Likely a hotel.
My boyfriend and I love this show! I’m ashamed to admit I completely thought it was real while my boyfriend thought it was a crock, always pointing out what was fake. I’m so gullible sometimes; I always argued the camera men were there to help if something goes terribly wrong, but otherwise they’re not involved at all.
He called me to smugly let me know he was right. It went something like this:
Him: Man vs Wild really is fake, your beloved Bear is a fraud.
Me: That’s not possible.
Him: He was exposed, it’s all over the Internet.
Me: I don’t believe you.
Him: When he was supposed to be stranded overnight on an island, he was actually staying in a luxury hotel in Hawaii.
Me: I don’t believe you…and I can’t hear you. click
I have a huge crush on Bear, maybe that’s why I couldn’t see any of his faults. I’m totally disappointed!
**Survivorman is much more authentic, but Les doesn’t carry the show as well as Bear can. **
Just watched my first two episodes of “Survivorman” (from 2004) and I would tend to agree. My take is that Survivorman is a laid back version of Man vs. Wild (and since it has “vs” in the title, how come Versus didn’t pick this show up…nevermind)…Les ends up camping in a stationary position for several days before attempting to move to civilization; Bear tends to put himself in much more extreme situations necessitating a quicker exit for both survival and entertainment purposes. Both point out survival techniques and strategies, just in different ways.
Both are entertaining shows IMO and I will watch the new season of Les’s show…and I will continue to watch Man v. Wild as well…
I lost respect for the guy when I learned he named his son Marmaduke.
“Les ends up camping in a stationary position for several days before attempting to move to civilization”
Not to insult your intelligence, but in the vast majority of situations, for 99% of people, staying put is the best strategy when you become lost. Bear is trying to entertain, not instruct on what everyguy should do.
No worries, I’m comfortable in my intelligence… 
Les even makes the comment that a choice needs to be made based on the conditions as to whether you hunker down stationary, presuming someone knew you were out and will be looking for you, or take off and try to find your way out. I agree with you in that it seems most people who trek off into the yonder end up hopelessly lost, going around in circles or getting themselves into a much worse situation than if they had simply stayed where they were and made the best of it.
I’d say that survivorman is set in some pretty nasty places - did you catch the episode where he simulated a plane crash in northern canada in the middle of winter.
I forget what episode it was of survivorman where he bascially gave up and waited for his crew to find him because it was such a tough climate.
is Survivor Man fake too?? I find it hard to believe…
Is it fake? That depends on how you define fake. Is it a real-world no-shit survival situation? Of course not, it is entertainment. I would contend that Les is far more realistic than Bear. Les is on his own, (probably with someway to contact his people if a real-world situation would develop) doing things that average guy could do in a rw situation. Bear is climbing freaking waterfalls, drinking elephant shit, and sliding into ice caves. i doubt many survival instructors are going to teach these techniques. OTOH, bear’s show is more entertaining to average guy because of the cool shit he does.
I’d say that survivorman is set in some pretty nasty places - did you catch the episode where he simulated a plane crash in northern canada in the middle of winter.
I agree…the only two episodes I have seen were one in the swamps of Georgia (similar to the Everglade experience on “Man v. Wild”) and one where he simulated a canoe rollover accident in the rapids of a river in Canada…
The previews of the upcoming season look like Les is upping the ante a bit with the locales, so that I will be watching for. Both his and Bear’s show are entertaining to me, for different reasons.
fake: I guess if the guy is out in a location where he could easily be seriously harmed and have no way to contact civilization, then I would consider it real. if he has a satelite phone with him to call for help: fake.
one of his recent shows he was “stranded at sea”. but an observation boat was a couple hundred feet away. =fake
That’s funny. I was thinking of the ocean episode also. I really don’t think that any insurance company would allow there to be no way to contact his staff if it was a life, limb, or eyesight situation. So my guess is even Les’ shows are “fake” by that definition.
neither of these are fake if the situation is disclosed to the viewer.
what makes a show fake is when it is presented as something it is not.