Man vs. Wild“Ireland”
Original Air Date: September 3, 2008
Jeff P. – Two Cents Reviewer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com
This week Bear is going green. But this time, it’s not because of eating some questionable meal for survival. Welcome to Ireland, Mr. Grylls!
Bear rides into the episode on a boat racing along the west coast of the Emerald Isle. To his east is what is called the “wrecking coast,’ where many ships sunk over the years. He gets dropped off of the boat a kilometer offshore and has to make his way out of the cold Atlantic. He finally finds a point in the cliffs that he can ascend.
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Man vs. Wild
ReplyDelete“Ireland”
Original Air Date: September 3, 2008
Jeff P. – Two Cents Reviewer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com
This week Bear is going green. But this time, it’s not because of eating some questionable meal for survival. Welcome to Ireland, Mr. Grylls!
Bear rides into the episode on a boat racing along the west coast of the Emerald Isle. To his east is what is called the “wrecking coast,’ where many ships sunk over the years. He gets dropped off of the boat a kilometer offshore and has to make his way out of the cold Atlantic. He finally finds a point in the cliffs that he can ascend.
Bear is still having issues with the slippery rocks, so he shows us a simple technique of putting his socks over his shoes for traction. This helps him scale down to the water to find food. He starts with the eggs from a purple sea urchin. He makes it look like caviar! Then he finds an old shipwreck and recovers some rope to use later. As the cliffside starts to become perilous, he heads inland. While walking along the moss, he surprisingly drops into a hole over his head. For the first time in my memory, he asks the crew to help him up! This was an unusual surprise for Bear.
Before dark, Bear finds some natural shelter under some boulders. Now he just needs to find dinner. He runs into a dead sheep sitting in a deep bog. He strips down to dive on in, like he has many times before. He pulls his way out of the mire and shows us how much you can use from a dead sheep for survival. First he pulls it’s coat off for his ‘sleeping bag’. He pulls out some meat, and then it’s intestines. Finally he pulls out it’s heart and takes a bite out of it, raw and all. I think I’m going to make a personal note to not have Shank of Lamb for dinner ANY time soon. He sets up his ‘Sheeping Bag’ and gets what he needs for a fire for the evening. He has trouble sleeping since it pours out and his shelter isn’t as tight as he expected.
The next day Bear starts to head east with the hope of finding a road to safety. He splits the rope that he found in the shipwreck to have enough to get down a cliff. He then shows us a rope knot called a ‘Kamikaze’. You do this in the case you still want to have your rope after scaling down somewhere. It works perfectly, as he makes it to the bottom and he is able to whip the rope back down to him. Later he runs into a large loch and decides that he wants to cross it. He uses the sheep’s fleece again, this time as a tool to float. He strips down and jumps on in. The floating fleece helps him get across the loch, but much colder than when he went in. His clothes are still dry, fortunately. He starts a swift walk to warm up and finds a road! This ends his trip to his homeland.
Bear takes us to another great location, with new challenges. Every time I think I’ve seen him eat every disgusting thing he could, he surprises me with something else. It seems I always find myself wanting to eat a chocolate chip cookie after I watch this show, just to get the visual of Bear eating animal parts out of my mind. What do you think? What is the worst thing that Bear has ever consumed? Please share your two cents.
This might sound really dumb, but on the video from the discovery site, there is a scene where bear is getting fresh water from the Ireland episode. (shortly before he slides on the rocks)
ReplyDeletePossibly a deleted scene?
(future) Dvd extra?
What a load of bull!! Eh.... how did I ever manage to survive growing up in the West of Ireland??
ReplyDeleteFirstly where is he going with his 2000 ft high cliffs? The cliffs of Moher are the highest in Ireland and they're 700ft at their highest and there is no way that he scaled them on his own (I'm from the area). Even if he had he'd have arrived at the massive tourist centre or a road as there is a coastal road all along there...
Next thing he's jumping in a bog hole which I'd say sends shivers down the spine of search and rescue everywhere so that he can skin a sheep and eat it's heart. Really? Never jump in a bog hole - stay well away from them and eat grass would be my advice.
I won't even go into the absurdity of swimming across a cold lake when it would be much more intelligent to walk around.
Actually, walk to the road (they're everywhere in that region) or bring a mobile would my best advice - never go hiking without a mobile phone.
It's interesting to hear first hand knowledge about the locales that Bear travails.
ReplyDeleteI think after the controversy that the show faced they are trying to make the show more like a survival tip show in lieu of a show with Bear trying to escape his environment. I try to take it with a grain of salt.
In my case, i've learned alot about survival from the show. And I also wonder where this guy gets the energy. I get annoyed walking to the store to buy food.
Thanks for your two cents!
Slieve League are nearly 2000 feet !!!
ReplyDeleteBear and Les have two different kinds of shows. I'm glad Bear is surrounded by a "crew" for safety...and Les has challenges of moving his own cameras and equipment. I get into Les' moods as they come on him... and he seems more transparent..I hope he also "even at a distance" has a 911 system if he really gets out there. Bear is more hot doggie in his style and delivery but both shows have ideas we can learn from. Swimming the fiord was stupid... No logical person would do that... the water and the whole deal was to dangerous. Putting together the lamb's rig was interesting and might be something someone would do in a REAL emergency....not the fake "setups" in Bear's script. Wonder what fiord he swam??
ReplyDeleteIts the sliabh liague cliffs that are 2,000 foot high.They ARE higher than the cliffs of moher ya pube.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy im from Australia and watching it thinking the ireland is very dangerous and isolated place to travel. Just checked google maps looks like there is towns and roads all the way around the coast. So not sure where he is travelling? anyone know?
ReplyDeleteYou quite simply cannot get lost in Ireland, anyone from Ireland like myself knows the greatest navigation tool in the country is look in any direction and spot the spire of a church. Done. From any elevated point you can find a church somewhere which means village. There's only one village in the whole country that doesnt have a church and its in the wealthy suburbs of dublin.
ReplyDeletei live in ireland, and im a big fan of the show
ReplyDeletethis episode made me kinda think the show is complete bs.
there are towns, houses and roads all over ireland, you would really have to try very very hard to find remote areas, id say this episode was heavyly edited, there was probably towns in the backround of some shots.
it would of been more dangerous for him to walk around dublin city center