Bear Grylls was the host of a well-liked TV present, Man vs. Wild, and in addition Worst-Case Situation.
No matter what you concentrate on the truth TV present format (trace: I hate it!), Bear Grylls deserves credit score for bringing the topic of survival to the mainstream’s consideration.
If it weren’t for him, many individuals in all probability wouldn’t know survival fundamentals like that you must filter water within the wild.
However for all the superb survival recommendation that Bear Grylls offers, he additionally offers out a number of horrible recommendation.
Listed here are absolutely the worst items of Bear Grylls survival recommendation.
1. Drink Urine
That is maybe one of many worst survival ideas that’s consistently repeated.
Whereas it could be okay to drink your urine one or two instances in a extreme dehydration state of affairs, it’s a very dangerous thought.
Urine is a method that your physique passes out waste. The extra dehydrated you’re, the extra concentrated the waste in your urine will probably be. By ingesting the waste-filled urine, you’re forcing your physique to course of it once more.
And guess what your physique must course of waste? Yep – water.
Learn Extra: The Reality about Consuming Urine for Survival
2. Throw Your Meals At a Bear
Bear Grylls encounters bears a number of instances on his present. In a number of conditions, he offers some actually dangerous survival recommendation.
On this video, Grylls sees a black bear. First off, he makes the silly mistake of staying round to stare at and movie the bear.
He might have slowly backed away and been utterly secure (black bears aren’t as aggressive as brown bears). Then Grylls offers the even dumber survival recommendation of throwing your backpack of meals on the bear. The thought is that the bear will go take a look at the meals and lose curiosity in you.
Throwing meals at a bear is a horrible thought. Except for educating bears to return to folks for meals, it’d piss off the bear, and it might come to assault you out of self-defense (you began it, in any case!).
3. Run from a Grizzly
For somebody named Bear, Bear Grylls has some horrible recommendation about bears.
In a single present, he encounters a grizzly bear. Once more, Grylls sticks round to movie the bear as a substitute of slowly backing away earlier than he’s seen. Grizzly bears don’t prefer to have their footage taken!
Grizzly bears (aka brown bears) are extra aggressive than black bears! You do NOT need to encounter one in every of these within the wild. However when you see a grizzly, don’t observe Bear Grylls’s recommendation. He says to again away slowly after which begin operating—dangerous recommendation!
That is what you need to actually do when you see a grizzly and it sees you:
Speak to the bear in a low, calm voice. Slowly increase your palms within the air to make your self seem greater. In case you have kids with you, carry them near you so that you appear to be one massive animal. You don’t need to appear to be prey or a simple goal.
Slowly begin strolling backward.
By no means run! This can make you appear to be prey, and the bear will chase after you. Since grizzlies can run at 34 mph, it isn’t seemingly you’ll win the race.
If the bear begins attacking you, you possibly can attempt enjoying lifeless. However notice that you just don’t need to play lifeless with black bears—they’ll see you as a free lunch!
4. Pull Leeches Off Your Physique
I’ve swam with leeches quite a few instances and had them on my physique extra instances than I can depend. So, after I watched Bear Grylls pull leeches off his physique, I bought offended.
In case you have a leech in your physique, do NOT simply rip it off!
Pulling a leech off your physique might depart a part of its enamel within the wound, resulting in a nasty an infection. Nevertheless, notice that people strategies of eradicating leeches—akin to placing salt on them or burning them with a match—aren’t excellent both. The leech might regurgitate its abdomen contents into the wound and trigger an infection.
As an alternative, to take away a leech, you need to discover one thing flat (your fingernail will work). Beginning with the pinnacle, work it beneath the leech. It can break the suction, and the leech will safely come off.
5. Eat Uncooked Recreation
In at the very least one episode, Bear Grylls has caught an animal and bitten proper into the lifeless animal. This may make for good TV, however it’s dangerous survival recommendation.
Uncooked meat can include all types of micro organism and parasites. Consuming uncooked meat in a survival state of affairs is virtually a dying sentence since you might find yourself with diarrhea after which extreme dehydration.
The one purpose indigenous teams just like the Eskimos can eat uncooked fish is that salt water and chilly temperatures kill micro organism and parasites. So don’t threat it.
Both prepare dinner your sport or discover one other supply of survival meals – like consuming bugs for survival.
6. Swing Your Means Throughout Streams, Ravines, Waterfalls…
In numerous episodes, Bear Grylls comes throughout one thing like a raging river. His response is at all times one thing alongside the strains of,
It will take an excessive amount of time to go round. Let’s go over it!
In a single episode, he lashes poles to his palms and makes use of them to vault down a mountain!
In actual survival conditions, you don’t get to scout out the terrain beforehand (as Bear Grylls does), nor do you get to do a re-shoot in case your first try doesn’t work out, nor will you might have a digicam crew able to whisk you away to a hospital.
So, when you ever encounter an impediment like an enormous ravine, spend the additional few hours climbing fastidiously round it as a substitute of breaking bones.
7. A River Is a Good Type of Transportation
In a single episode, Bear Grylls’s Grylls’s recommendation is to make a raft and use it to go down a raging river. In one other episode, he recommends physique browsing down a raging river in a canyon (sure, physique browsing!!!).
In lots of different episodes, he does different silly issues with rivers.
For instance, in a single episode, he walks by a river in a canyon and comes throughout a bit of timber. His response is, “I suppose I should swim beneath it!”
Getting moist is among the worst issues you are able to do in a survival state of affairs! Except you might have a plan on how you can get dry later, this might imply hypothermia and dying.
So don’t observe silly survival recommendation from Bear Grylls. If you happen to encounter a raging river, spend some further time climbing to a secure crossing spot reasonably than making an attempt to swim your approach by it.
8. Take Dangers
This brings me to the most important purpose I don’t like Grylls and his survival recommendation: he consistently takes dangers.
Whether or not pole vaulting throughout a canyon or swimming throughout a raging river, these stunts are harmful.
If you happen to break a bone whereas within the wild, you received’t have a complete digicam crew to fly you out. If you happen to aren’t certain what’s secure to do, don’t do it!
Enjoying it secure is the very best survival recommendation.
What do you consider Bear Grylls — good leisure or a conveyor of dangerously awful recommendation?
