Bear Grylls is a Fraud

I was yammering on the phone with my brother the other day about the usual macho bullshit--blowing the heads off terrorists, special forces ops, etc.--when he dropped the bomb on me. BEAR GRYLLS IS A FRAUD. He told me to google "bear grylls hotel" and my illusions of a great man were shattered.

If you watch Man vs. Wild (or Born Survivor in the UK,) you would think that Bear Grylls is a guy who goes into various wild places with himself and a cameraman and the barest of equipment and survives and finds his way back to civilization. This is simply horseshit. The reality is that he goes into places with a crew and films contrived scenarios and spends the night in a hotel. Seriously. He doesn't stay out there.



Other controversies include the fact that many of these remote places are not remote at all. One infamous clip shows that Bear filmed at a location not far from a road. Apparently, they just rode along, found a spot, filmed there, and that was that. Other bullshit includes a man in a bear suit, tame horses brought in, and capturing a "wild" rabbit to eat. Looking back on things like drinking water from elephant dung, it is obvious to me that Bear Grylls is a flim-flam man. He puts together scenes and outrageous stunts for the entertainment value. He makes good television, but good television and real television are not the same thing.

Here is an assorted list of links on the story:

1. How Bear Grylls the Born Survivor roughed it - in hotels

2. Bear Grylls, a Fraud?

3. Man Vs. Wild, Bear Grylls is a Phony

4. Man vs. Hotel: Bear Grylled

5. The Bear Grylls Wiki


This leads us to question Les Stroud of Survivorman. Is Les a fake, too? From what I can gather from the net, NO. Les Stroud is the real deal. Survivorman is not as slick as Man vs. Wild, and Les is not as beefcake as Bear. But he actually does spend nights in the wilderness alone. He has no camera crew, people in bear suits, or a Papa John's pizza delivery guy showing up. Les Stroud is the real deal.

Les Stroud bio

Discovery Channel disappoints me for airing Man vs. Wild. They should have Mythbusters do a show on Bear and debunk the guy. Let's keep the reality in reality TV.

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