Survivorman

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Survivorman
Survivorman logo
Genre	Wilderness Survival Reality
Creator(s)	Les Stroud
Starring	Les Stroud
Country of origin	CAN
No. of episodes	10
Production
Running time	One Hour Episodes (44 Minutes)
Broadcast
Original channel	OLN; The Discovery Channel and The Science Channel (US)
Original run	November 24??, 2004 – Present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Survivorman is a reality television program broadcast in Canada on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), and in the United States on The Discovery Channel and The Science Channel. Host Les Stroud must survive for seven days in various remote locales with little or no food, water or equipment. He is dropped off with only his clothes, a pair of cases for his camera equipment, his trusty harmonica (if only to keep his morale up), and a multitool. He is typically given minimal supplies (such as one energy bar, a pack of gum, a credit card, etc.) to emulate a real-life survival scenario. Les also travels with a satellite phone, for use in case of an emergency during the filming process. However, Stroud often discovers (during testing) that the satellite phone does not work. Survivorman is similar to Stranded, a five part mini series that was shown on the Canadian version of the Discovery Channel, which also starred Stroud. It is also similar to the show Man vs. Wild, which premiered on November 10, 2006. However, unlike Man vs. Wild, Stroud survives and films each episode without an accompanying television crew. Season 2 of Survivorman is set to air in 2007 and filming has begun. Season 2 locations include the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador, the Kalahari Desert in Africa, and the plains of South Africa.

Contents 1 Survival Situations 2 Filming 3 Survival Tips 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Survival Situations

In each episode Stroud places himself in a unique survival situation. The show is meant to demonstrate how one might survive alone in a remote location with minimal supplies until being rescued. Finding food, water, and materials to make fire and shelter pose the main challenges of each episode.

Part of the tension of Survivorman is in watching Stroud deal with the aftermath of unsuccessful or inappropriate survival techniques and decisions. The reasons for these errors can include time limitations, unfamiliarity with a technique, and misjudging weather conditions - all frequently encountered by people in survival situations. Stroud allows these predicaments to occur for the benefit of the TV audience, rather than simply sitting and waiting to be rescued. While acknowledging the errors and the negative effect on his emotional state that they can create, Stroud remains calm throughout, providing a model of behaviour vital to successful survival.

In addition to the physical challenges posed by each survival situation, Stroud confronts the psychological effects of isolation, physical injury, and exhaustion. Stroud is never without his harmonica, which when played, creates an atmosphere in strong contrast to the often dismal nature of the survival experience, and has a noticeable positive effect on the host. Stroud also narrates to the camera, commenting on his physical and psychological state, providing survival tips, or making jokes (such as his parody of an iconic scene in The Blair Witch Project), effectively employing the future television audience as a companion. Stroud also often dismantles available equipment (e.g. bike, snowmobile, airplane) and puts it to another practical use.

Les Stroud's knowledge of the unique flora and fauna of each location is perhaps his most basic yet powerful skill. In every episode he shows the audience how to find viable sources of nourishment, avoid dangerous or unhealthy ones, and utilize them appropriately and efficiently. Stroud frequently explains that gathering food in this manner should be reserved for true survival situations in order to preserve the environment, and often prefaces his on-screen hunting of wild animals as being driven by absolute necessity, not sport.

[edit] Filming

Except for footage of him arriving at his new setting, the content of each episode is taped entirely by Stroud himself using several video cameras that he must carry with him everywhere that he goes. The burden of having to carry, place, and retrieve the camera equipment for each shot adds to the challenge and difficulty of each survival situation. His camera and audio gear typically weigh about 50 pounds (22.7 kg) in total. During the "Behind the Scenes" episode, Stroud explains that "setting up or tearing down all of my camera gear takes about 65% of my time," making survival more challenging. He later records a voice-over commentary in the studio, where he explains his decision-making process and details of how he accomplished various tasks.

