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Tuesday September 25, 2007 1:45 pm
Discovery to air recut Man vs. Wild episodes
It’s a long-running argument…discussion…whatever. Where did the first roots of reality TV really get placed? MTV gets credited for The Real World, but some say CBS revolutionized the genre with shows like Survivor. Reality TV is very loosely defined as “unscripted,” and that means reality really extends back way before cable even existed. News broadcasts, even game shows can be called reality. And in the very earliest days of game shows, when on-screen competition was born, scandal marred the public view of television. The quiz shows were fixed, and the way the public looked at television was for ever changed. Today, most of us accept that not all reality TV is really real. Still…it comes as a surprise when we find that some shows are truly not at all what they seem. And now, the Discovery Channel is getting ready to eat crow. Or maybe ratings.
Read More Beginning Monday, the Discovery Channel started airing re-edited versions of Man vs. Wild, a popular (for the channel) show about a man in the wilderness honing his own survival instincts. The re-edited versions of each episode are being released as part of a cable TV mea culpa. You see, “some elements” of the show were faked. Star Bear Grylls spent some nights at a motel and received some off-camera assistance when constructing structures (rafts, bridges, shelters, etc.). The cable channel has admitted that “some episodes were not natural to the environment.” The re-edited episodes are being aired with a disclaimer and new voice-overs from Bear Grylls. A team at the Discovery Channel has been carefully reviewing episodes of Man vs. Wild, editing those elements that aren’t “natural to the environment.” The list of elements that were changed for the show goes on and on. During one episode, Grylls was shown cooking a rabbit he’d purportedly caught, a rabbit that was really given to him by the crew. A rock-climbing scene was actually performed with a technical harness, and some nights that showed Grylls bedding down in the wilderness were actually spent at the comfort of a nearby motel. Man vs. Wild, the second season, is already in production and will begin on Nov. 16. The now dubious nature of the show has cast an unsavory light on the rest of the Discovery Channel’s programming. Another popular show on the channel, Survivorman, is built on the exact same plot as Man vs. Wild. Is one more valid than the other? So far, Discovery hasn’t breathed a word that any other show on the channel is anything less than reality…but the channel has, at least, admitted that everything is not quite what it seems. How far does the fix extend?
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- Related Tags:
- bear grylls, discovery, discovery channel, fake, fixed, man vs. wild, not natural, survivorman, unnatural, unscripted
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Comments:
It begs one question: What do we value as viewers—educational properties or authenticity? The purpose of the show is to educate people about the dangers of the wilderness and how to survive them. Grylls is still providing important information, but Discovery has chosen to dramatize the avenue through which that information reaches the public.
I personally don’t mind the controversy. The show is compelling and educational despite the façade.
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Sadly one fallacy of the program still exists, That Bear Gyrlls is in fact “teaching” survival skills. The truth is that he and his program have been the laughing stock of the survival community and to some extent avid outdoorsmen and women since its inception. A large percentage of his advice is horribly bad or blatantly wrong. Without prior knowledge, telling the good from the bad is impossible, rendering the shows educational value at nil.
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I really find it funny that people are jumping all over Bear Grylls for setting up some of the things he does for Man vs Wild. Why would any program want to endanger their talent? I think the most important thing here is realize that he is teaching some very, very valuable stuff. How would you ever know that you can suck moisture from moss or how to skin a snake and cook it. I would never have known how to make a bed between heated stones. It was just last week that a man was rescued from freezing temperatures being lost on a deer hunt by using some of the very techniques he learned from this program. Does he care if Bear actually set them up to teach him how its done? Probably not. Why is everyone all over Bear for not beating up his body time after time just so they can watch how much he can take? I think it would be a short series if he actually had to endure all they want him to. So, just sit back and relax and enjoy what you see and maybe learn something for a time you might need it.
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