My hiking buddies prefer the TV show Survivorman over Man vs Wild.
The Survivorman — Les Stroud — is believable.
In comparison, the Man vs Wild — Bear Grylls — is untrustworthy. Some of his “feats”, we suspect, are faked. (Aside from the fact he “survives” with a camera crew at the ready.)
Higgins of Mental Floss magazine agrees:
One of my favorite TV shows is coming back for a second season in August, after a long hiatus.
Survivorman is a one-man survival show, hosted by Canadian survival expert/musician/TV producer Les Stroud.
Each episode finds Les completely alone in the wilderness for seven days, carrying his own cameras and recording himself on a seven-day survival trek. Let me emphasize that: this guy is alone, schlepping fifty pounds of camera gear himself, while devising his own food, water, and shelter (he typically brings the most absurdly minimal survival gear with him, like a single match, a candy bar, maybe a rusty tin can).
He’s hardcore. And he’s quite a nice guy, which makes you root for him as he survives the elements.
mental_floss magazine – Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
Leave a comment if you have an opinion. Check out both TV shows if you’ve not seen both.
UPDATE: Season 2 of Survivor Man Begins August 10th on the Discovery Channel. (via The Adventure Blog)
besthike.com 
I wrote about this topic recently on my site.
Bear Gryllis’s stuff isn’t faked, but he does deliberately put himself into dangerous extra situations to show either how you get out of them (e.g. jumping into, then wriggling out of, quicksand) or what to do if the situation suddenly becomes more extreme (e.g. drinking the water out of elephant dung). He also has a camera crew along, unlike Les, which provides the shows very different vibes and sets them apart despite the similarities.
I love both shows and don’t think you have to pick one or the other. Both guys seem like someone you’d like to share a beer with and listen to stories.
Bear Grylls is totally a fake.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6911748.stm
His show should be called Man vs Motel Room
i dont care if its fake….its good entertainment…i dont want to watch a guy complain about his camera gear i want to watch a guy jump into waterfalls and eat spiders
man vs wild is a joke, he is unrealistic eating raw fish when he has a nice fire burning next to him? and the time he climbed this 50 ft cliff just to see if there are eggs in a nest, plus he eats the eggs raw, wich u r risking getting sick and u will die. people who watch that show is just watching it to see bear eat gross things wen he has a fire next to him. les stroud is not an idiot that likes to take risks, and he does’nt have a camera crew following him and giving him a big mac from mcdonalds between every scene. les is tough he has a strong mind and shows that he can truly survive so that u can’t say that wut he does is fake. can’t wait for season 2
man vs wild is good if u want to see a laugh, bear is a wanna be les stroud that doesnt mind eeting elephant crap and drinking piss. les stroud is the real deel that should be givin respect to. but it takes mango size balls to do wut he does. so i tip my hat to u les stroud.
Great energy gone wild. I appreciate the important lesson of survival but say you are wrong in chewing frogs and such for the sake of entertainment. That is really not cool. Get a f*(&in salad!
Your a cool guy so don’t fall off.
Les Stroud IS the real deal. If you’re looking for a corporate America, extreme-TV kinda thing, then watch Bear and his ridiculous and reckless show of Man vs. Wild. Season 1, African Savannah is a perfect example of how little respect this man has for the environment he’s within. Pissing off lions, snakes, elephants, rhinos; anything to get that exciting shot for Discovery Channel. Good job selling out for the riskiest shit on television.
Sad part about all of this is that this show could very well spell it out for you; Man versus Wild, and when he’s acting foolish within foreign environments, Wild is bound to win one day. I hope he doesn’t have any children that he’ll surely leave behind.
Just for the record, I downloaded the entire Season 1 of Man vs. Wild, and deleted that crap off my computer, regretting slowing down my internet connection for two days while getting the torrent file.
On the other hand, Les Stroud does the real deal, and does not need to shit his pants while running down a hill and jumping off cliffs at midnight at the same time. He’s calm, cool, calculated, and realistic as to what one would do if they found themselves within a dire situation in any given place. His DVDs are definitely worth the purchase, and the basic things you learn are valuable to any outdoor experience.
From personal wilderness experience, I have learned and applied more to the outdoors from what I’ve seen Les do, than any of the dozen books I have on outdoor survival. You’re awesome Les, keep it real.
-Marc