I would like to think I live dangerously. We all do. But let's face it—in a typical day I do The New York Times crossword puzzle, run at the SERF and read my Entertainment Weekly. The closest I come to danger is riskily eating the expired sour cream in the back of my refrigerator. If you are like me—craving a thirst for danger while living a sedentary, college life—""Man vs. Wild"" is the show for you.
""Man vs. Wild"" is one of the Discovery Channel's latest, successful endeavors. The weekly broadcast takes viewers on survival adventures around the world with an ex-special operations British soldier named Bear Grylls.
Grylls is a trained survival expert who has done everything from climb Mount Everest (he was the youngest Brit to ever achieve this feat) to navigate the remote corners of the Atlantic Ocean in a small fishing vessel.
The trouble Grylls gets himself into on his show is enough to keep audiences captivated in enjoyable dismay and vicariously satisfy any desires for danger and thrills.
He strands himself in popular wilderness destinations, with only two cameramen and a personal camera of his own. As Grylls desperately scours his way back to civilization, he demonstrates survival techniques someone could use should they ever find themselves in a similar situation. A side note—the cameramen are only allowed to interact with Grylls if they need to save his life.
My first encounter with ""Man vs. Wild"" came late one night as I was up studying for midterms. I was flipping through channels when I came across a man climbing up a waterfall with his bare hands. He then proceeded to a river, where he fashioned a raft out of logs and tied it with tree bark. Needless to say—I was intrigued.
Grylls' demonstrations of where to find food, how to fashion transportation and where to sleep safely are all interesting. However, the true danger comes when he takes it upon himself to show people how they can survive risky situations.
In one such instance, Grylls had parachuted to the summit of a French Alp and was slowly making his way down the mountain.
""Over here we have a frozen lake,"" Grylls narrated. ""Now, if you wind up having to fish in this lake or fall in, you're going to be in a sticky situation. Unfortunately, the only way I can show you how to survive this situation is to dive in myself.""
I watched, in horror, as Grylls dove head first into the frozen river and slowly made his way back to shore.
""Now, it's very important that I dry myself off right away or I could freeze,"" Grylls yelled, stripping naked and throwing snow on himself. ""The snow will dry my skin, and blast, my fire I built ahead of time has gone out.""
I am honored that Grylls puts himself in the face of danger every week for the rare instance that I am hiking alone in Africa and fall into quicksand or need to eat plant sap in the jungles of the Amazon.
However, I have now realized I am completely content to sit in my room with my expired sour cream and watch someone else face the real danger.
