SnoopyStyle
TV personality Bear Grylls is the leader, supervisor, judge and jury for this competition show. He directs these teams of 2 to travel, build fire, eat disgusting food, and build shelter. They compete in a specific challenge to get immunity from Bear's judgment.Ultimately, Bear judges these teams as to which one is most likely not to survive. This is really subjective. That part of the show is the weakest part. It has the least meaning. Seeing the contestants struggle their way through the wilderness is much more fascinating. But the overall show isn't that compelling. It mattered very little to me who actually won the darn thing.
BeanPuncher
They obviously spent a lot of money on good cameras and post production. If that is praise it ends there. They forgot to make this a show. Nothing about it is entertaining. If it is a reality show, there is zero social game. The competitions are tying sticks together in high grass. All of what makes a reality show a show is missing from this series. Having one guy choose who goes home at the end of the show and ultimately who wins is perhaps the biggest mistake. I get it, Bear is some kind of survival guru icon. So what? Him deciding who goes deletes any element of social game this might of had. They need to either just cancel this series or take it back to the drawing board for the next season. A TV series ultimately must be a show. Nobody cares if 10 people have to cross a creek. Only some hard core survival show enthusiasts care enough about what Bear thinks to watch a network series based entirely on his opinions disguised as a reality show.
geoff_fairburn
What can I say? This show is simply awful. There isn't much survival education in this program. It is simply about childish games where if you win you get to pig out in the feast pit or if you are hungry you have to eat worms and eyeballs. There is also a massive amount of product placement in this show, which I find tiresome.For me the emphasis on "winning" in this show is totally misguided. If the show is was surviving people should be judged on the skills shown after they have been taught basic bush craft skills. For example, Bear could have taught the teams how to cross rivers safely, how to treat someone with the early signs of hypothermia or how to use a map and compass.Given the increasing number of tourists who come to New Zealand each year and get themselves into trouble this is the responsible thing to do. Many of incidents in the New Zealand wilderness are due to mistakes people make.
toliverj01-491-672745
While I enjoy watching Bear, this show has too much of the contestants trying to win money and not enough Bear. I hope he has not canceled his other show in favor of this show. It appears that the producers may have picked some contestants that were not up to the challenge. I got a bigger kick of seeing Bear solo. It seems like he is cast a an authority figure who is charged wit fussing at the contestants. I found this less entertaining than the other show. I think it would have been more fun to watch people who are already in great shape attempt to keep up with Bear. For example it would have been fun to watch "fish out of water" people like firemen, personal trainers, and other who are already in excellent shape.