The Island -Bear Grylls
Discussion
YES - They eat sea birds in the Scottish Isles, but they need to be boiled for an awfully long time (days) until you can eat them and even then they are pretty awful. Not sure how much meat is on a Pelican and I'm sure it would be tough and not too nice.
Tell me what you know about the Pelican. How would you cook it ?? Boil it or just roast over open fire ?
Tell me what you know about the Pelican. How would you cook it ?? Boil it or just roast over open fire ?
Worked with another guy that works with the adventure type tv crew.
Non of that s
te for me thanks. I complain if the pillow in my luxury hotel hasn't the right density of down when I'm away filming.
Two of the guys are real cameramen, one's a director and one's a sound engineer. They stash used batteries and discs/cards in a box in some location and a boat comes at night to collect and replenish.
Non of that s
te for me thanks. I complain if the pillow in my luxury hotel hasn't the right density of down when I'm away filming. Two of the guys are real cameramen, one's a director and one's a sound engineer. They stash used batteries and discs/cards in a box in some location and a boat comes at night to collect and replenish.
Edited by croyde on Thursday 15th May 09:57
MiniMan64 said:
Like I said, there's definitely a whiff of the edit. Every week we get a different theme, water, food and next week, conflict and it's presented to us that these things happen one after the other.
But watch the length of facial hair, the dirtiness of clothes and the size of the camp change and it seems things may not be as they look. Bit of a shame really as I would have liked to have seen it unfold more as it happened.
I don't think you would. Of course it's edited, and deliberately done to make the show interesting. If it wasn't, it'd be like watching somebody's holiday video. You have to assume Channel 4's editors know what they're doing and they're working with what they've got. They're hardly amateurs.But watch the length of facial hair, the dirtiness of clothes and the size of the camp change and it seems things may not be as they look. Bit of a shame really as I would have liked to have seen it unfold more as it happened.
Even if it's based on reality TV still needs a story and characters, otherwise it'd be really boring.
True, I can't imagine week after week of "I'm thirsty, I'm hungry, it's too hot, you're a dick, yeah.. Well I don't like your tattoo" would be particularly entertaining.. It is nice to see it chunked up into "the challenges" they faced.
The "yeah that was done right humane that" killing of the crocodile is my biggest gripe with the show so far. I'm not sure I'll be tuning in next time. I'll probably have another look and see when Ed Stafford is repeated. I find that a much more interesting watch, and to be fair, he makes BG look like a bit of a nancy.
The "yeah that was done right humane that" killing of the crocodile is my biggest gripe with the show so far. I'm not sure I'll be tuning in next time. I'll probably have another look and see when Ed Stafford is repeated. I find that a much more interesting watch, and to be fair, he makes BG look like a bit of a nancy.
Interesting article in today's Daily Mirror about how it's partly a set-up. The water hole was deliberately made, apparently. And the guy who caught the cayman is a buddy of Grylls.
On reflection, I suppose genuinely leaving 13 no-marks without food or water would have been a teeny bit dangerous, and left the production company open to huge compo claims in the event of someone getting seriously hurt, or worse.
On reflection, I suppose genuinely leaving 13 no-marks without food or water would have been a teeny bit dangerous, and left the production company open to huge compo claims in the event of someone getting seriously hurt, or worse.
nicanary said:
Interesting article in today's Daily Mirror about how it's partly a set-up. The water hole was deliberately made, apparently. And the guy who caught the cayman is a buddy of Grylls.
On reflection, I suppose genuinely leaving 13 no-marks without food or water would have been a teeny bit dangerous, and left the production company open to huge compo claims in the event of someone getting seriously hurt, or worse.
The 2 guys who caught the cayman are most likely plants, put in to keep things moving along and make it interesting. Other people aren't specifically plants but have clearly been put in for a specific skill they have (the doctor, the st. johns guy, the farm lad, the guy into his fishing) and some have been put in as they have boarder line personality disorders (the call centre guy, the ex bobby), its all about making entertaining TV and keeping them safe.On reflection, I suppose genuinely leaving 13 no-marks without food or water would have been a teeny bit dangerous, and left the production company open to huge compo claims in the event of someone getting seriously hurt, or worse.
Interesting article in today's Telegraph. Written by Bear in response to accusations of the show being staged: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/108405...
