Do not get me wrong, I admire Les for going into the bush for 7 days at a time and surviving on his own. However, I find him truly annoying and at times gaining no information on how to survive in the scenarios he's in. I just finished watching the Alaska episode where he kayaks into a small bay. The only food other than grass that he managed to find and eat was a rotting fish. He basically survived 7 days on only old half eaten fish that he found decaying on a rock. From my perspective, Les needs to focus more on showing the viewers how to find and capture food while in the wild and show less of him complaining about how tired or fatigued or hungry he is, and pointless shot after shot of him wandering around. I also find the sounds he makes when he does eat something tasty super annoying. A show that conquers this show hands down is Man Vs. Wild. Yes I get that Bear Gryls has plenty of help and isn't "surviving" on his own, but its much much more interesting to actually see how to find and capture food as well as build proper shelters, not just laying on the ground all the time complaining about being cold or getting bitten by bugs.

Stay calm, don't panic, and use your head. I can't think of any other show on TV that stresses this. OK there might be some, but they don't spring to mind. Now thinking about it I still can't. The host Les Stroud is the only guy on the show. He lugs around all of his equipment(video and sound stuff) so there is no mysterious unseen cameraman. He refers to his crew but they just drop him off in the middle of nowhere and stay away only to be seen at the end. He does take in supplies but they are minimal. They consist of basically garbage and whatever is lying around. With this he survives for a week in all sorts of different climates, situations and then hikes out lugging his equipment. All this is done with a minimum of flash. Which is the best part. And as an extra bonus you can watch it with your kids and learn something in the process.

Les Stroud is my hero.Survivorman is no doubt an epic show that deserves more credit than it gets. Most people pass this show off as "boring," but you can tell that they never really sit down to watch it. You can't really judge a show by the 5 minutes that you watched. Not to mention that the information on Survivorman is useful. Man vs. Wild was good, but it featured Bear doing impossible stunts and jumping from cliff to cliff. Survivorman just seems more practical. Les beats the crap out of himself for our amusement, and we should honor him for that. Excellent show.I suddenly have the urge to savagely rip into a pond tuber, but those taste like crap. I then bite into a river reed and break my teeth in half. It got woody on me.

If Les has written a guide on how to survive in the Wilderness...I want to buy it. The show is fantastic and informative. He never sugar coats any situation. He does not take unreasonable risks much like a normal person wouldn't. Les takes you there and you feel the experience. He also shows you how to use what is available. In one episode they haul in a crashed single engine plane. The show scenario is that Les has just crashed and is assessing his situation. He shows you how to salvage it and use most all of the plane for his shelter, clothing and trip back to civilization. He has shown how to make fire in more situations than I have ever seen. I have seen and enjoyed a lot of survivor shows...this one is tops!