[edit] Survival Tips

Stroud offers survival tips in each episode, which range from general (eg. conserve resources whenever possible) to quite specific. Some of the more specific tips include the following (note: not all were employed successfully):

• In cold or freezing conditions, the worst thing you can do is let yourself get sweaty. He constantly mentions that if you get sweaty, you should let the sweat dry (he mentions this tip in almost every episode).
• Use a lens from a camcorder to start a fire (as if it is a Magnifying Glass)
• Always carry a good multitool (eg. Leatherman Wave or Swiss Army Explorer Plus).
• Break wood between two trees to keep from hurting yourself.
• Cut water-vine in swamps and jungles and place a cup at the opening to collect water.
• Wipe mud over your skin to protect against mosquitoes.
• If you catch lean food eat as much of the animal as possible, except the entrails. Certain wild animals have extremely low levels of body fat, which may lead to death by rabbit starvation.
• To start a fire with a lighter that has no fluid, use a piece of tissue formed into a cone at one end with a ball of sock lint stuffed into the cone to catch the spark that comes off the lighter. This only works if the socks are manufactured from 100% cotton. He refers to this as a prison match (and tells viewers not to ask him why he knows how to make it).
• Use a snowmobile seat cover to melt snow in the sunlight.
• Don't play the harmonica when polar bears are possibly around because they are attracted to strange noises.
• Use corn chips to hold a flame in a manner similar to a candle wick.
• Boil water by placing heated rocks in it. This is done when a water container cannot be held directly over a fire.
• Heat rocks over fire and place them around the body as heating packs while sleeping or resting.
• Use an emptied coconut shell filled with coconut fibers to carry a smoldering coal. This prevents the need to light another fire from scratch.
• Use cow dung to keep a fire smoldering while away. This prevents the need to light another fire from scratch.
• Use the elastic strap from a pair of boxers as a slingshot to fire a fishing spear.
• Soak the foam cushion of a broken snowmobile in gasoline to use as fire fuel in the Canadian Arctic.
• Determine the time until sunset by measuring the distance between the sun and horizon, wherein each width of your hand equals one hour.
• Use moss from the north side of a tree to gain bearings without a compass (though he added that this method, though accurate in his case, is often unreliable).
• When opening a conch shell, crack the point on the back and scrape out the meat inside.
• To get fresh water on an island build a solar still by finding a box (or something similar) and put seawater and plants inside, along with a smaller container in the direct center, and cover it tightly with a plastic sheet. Then put a rock in the center of the plastic. The plants will sweat fresh water which will evaporate, condense onto the plastic and drip into the container.
• Too much coconut milk causes diarrhea.
• The Five "W's" of Survival:
  • Weather: Temperature of the area, know what kind of shelter you need.
  • Wood: How much wood is around for both fire and shelter.
  • Wigglies: spiders, scorpions, snakes, anything that can bite you or poison you.
  • Widowmakers: rocks, trees, large animals, anything that can fall on you or attack you.
  • Water: Where will you get water, how will you obtain it.
• Use a potato peeler on thin branches to create very curly wood shavings. These are great for getting very small flames turned into big ones.
• Always check your boots for "Wigglies."
• Use large rock pieces and twigs to setup trap for small animals by placing an edible bait to the supporting twig (Les caught a squirrel in the Utah canyonlands once, he cooked it over fire for a long time to burn off parasites before eating)
• Set up a trap in the swamp or river bank by sticking wood sticks in a pattern that looks like a square with the top side slightly open in a v-shape , place a bait inside to wait for a turtle or other animals.
• To create smoke signal, burn damp wood chips over fire.

[edit] See also

• List of Survivorman episodes
• Ray Mears (author)
• Tom Brown (naturalist)
• Les Hiddins, the Bush tucker man

[edit] External links

• The Official Survivorman Website
• Les Stroud's Official Website
• Les Stroud's Official Blog
• Outdoor Life Network
• Survivorman Fan Forum