- This topic has 12 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated April 15, 2008 at 3:36 pm by JonnyQuest.
-
AuthorPosts
-
April 15, 2008 at 9:12 am #1044261
Channel 4 last night began an investigation into the claims, which follow a number of embarrassing incidents in which programmes screened by the station were found to have misled the public.
Grylls’s show attracted 1.4million viewers when it was shown in March and April, with audiences enthralled as he demonstrated gruesome survival tips that included sucking the fluid from fish eyeballs and squeezing water from animal dung.
But an adviser to Born Survivor yesterday claimed that many of his other escapades were not exactly as they seemed on TV.
In one episode filmed in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains he was shown biting off the head of a snake for breakfast and boasting that he was living on ‘just a water bottle, a cup and a flint for making fire’.
Viewers were not told that he was actually spending some nights in the Pines Resort hotel at Bass Lake, where the rooms have Internet access and is advertised as ‘a cosy getaway for families’ complete with blueberry pancakes for breakfast.
In another episode when Grylls declared he was a ‘real life Robinson Crusoe’ stuck on a desert island, he was actually on an outlying part of the Hawaiian archipelago and retired to a motel at nightfall.
Mark Weinert, a survival consultant brought in for the programme, said one show also wrongly gave the impression that the adventurer built a Polynesian- style raft using only materials around him, including bamboo and palm leaves for a sail.
Mr Weinert had in fact led a team that built the raft, which was then dismantled so that Grylls could be shown constructing it on camera.
In another episode, Grylls was filmed attempting to lasso ‘wild’ mustang in the Sierra Nevada, when the horses were actually tame and had been brought in by trailer from a nearby trekking station.
‘If you really believe everything happens the way it is shown on TV, you are being a little bit naive,’ Mr Weinert told the Sunday Times.
Channel 4 confirmed that Grylls had used hotels during expeditions and ordered the production company that made the programme to investigate the other claims.
A spokesman said: ‘We take any allegations of misleading our audiences seriously.
‘Bear does do all his own stunts and does put himself in perilous situations.
‘But Born Survivor is not an observational documentary series but a “how to” guide to basic survival techniques in extreme environments. The programme explicitly does not claim that presenter Bear Grylls’s experience is one of unaided solo survival.’
Grylls had earlier told how Channel 4 bosses had pitched the series to him, saying: ‘We just drop you into a lot of different hellholes equipped with nothing, and you do what you have to do to survive.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=470155&in_page_id=1770
April 15, 2008 at 12:53 pm #1160565aha…. thought I had read about this…
I reckon it IS misleading tho… because the programme (its on here in sweden at the moment)
IS CALLED SURVIVORMAN…..bah.
April 15, 2008 at 12:53 pm #1218433aha…. thought I had read about this…
I reckon it IS misleading tho… because the programme (its on here in sweden at the moment)
IS CALLED SURVIVORMAN…..bah.
April 15, 2008 at 12:54 pm #1160569i love bear grylls, dont do this to me
April 15, 2008 at 12:54 pm #1218437i love bear grylls, dont do this to me
April 15, 2008 at 2:15 pm #1160564JonnyQuest wrote:i love bear grylls, dont do this to me[MOUSE]ditto :cry:[/MOUSE]
April 15, 2008 at 2:15 pm #1218432JonnyQuest wrote:i love bear grylls, dont do this to me[MOUSE]ditto :cry:[/MOUSE]
April 15, 2008 at 3:20 pm #1160567He’s no Ray mears though.
April 15, 2008 at 3:20 pm #1218435He’s no Ray mears though.
April 15, 2008 at 3:24 pm #1160568He ain’t exactly a fake but does sometimes embellish his exploits! Thanks to Bear i now know how to escape quicksand! I say just enjoy the show!!! :love:
April 15, 2008 at 3:24 pm #1218436He ain’t exactly a fake but does sometimes embellish his exploits! Thanks to Bear i now know how to escape quicksand! I say just enjoy the show!!! :love:
April 15, 2008 at 3:36 pm #1160566Southcaver wrote:He’s no Ray mears though.ive never seen ray bite the head off a frog or cook a turtle …
yet ive never seen bear make a hammock out of a piece of string …
i love ’em both … top programmes!
April 15, 2008 at 3:36 pm #1218434Southcaver wrote:He’s no Ray mears though.ive never seen ray bite the head off a frog or cook a turtle …
yet ive never seen bear make a hammock out of a piece of string …
i love ’em both … top programmes!
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.