Survivorman: Season 2

SurvivorMan is the real world experience of Les Stroud recorded in seamless documentary form, and delivered to a public. It is not one of those “reality” TV shows that suffers from poor writers, and non- actors playing their roles in the lowest common denominator fashion that has become so popular on network TV. If you, yourself become stranded or lost, find yourself in a survival situation, and are suddenly thrust into a world that seems to have turned upside down on you, you most certainly will not be accompanied by a full camera crew, light and sound company, or prop managers. No one is going to yell cut, hand you a bottle of water and direct you to craft services for a hearty plate of food. That is the world of entertainment.Les Stroud as SurvivorMan knows the reality of surviving in the woods. He has been actually living his backwoods survival life style over the years and although he emerges into the modern world in between, he understands what anyone lost in the wilderness is likely to face. That is the man you want to learn from. That too is why he spends time on his shows teaching those of us who romanticize about the surviving in the wilderness from the comfort of our cozy homes with hints, tricks, and tips that might one day make a real difference in real survival situations.He is a showman, and he travels to exotic, out of the way places to ply his trade. But he also learns and integrates his new knowledge of each location into the show as he demonstrates each step of the way, how he, himself, is coping with the new environments and strives to survive. He does not hide the reality of what lack of food and water and the sheer psychological shock can do to any of us, even those who are strongminded and fit. Occasionally he will also carry with him survival items that are common and available for purchase to give us an on screen trial and review of how they perform but the impact simple tools or other items can have on someone when demoralized by simply struggling to survive. He also plans for each environment and utilizes items that might be commonly found by a survivor. His mastery of his field comes through as he shares some of the simple techniques he has learned, but seldom does he display the more difficult tasks that require years of practice to master. Showman or no, he keeps his audience in mind, and is always working to teach, entertain, and simply allow the watcher to experience that world as he does.As you might have picked up, I am a fan of Les Stroud. But I know the likelihood of my being stranded is reasonably small. Disaster is always a theoretical threat until it comes to you though. I like being prepared for possible events however, and not only does Les Stroud take you into the wilderness but he also has solid and practical advice that you can use in any unforeseen emergency. If you become more than a passive participant in the show, thinking how to apply his wisdom in situations that you are likely to face can make your life and that of your family better if bad things do happen.

Product is a gift, looks fine.

Les Stroud is the real thing. Unlike the other guys on TV, Les does it all without a camera crew and a safety net. He doesn't take stupid risks and treats everything as if it is real, because it is.Survivorman is a very entertaining show with Les providing the voice over filling in the blank areas he may leave out when his is in the "woods" because he is too busy surviving. It is funny watching him get mad at his camera equipment or breaking out his harmonica and jam.When killing an animal Les explains that this should only be done when survival is at stake. He shows a respect for dangers of the wilderness that everyone should have. In this season we actually see Les on the run from some of these dangers.Season 2 shows exotic locations and a sense of maturity that comes from having done this a few time before. Like Season 1, Season 2 is worth the money.

He films it all himself! It's crazy. What I love is how gritty it is, and how, even as a professional, he still makes several mistakes because he get's tired and hungry. Then he owns up to it and points out how in a real survival situation, this is what happens and you pay for it, sometimes with your life. Learned a lot from this show. He teaches slowly here and there. It's more of a relaxing and fascinating documentary, than the instructional nature of Man vs. Wild, but I find it way more authentic and relatable.

Survivorman is not bad, however when compared to Bear Grylls (Man vs Wild)...tough to compete! Still gave him 4-stars b/c he is informative, accurate and very educational.

Survivorman season two continues Les Stroud's solo excursions in week long, low calorie endurance and extreme weather survival. The format is the same as season one. He's alone with the camera gear needed to film his experiences. He has no sleeping bag or tent. His shelter and bedding is whatever he builds or locates in the environment, and his food and water come from his surroundings. He has his ever present multitool, maybe a knife or axe, possibly a firestarter, and aside from the appropriate clothing, very little other survival gear.He shows himself sometimes failing to secure food or water. He sometimes makes mistakes and he shows that also. These are not training films: they are films of Les Stroud making fallible choices on how to survive, and often of the very real suffering he endures of hunger, cold, and life threatening heat and thirst.

THE BEST survival show ever made. Les Stroud, AKA Survivor Man is the real deal. The only survivalist, bushmaster, bush crafter, outdoor guy what ever you wanna call it, that ever did it FOR REAL. Unlike all the rest of them fakes, Survivor Man doesn't use a camera crew, takes minimum gear and just sets out to explore the unknown. Along the way he teaches you valuable, practical, real world lessons on how to survive in a multitude of different environments and situations. Best show every made on this subject. Watch it and learn. Stay Alive.

Recordable DVD-Rs used for this with standard lables printed on a laserjet printer.Pretty crappy presentation with no menus and only 2 episodes per disc.No extras, no documentation, barely readable artwork and $1 worth of DVD-RsI would recommend just TiVo-ing the series and save the $$.

Great shows!

Survivorman series 2 is a very similar format to Series 1. Les Stroud strands himself for seven days in (this time only) 6 separate locations. Filming his survival himself he is entirely alone. With only the clothes he is wearing, and a Leatherman multi-tool (often with no food or water) he survives for real while filming the whole thing (and carrying 25kg of camera equipment). In many cases the scenario Les has chosen is a trip in the wild gone wrong. Imagining he took a wrong turn or his vehicle broke he makes use of this vehicle, showing how to use pieces of it to help him survive. In some scenarios he 'just' has to survive the week, on others he adds the challenge of making his way to safety too. In some ways it's more interesting when he stays put to see how he progressively improves his conditions something that tends not to be the case when he moves on.Comparison between Les Stroud, Teddy-bear Grills and Ray Mears are unavoidable.Ray Mears shows comfortable living in unusual outdoor places. He rarely puts himself in danger or in a survival situation. Ideally we all want to travel like Ray but sometimes things go wrong.(Teddy) Bear Grills has a full support team with him and regularly stages situations that would be dangerous, but he's not doing it for real.Les Stroud is actually *doing* the survival with minimal equipment and filming it all himself. He shows you his failures as well as his successes.A thoroughly enjoyable show, as Les often goes the week with virtually no food whatsoever, understandably he can only do a few these each year.The six episodes in series 2 are:1. Amazon Jungle: Les makes his way through the jungle to a native village overcoming foot-fungus and barely avoiding a Jaguar.2. African Plains: After a simulated balloon crash in South Africa, Les makes his way across Lion territory to a rendezvous point.3. Kalahari Desert: In South African desert Simulating running out of fuel in a 4*4 Les survives some huge changes in temperature (60°C in the day down to 6°C at night).4. Labrador: Les drives a husky team for a week in the frozen north. He brings a satchel of survival gear he has put together himself.5. South Pacific: Les spends a week on a tropical island simulating the scenario of being stranded after a recreational dive goes wrong (diving gear and a wrecked boat).6. Alaska: Sea kayaking in the Alaskan fiörds Les simulates getting cut off with little equipment beyond his drysuit and kayak.Two bonus 'episodes'The making of Survivorman: Les shows some of the behind the scenes work of the support crew and local survival experts that goes on for each episode of season 2.Surviving Alaska: Les demonstrates some survival strategies in Alaska, surviving falling overboard on a boat, falling into icy water, travelling across a glacier, surviving an avalanche.The DVD has no subtitles and only one audio track (English).

love this show

Great product and service

Great season, very entertaining.