| Survivorman is a television program about wilderness | | | | way. |
| survival. It can be seen on the Discovery Channel (and | | | | Can Survivorman Be Dangerous? |
| others?). It's all about one man against the elements, | | | | A few reviewers point out that Survivorman may give |
| and the man in this case is Les Stroud. He is put in | | | | viewers a false sense of confidence and even spread |
| various environments to survive for seven days while | | | | some bad ideas. In the desert episode, for example, |
| filming himself. | | | | Stroud does drink water straight from a stream. It's a |
| Having no camera crew may be the most novel idea | | | | good way to get sick, and he could have used the gas |
| in the show. You are sure the danger is real - there | | | | tank from the dirt bike to boil the water in. In the |
| won't be a cameraman slipping food or water to Les | | | | Canadian boreal forest episode he uses his one match |
| when the camera is off. Stroud is alone, and really | | | | the first night. Then, rather than keep the fire going, he |
| does get into trouble at times. His challenges are made | | | | starts the second night's fire without matches. This is |
| tougher by the fact that he has to lug around camera | | | | extremely hard to do for those without experience, |
| equipment, and then use it when he might like to get | | | | and a better lesson might have been to keep that fire |
| straight to gathering food or building a shelter. | | | | alive. |
| One creative feature of Survivorman is that each | | | | Those are minor flaws, however, compared to the |
| show has a "theme." The episode in the Canadian | | | | wealth of useful knowledge the show teaches. They |
| arctic, for example, has Stroud left with a | | | | may be in part due to the nature of doing a television |
| broken-down snowmobile, which he cannibalizes for | | | | program. Stroud wouldn't get to show us how to use a |
| various useful items, including the seat cushion, which | | | | bow and drill to start a fire if he didn't need a fire |
| he uses for a insulating sleeping pad. In the Sonoran | | | | started. There are often times in various episodes |
| desert episode, Stroud is in the middle of a desert | | | | when he may have been better off doing something |
| wilderness with a broken dirt bike. He uses wires from | | | | else, but the point of the show is to show all the |
| this to weave a blanket of grass. | | | | possibilities. It might be more efficient to keep gathering |
| This "scenario" aspect makes Survivorman more | | | | one type of food, for example, but then how do the |
| realistic than if it was just a man in the wilderness with | | | | viewers learn about the others? |
| nothing. It has the viewer thinking about ALL the | | | | This is a creative and informative show. Of course |
| possibilities. If a plane crash puts you in a survival | | | | there are all the specific techniques of survival that |
| situation, you'll be remembering the "Survivorman" using | | | | Stroud shows us. In addition to that, though, is the |
| plane fuel to start a fire, and you'll be looking at every | | | | inspiration the show provides. Survivorman lets you |
| part of that plane for useful items. If your boat sinks, | | | | know that you can survive - and it gets you in the |
| leaving you on an isolated island trying to survive, you'll | | | | habit of thinking about how to use everything around |
| think about how Stroud used plastic containers from | | | | you. |
| washed-up beach debris to hold water, and you'll look | | | | Steve Gillman is a long-time advocate of lightweight |
| at all the debris with a eye towards using it in some | | | | backpacking. |