Full transcript:
A thought to ponder after the hottest weekend of the year so far: As pleasant as the blazing sunshine is, how would you cope with a month of consistent 30 degree heat, humidity, and incessant biting sand flies, stranded on a remote and uninhabited island in the Pacific – with just a few basic tools, 12 other men for company and no food and water other than what you could catch and find yourself?
There are very few people who would choose to be put through what I think is by far the toughest survival show on television – and experience the intensity of thirst, hunger, and raw emotion that the 13 men stranded on The Island have suffered with. I simply don’t understand the critics who have said it’s some sort of set-up – take it from me, the men who survived on the island have faced as true a test of survival as it’s possible to have. The only thing we made sure is that they wouldn’t die out there.
When we set out to make the series we wanted to explore the notion that the role of modern man has changed dramatically in a few generations, and question if our traditional hunter-gatherer skills are now redundant. We wanted to see if a cross section of British men - a call centre worker, former policeman, actor and yes, cameramen - who may not have the practical skills of their forefathers - could still dig deep and survive.
We didn’t enter in to the experiment lightly. We knew that we had a very basic duty to ensure the men could survive, as well as a duty to the island habitat and a duty to the viewer - all things we took very seriously. As I clearly state in the programmes, “I’ve ensured that the island has enough food and water to keep them alive but only if they have the ingenuity to find it, catch it and kill it“. We made sure that there was just enough resources to sustain them, but without the effort, courage and resolve required to secure them, it would mean nothing.
There was a huge challenge in finding the uninhabited island that could offer all of this and host the experiment. The one we selected was found during the rainy season when it had ample water supply but we were to abandon the men when it was dry so the production team had to make a decision to line and top up an existing water hole so that the water in it would not evaporate. It certainly wasn’t drinkable without purification.
We also had a responsibility to ensure that the habitat of the island would not be damaged by the men’s stay. We added indigenous yucca and two caiman to the existing population on the island so that the men had enough to eat and we did not damage the natural eco system, all with the support of the local environment agency.
The men chosen were genuinely left with just the clothes they stood up in, plus a small number of tools, medical kit, camera equipment to film their experiences - plus a two-way radio to ensure they could call for an emergency if needed. Full information of this was posted on the Channel 4 website for anyone who wanted to argue that a sunhat gave the men an unfair advantage!
For 28 days the production team were poised on a neighbouring island in case they got that emergency call that something had gone very wrong and our planned evac protocol might have to be put into action. There were many concerns also over their weight loss which was recorded each week by one of the men on the island, a trained doctor, and a sigh of relief always came after the daily call from the two-way radio assured the production team that the guys were still alive and in one piece. As producers we do have a responsibility to the men to make sure that they did not die.
In order to keep the integrity of the experiment and capture events on the island we decided early on that shipping in a properly fed and rested crew each day would not work. We wanted the men to survive on their own, to go native, but we also had to make a programme worth watching. For that very reason we decided to abandon several 'crew' alongside them too. Our chosen crew were all trained and capable but they were not survival experts. And with no perks they would have to survive alongside the rest of the men, as well as film events as they happened.
As the millions of viewers who have tuned into the series will attest, this unique way of filming events on the island is not hidden; it is made explicit in the show. Entirely unlike many other TV shows the crew are part of the story, appearing on screen, their roles clearly identified in both the voice over and on screen captions. The press also got the chance to interview them openly about their role when we launched the series. I believe that having the crew living through this experience on camera is what gives the show its integrity, not what takes it away.
I have worked with two of the crew from the island before and when I spoke to one of them about his reasons for doing this project he told me that having filmed me doing my shows for some time, he had always wondered if he could actually do this stuff himself. He wanted to do it for himself. Just like so many viewers have wondered: 'could they survive if it was them?'
In short, I so admire and respect all the men's effort and what they went through. It was brutal.
To see a united group of grown men cry out with delight when they find a beehive filled with honey and dance with pride after making fire (admittedly it did take 18 hours) makes me very proud of this series. To dismiss this show as a set-up, when it is clearly not, is to diss the efforts of all of the 13 men and the extraordinary journey they went through.
Instead we should celebrate their courage, learn from their experiences and enjoy the show.
Or let's maybe suggest some of those journalist critics had a crack themselves - let's see how they get on, and more importantly, see how they then feel afterwards to be told it is all a set-up.
