Entertainment >
TV Characters & Personalities
Get a Widget for this title
RSS FeedWho is the better survivalist?
Results so far:
| Bear Gryls | 54% | 25 votes | Total: 46 votes | |
| Les Stroud | 46% | 21 votes |
Bear Gryls
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesI am a huge fan of both Bear Gryls and Les Stroud. Both men are entertaining, informative, and true experts in the art of survival. Personally, I would place my trust in either of these men if it came to a matter of survival.
However, I would have to say that Bear Gryls is the better survivalist based on his specialized military training and personal accomplishments. He has served in the British Special Forces and also holds a Guinness Book record for being the youngest Brit to ever climb Mount Everest. Les Stroud, on the other hand, was employed in the music industry and held a job as a trash collector in Toronto.
While both men are true experts in the field of survival, Bear Gryls has the work experience and resume to make him stand above Les Stroud. However, one argument against Bear Gryls is that he often takes too many chances. Perhaps he is merely playing to a television audience, but Les always seems to put safety first. But in a real-life survival situation, I would have to believe that Bear would be smart enough to stick to the basics and not take any unnecessary risks.
Another reason why I choose Bear Gryls is because he seems to be comfortable in practically any terrain. From sub-Sahara Africa to the frozen tundra of Canada's northernmost reaches and all places in between, Bear knows how to get the job done. Stroud, on the other hand, seems to be better acquainted with cold-weather survival techniques. Stroud doesn't seem to hold up as well in the extreme heat of the desert climate as Gryls. I believe this has to do with Bear's military training and the fact that Stroud has spent most of his professional career in Canada's Northwest Territories.
While both men are evenly matched when it comes to knowledge, I believe Gryls has the advantage when it comes to physical execution of survival techniques. Bear Gryls seems equally at home swimming across an ice-cold river as he does scaling a rocky cliff in the middle of a tropical jungle, whereas Stroud seems to be best suited to mere hiking. If you compare survivalism to a professional sport, Gryls would be the complete athlete equally adept at playing offense and defense, while Stroud would be a one-way player. However, at any rate, both would be All-Stars.
At first glance, Bear Gryls and Les Stroud are both cut from the same rugged cloth. Some would argue that both men are crazy, and both men eats bugs and wild animals on camera for a living. They both enjoy being in places where any sane human would dare not go. In order to decide who the best survivalist is, we can only base our argument on a professional resume, and by that criteria the winner would have to be Bear Gryls.
Learn more about this author, Marlin Bressi.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Les Stroud
Having watched both Bear Gryls and Les Stroud, I have to conclude that Les is the best in providing more of a real time, realistic, and holistic education in matters of survival. Bear Gryls is most excellent in staged demonstrations of dealing with the more critical, dramatic, and dangerous situations. But it is difficult with staged scenarios to get a sense of the entire challenge of spending time in the wild.
Les Stroud has demonstrated, week after week, how even a few days in the wild can tax the body, spirit, and will to survive. It is more realistic when he demonstrates that he has not eaten in a day, and how hunger, dehydration, and the extremes of temperature can cause all forms of exhaustion. He demonstrates to the last detail many philosophies, tips and techniques for surviving with only a handful of items that prove to be useful or not in starting fires (not an easy proposition), rationing the last bits of some snack food, building a variety of shelters, and getting food from the unlikeliest sources.
Mr. Stroud's demonstrations of which tiny little plants contain the most nutrients, how to collect water from the cleanest sources, and even how to lead pack horses and other people through survival scenarios are far more comprehensive and detailed. The temporal as well as natural realities are made more clear when the survival expert actually makes it, alone, and on his wits, from the drop off point to the pickup point in time to meet his rescuers.
In one scenario, Mr. Stroud even demonstrated the process of being rescued as part of a joint exercise with a full blown search team, showing that it is not as easy for even an expert survivalist to be detected while in the dense or vast wilds. He also demonstrated that he is quite the whole person, as he has musical skills with the guitar, harmonica, and a fine singing voice. This makes sense, as Mr. Stroud was a professional musician, as well as a filmmaker.
Les Stroud is, indeed an icon of the survival and survival film making field who has earned his reputation, having spent a year in the wilderness with his wife, Sue Jameson, who is a photographer, living was is termed a "Paleolithic" existence. His resulting film "Snowshoes and Solitude" won minor independent film awards. He most recently worked on a project that involves introducing teens to the wilderness for a show called "Survive This".
Learn more about this author, Elizabeth M. Young.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Difference of opinion? Debate now.
- TV Characters & Personalities
- Have the Gosselin kids from "Jon & Kate Plus 8" been helped, or hurt, by the TLC show documenting their lives?
- Who would win in a fight: Jack Bauer or Chuck Norris?
- Should Jerry Seinfeld star in another television sitcom?
- Did Kristy Lee Cook's scandal impact her elimination from American Idol?
- The more attractive TV personality: Simon Cowell or Piers Morgan?
