Bear Grylls

One of the most knowlegable survivalists around is the star of a very popular reality television show, Man vs Wild. He is an ex British special forces officer and professional survivalist who has proved that he can survive any where in the world at any time in any weather with minimal supplies. In fact, as his reputation might suggest, his name is actually Bear, Bear Grylls. Bear lives a very non-traditional lifstyle with his wife and son on an old boat. He lives a very modest lifestyle, especially if you consider the fact that he is now rich and famous thanks to is television show. Bear seems to imply a message that living an active lifestyle and staying in touch with nature is very important to a generation who seems to have forgotten about this. Bear does this by portraying wilderness survival as fun and exciting. He is very resourceful and uses his resourcefulness in his show to survive and stay motivated in highly dangerous and very secluded places in the world. For example, in one of his episodes he had just left a frigid river in winter weather, wet and with all cotton clothes on, which, when wet, steal all the heat from your body. He was at risk of hypothermia, and had very little energy left. So he made a fire, heated up some large stones he had gathered up, positioned them at body length, buried them in sand, and laid on them to keep warm and relax. In this way, Bear is able to teach his viewers some resourceful ideas to help stay alive in life threatening conditions and to give examples allowing the viewer to create other resourceful ideas on his/her own. This also gives the show much of its interest factor because you never know what Bear Grylls will have to figure out next.

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The entertainment industry makes billions of dollars each year on your money and the money of everyone else around the world. It is one of the most money making industries around and its only purpose is to entertain us. However, it is important because without entertainment violence and crime would most likely increase. After all, boredom leads to bad things. The reality television scene is becoming one of the most profitable parts of the entertainment industry, however there are many who oppose it. One of the major problems with reality television is the claim to be real. There is a lot of behind the scene staging done that viewers are not aware about and the problem is that most reality television shows try to imply that everything is actually happening as if it were not a TV show and just real life. It is in this way that much of the trust has been violated with reality television shows and many reality television shows have their reputation at stake.

Reality TV is bad for your health

Reality television is a continuation of Stanley Milgram's physchology experiements. The shock treatment experiments followed a give order, take order pyschology, where the experimentors practiced their powers over the subjects. It is in this way that many of the reality television shows work now a days. Many of these shows take average people who choose to sign up for competitive reality shows that promise the winner a large sum of money. These shows, however, reveal embarrasing personal information of the participators and use Milgram's pyschological findings to persuade the participators to do whatever is asked of them. The way this works is through the pyschological authority that is conveyed upon these participators. Milgram's findings concluded that through this authority complex, the subject, in this case the people who are participating in the show, feel they must give in to the authorities wishes despite how they feel about it. Then, as viewers, we are able to view this whole thing play out in the pain of these participants.

While this point makes a strong case, consider the fact that the people who participate in these reality television must agree to participate. They are given prior knowledge of what is expected of them and are also in the running to win something, typically a large sum of money. While this point does correctly address the problem of whether the show is morally right or wrong, these participants are given a choice, and are among many thousands of people who also want to participate regardless of what is expected of them. They are typically involved for the publicity to hopefully recieve some sort of extrinsic rewards other than the winnings.

Man vs Wild vs Survivorman

Many people are very skeptical towards the reality television show Man vs Wild. These people tend to believe that the show is fake and they have a good reason. At least, there reason is good to a certain point. The show is broadcasted through the Discover Channel and they seem to infer that the show's main character, Bear Gyrlls, is actually surviving in the wilderness in some of the most dangerous and desolate places in the world. The actual truth of the show is that Bear Grylls is put in certain situations where his life or well being is at risk and he shows his viewers how to cope with these situations. When the show was first starting and its popularity was growing many people started to find out rumors that Bear was actually staying in hotels at night and that some of the places that Bear Grylls was put in where not desolate at all, but next to or near highly traveled places in the US.

Many of these rumors were found to be truth and the reputation of Man vs Wild was taking a turn for the worse. People began to turn to another reality television show on Discovery Channel called Survivorman. These two shows are very much related, however what many people are not aware of is that they serve two seperate purposes. While Bear Grylls (Man vs Wild) goes out with a camera crew and is specifically put in dangerous situations, Les Stroud, the main character of Survivorman, goes out completely alone into the wild to survive a certain amount of days. As time has gone on the producers of Man vs Wild have added disclaimers at the beginning of every show explaining what the purpose is, however for some, the show is still fake and these people generally watch Survivorman over Man vs Wild.

As an avid Man vs Wild fan myself, I have had to argue for the show numerous times. Each show has its part in reality television, but due to the confusion the occurred at the beginning series of Man vs Wild many people refuse to acknowledge this. The question that comes into play while analyzing this conflict accounts for all reality television shows. There are so many other reality television shows out there that claim to be truth, however they seem far from it. For example, show like, Who wants to marry a millionaire and Tila Tequila. The question isn't simply just are these shows real, but also whether it matters if these shows are real or not. And these questions can reoccur for all reality television shows.

Reality TV: Love/Hate relationship

As television has become more and more popular over the years it has changed its style over and over again. The new genre that has exploded the television show scene ever since 1992 when MTV's, "The Real World", first began has been known as reality TV. This genre in television is highly controversial and stirs up many open topics for debate among people of all ages and all ethnicities. Its exposure has increased dramatically ever since 2000 and today you cannot flip through channels without spotting at least one reality show. Just about anyone who has watched TV over the past ten years has seen reality television and either loves it or despises it. There seems to be a love/hate relationship with reality television, however this varies throughout the wide array of different shows out there.

Among the many reality TV shows out there is one that tries to educate its viewers on wilderness living skill and survival techniques. This show features an ex British special forces officer who also is a wilderness survival advocate. He is truly in tune with nature, in fact, his name is actually Bear Grylls. The show, Man vs Wild, is a very popular show, but recieves much criticism because it tries to imply the fact the Bear is actually surviving out in the wilderness when sometimes he sleeps in a hotel for the night. Although the show seems to imply this, its main purpose is to inform its viewers on new and innovative ways to survive even if they come across extreme conditions. All the while, Bear Grylls actually puts himself in these conditions and demenstrates how he gets through them.