# So who here has seen "Survivorman"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-here-has-seen-survivorman/315618
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 4, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-here-has-seen-survivorman/315618 "2005-08-04T21:01:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-here-has-seen-survivorman/315618/1 "2005-08-04T21:01:46Z")
I just discovered this show on OLN (Outdoor Life Network: Canada) after some buddies told me about it.
It’s pretty damn cool! The premise is they drop this guy off in a survival situation for 7 days and he films himself surviving. Each situation has a theme, mountain biking and bike breaks in the middle of the Utah desert, snowmobile dies in the Arctic, etc.
They have made 9 episodes and the ones I have seen so far are:
- Artic Circle - Snow mobile dies
- Set adrift in the Carribean - Boat sinks and is on a life raft
- Utah Desert - Mountain Bike breaks
- I think it was the Mojave desert - Motorcycle dies
- Costa Rica - I missed the first 5 minutes so I’m not sure how he got there
It’s pretty cool. There’s no camera crew either, so when he’s in “Survival Mode” he’s moving around 5 little cameras and batteries. He’s always complaining about setting up shots etc.
MtM
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### Author:  [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-here-has-seen-survivorman/315618/2 "2005-08-04T23:17:10Z")
Great show. I’ve seen all the episodes, except the life raft one.
Of course, he’s a little overdramatic in many of the voiceovers.
“If I get hurt, there’s nobody around for miles, I have no way to get help.”
Meanwhile, he’s got an FRS radio on his hip, turned on, plus he’s got a satellite phone back at camp (and a GPS too I’m sure, just in case the crew has to search for him). Doesn’t detract that much from the show for me…
I think the show was started after he did a couple pieces on the (Canadian) Discovery Channel (on the Daily Planet, or perhaps @Discovery.ca… I don’t remember how long ago he did it), about surviving in the north.
Of course, there’s not too many climates he hasn’t done survival in yet, so I can’t see the show going on for too long. More of a mini-series than a series.
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### Author:  [@Sgt.Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sgt.Pepper)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-here-has-seen-survivorman/315618/3 "2005-08-05T02:44:03Z")
I’ve watched it and enjoy it. I do agree that he does overdo the dangers a bit. For instance in the raft one he kept mentioning the sharks, in the artic it was the polar bears etc. Overall though, it’s pretty good. I caught one wrap-up show where he discussed some of situations. It was a nice wrap-up, but was in the same style of the show. I would have preffered more bloopers and behind the scene stuff. They did show some bloopers, which were pretty amusing.
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### Author:  [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-here-has-seen-survivorman/315618/4 "2005-08-05T03:44:56Z")
Is this the same show where the guy is out in the Arctic and is stranded when his dog sled team runs away? Or maybe that was a National Geographic special. Was pretty good though-poor guy had to keep setting up his cameras every few hundred feet or so to document his progress.
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### Author:  [@Sgt.Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sgt.Pepper)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-here-has-seen-survivorman/315618/5 "2005-08-05T09:28:34Z")
In Survivorman, for the artic setting, he was on a snowmobile. He just went off in one direciton until it stopped, that’s when the seven days began. He stripped it of anything useful then moved on from there.