Monday, June 25, 2007

Man Vs. Wild

I'm slightly obsessed with this show, Man Vs. Wild.

The presenter is a British survivalist who's name is Bear, but he doesn't look grizzley; in fact, I think the little gear he does have with him is pretty high tech and expensive, from his knife, to his watch, to his high tech microfiber clothes.

He's always talking about the culturally appropriate survival techniques of the indiginous people, as well as the plants and animals of a certain region. Which means he's done his homework.

He is always wet and dirty, and I think I just saw him eat a live frog. I definitely saw him roast a turtle on a four-point Seminole fire, beat hypothermia by soaking in a pool he created when he dammed up a run-off stream of geothermally boiling water, and find clean drinking water in an underground lava tube. I'm pretty sure he also took off his shirt and showered himself with coconut milk, which if you ask me was slightly gratuitous, but I myself have always wanted to taste like Thai food....

Here's what I want to know: his camara man has to do all the same crazy stuff Bear has to do in order to get the shots; i.e., swimming in alligator infested waters, dropping out of an airplane onto a glacier and a lava field, scaling clffs... does the camera crew have to do all of that? Do they all have to sleep on a platform in the Everglades and get eaten alive by mosquitos? Or share an ice cave? Or eat a live frog? Do they help him when he almost freezes to death in a frozen river?

What I really want to know is how much this guy gets paid. I bet it's a lot.

1 comment:

Chadwick said...

I bet the camera guys DO pretty much all the same stuff, except with a normal diet. They probably get more prep time too, to set up shots.

I wonder... they may rotate out occasionally, to stay rested up.