Full transcript:
A thought to ponder after the hottest weekend of the year so far: As pleasant as the blazing sunshine is, how would you cope with a month of consistent 30 degree heat, humidity, and incessant biting sand flies, stranded on a remote and uninhabited island in the Pacific – with just a few basic tools, 12 other men for company and no food and water other than what you could catch and find yourself?
There are very few people who would choose to be put through what I think is by far the toughest survival show on television – and experience the intensity of thirst, hunger, and raw emotion that the 13 men stranded on The Island have suffered with. I simply don’t understand the critics who have said it’s some sort of set-up – take it from me, the men who survived on the island have faced as true a test of survival as it’s possible to have. The only thing we made sure is that they wouldn’t die out there.
When we set out to make the series we wanted to explore the notion that the role of modern man has changed dramatically in a few generations, and question if our traditional hunter-gatherer skills are now redundant. We wanted to see if a cross section of British men - a call centre worker, former policeman, actor and yes, cameramen - who may not have the practical skills of their forefathers - could still dig deep and survive.
We didn’t enter in to the experiment lightly. We knew that we had a very basic duty to ensure the men could survive, as well as a duty to the island habitat and a duty to the viewer - all things we took very seriously. As I clearly state in the programmes, “I’ve ensured that the island has enough food and water to keep them alive but only if they have the ingenuity to find it, catch it and kill it“. We made sure that there was just enough resources to sustain them, but without the effort, courage and resolve required to secure them, it would mean nothing.
There was a huge challenge in finding the uninhabited island that could offer all of this and host the experiment. The one we selected was found during the rainy season when it had ample water supply but we were to abandon the men when it was dry so the production team had to make a decision to line and top up an existing water hole so that the water in it would not evaporate. It certainly wasn’t drinkable without purification.
We also had a responsibility to ensure that the habitat of the island would not be damaged by the men’s stay. We added indigenous yucca and two caiman to the existing population on the island so that the men had enough to eat and we did not damage the natural eco system, all with the support of the local environment agency.
The men chosen were genuinely left with just the clothes they stood up in, plus a small number of tools, medical kit, camera equipment to film their experiences - plus a two-way radio to ensure they could call for an emergency if needed. Full information of this was posted on the Channel 4 website for anyone who wanted to argue that a sunhat gave the men an unfair advantage!
For 28 days the production team were poised on a neighbouring island in case they got that emergency call that something had gone very wrong and our planned evac protocol might have to be put into action. There were many concerns also over their weight loss which was recorded each week by one of the men on the island, a trained doctor, and a sigh of relief always came after the daily call from the two-way radio assured the production team that the guys were still alive and in one piece. As producers we do have a responsibility to the men to make sure that they did not die.
In order to keep the integrity of the experiment and capture events on the island we decided early on that shipping in a properly fed and rested crew each day would not work. We wanted the men to survive on their own, to go native, but we also had to make a programme worth watching. For that very reason we decided to abandon several 'crew' alongside them too. Our chosen crew were all trained and capable but they were not survival experts. And with no perks they would have to survive alongside the rest of the men, as well as film events as they happened.
As the millions of viewers who have tuned into the series will attest, this unique way of filming events on the island is not hidden; it is made explicit in the show. Entirely unlike many other TV shows the crew are part of the story, appearing on screen, their roles clearly identified in both the voice over and on screen captions. The press also got the chance to interview them openly about their role when we launched the series. I believe that having the crew living through this experience on camera is what gives the show its integrity, not what takes it away.
I have worked with two of the crew from the island before and when I spoke to one of them about his reasons for doing this project he told me that having filmed me doing my shows for some time, he had always wondered if he could actually do this stuff himself. He wanted to do it for himself. Just like so many viewers have wondered: 'could they survive if it was them?'
In short, I so admire and respect all the men's effort and what they went through. It was brutal.
To see a united group of grown men cry out with delight when they find a beehive filled with honey and dance with pride after making fire (admittedly it did take 18 hours) makes me very proud of this series. To dismiss this show as a set-up, when it is clearly not, is to diss the efforts of all of the 13 men and the extraordinary journey they went through.
Instead we should celebrate their courage, learn from their experiences and enjoy the show.
Or let's maybe suggest some of those journalist critics had a crack themselves - let's see how they get on, and more importantly, see how they then feel afterwards to be told it is all a set-up.
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