Survivorman

Les Stroud is an extraordinary man of 45 highly experienced years as of this writing. His life's journey so far has taken him deep into the world of music for which his "blues harp" talents and compositional skills have established a solid reputation in a realm that both coexists and sublimely contrasts with his unique brand of outdoor adventures which are as informative as they are uniformly grueling.

Les circumnavigates the globe at the behest of his own production team, always seeking new and disparate locations from which to both tackle and parlay his survivalist experiences to those of us willing or wanting to watch him endure his self-inflicted ordeals. It appears that as far as Les is concerned, sometimes his greatest trial is in having to be his own expert cinematographer on site...and the technical hardware doesn't always tolerate the elements as well as Survivorman.

In fact, Mr. Stroud, aside from his incredible courage and skill, is a funny and amusing teacher of how to sensibly spend a week in an unpredictable and often non-sensible (for humans) environment. The viewer is oft awarded a brief respite in the form of comic relief. To that end, and to the Survivorman's considerable credit, Les is willing to lapse into good natured self-deprecation if he becomes frustrated by having mishandled a task or judgment call. Conversely, he's not shy to cheer himself on camera for scoring small successes. The end result of his edited filming is always as full of momentary surprises as it is with the kind of awe-inspiring beauty over which nature reigns supreme, for better or for worse.

As folks from New England are prone to say, if you don't like the weather, then wait a little...and so it is with Les, who's circumstances change as quickly as Mt. Washington's (New Hampshire) atmospheric conditions. And weather can be just one of a plethora of unpleasantries to contend with. Ultimately, Les Stroud is a master of extreme teaching. He perhaps goes to conventionally unreasonable lengths to film himself in all manner of temporarily glorious moments which are usually just the other side of an impending predicament...and he's fully aware of that aspect too.

Mr. Stroud is not a daredevil, nor a thrill-seeker for its own sake, but rather a dedicated outdoors-man and supremely accomplished survivalist among his other complimentary talents. With his production crew often stationed somewhere in the general vicinity, Les does his own thing, alone, with his trusty multi-tool and harmonica for comfort wherever there might be none otherwise. As we quietly slip into his journey, Les enriches our knowledge and entertains our senses. It's a photographic treat to follow his intrepid endeavors from the safety of our personal viewing zone. In the spotty world of reality television, "Survivorman" is as flawless as it is fascinating.

If Les has written a guide on how to survive in the Wilderness...I want to buy it. The show is fantastic and informative. He never sugar coats any situation. He does not take unreasonable risks much like a normal person wouldn't. Les takes you there and you feel the experience. He also shows you how to use what is available. In one episode they haul in a crashed single engine plane. The show scenario is that Les has just crashed and is assessing his situation. He shows you how to salvage it and use most all of the plane for his shelter, clothing and trip back to civilization. He has shown how to make fire in more situations than I have ever seen. I have seen and enjoyed a lot of survivor shows...this one is tops!

One man. A few cameras. Lots of batteries and tape. No food. Sometimes just a canteen of water and the most help he will get is a "rescue team" that often looses contact with him. Through it all, using his learned skill and wiry wit, Les battles not just the elements but his own human frailties and feelings of isolation.

Immediately, the differences between this and Bear Grylls' show, Man Vs. Wild, become apparent. There is little to no theatrics. He does not grab everything he sees and tries to bite it. He does not go running around in the latest garb from L.L Bean and only rarely does he throw himself into situations which are more or less avoidable.

This is not only more interesting entertainment, but also makes for a more human experience and more valuable survival advice. Without all the blatant theatrics, the message of the episodes become clear, and the techniques become better ingrained on the minds of the people watching it. And it is fascinating to watch Les struggle through not just the physical, but mental fatigues and pains that come with surviving alone in all the wildernesses of the world.

Unfortunately, Les canceled this fantastic show. And considering the physical strain it was putting him under, I don't blame him. And while Bear continues to throw himself at trees to a thundering orchestra, this show still has more educational value.

I highly recommend you watch this show if you are at all interested in learning about how to survive the most extreme situations from the comfort of your own home.

After being put through the test of time with other survival shows making it on to the scene, Les Stroud's Survivorman still reigns supreme. Unlike the rest, Survivorman is the only one where the host is completely alone throughout the filming of every episode. And each one is done for seven days, as opposed to some usually unknown (and probably shorter) length of time, as in the case of Man versus Wild, Dual Survival, etc.

Although it is not as exciting as some of the competition, using what you learn from Les will not get you killed. There is no climbing into bottomless crevasses of glaciers or doing butt slaloms down scree slopes, but rather just straight forward survival techniques displayed in easy to understand presentations.

And perhaps most important aspect of the show is the amount of failures that Les encounters. Even with the years of experience that he has accumulated, many of his attempts fall flat simply due to the actual difficulty of what he is trying to do. This not only presents a realistic image of how hard true survival is, but it also shows that in a survival situation, you can fail many times and still survive.

This is definitely one of the most interesting shows to watch. There are lots of survival shows out there, but this one really kicks the competition. This show is great to watch because Les Stroud really does survive. Most of these types of shows use camera crews to document their survival, which isn't bad either, but this is pretty much a one-man show. The show definitely has a lot of great adventures taken on by Les Stroud, the Survivorman. This is a unique show of how insane it is to survive alone in different wilderness situations and scenarios. This is a great show to watch and I'd definitely recommend watching it if you want to see REAL survival.