. Wild, just plain silly. And don't get me started on Mantracker, the show where a skilled tracker must catch you and your friend. Yeah, I could track down you and your friend if you were being shadowed by a camera crew.

Ray Mears is where it's at. He's the real deal. Not that I begrudge Stroud anything. I should be so lucky to make a living doing what I love. Mears has made a 25 year carreer of studying and teaching bushcraft techniques from around the world. Not just surviving fire/water/shelter/food, but actually living and prospering with these skills. I do find some of his afectations a little silly, wood boxes/leather pouches lined with zip-lock bags.