Alone in the Wild - exploitation?

MayoForSam

'Alone in the Wild' is being shown on Channel 4 right now.

It portrays Ed Wardle, who was dropped in the middle of Yukon territory in northern Canada and asked to survive for 12 weeks, with no human contact and minimal survival training.

But things did not work out for Ed :

He had to be airlifted to safety after almost dying of starvation and exhaustion. He spent half his time bawling his eyes out.

Dailymail article about it

So can this be seen as just another example of reality TV that went too far? Poor Ed was no Ray Mears but of course the TV execs were all for it.

On a lighter note, this bloke is the image of Tommy Tiernan so I suppose any Jewish viewers are having a right laugh at his predicament

paulocon

MayoForSam wrote: »

'Alone in the Wild' is being shown on Channel 4 right now.

It portrays Ed Wardle, who was dropped in the middle of Yukon territory in northern Canada and asked to survive for 12 weeks, with no human contact and minimal survival training.

But things did not work out for Ed :

He had to be airlifted to safety after almost dying of starvation and exhaustion. He spent half his time bawling his eyes out.

Dailymail article about it

So can this be seen as just another example of reality TV that went too far? Poor Ed was no Ray Mears but of course the TV execs were all for it.

On a lighter note, this bloke is the image of Tommy Tiernan so I suppose any Jewish viewers are having a right laugh at his predicament

Would have been able to comment had Channel 4 (on Sky) actually let us see the end of the feckin' thing!!!

claiva

what happened in the last 5 minutes ?
Flippin Sky cut it off with a couple of minutes to go :eek:

L31mr0d

claiva wrote: »

what happened in the last 5 minutes ?
Flippin Sky cut it off with a couple of minutes to go :eek:

Glad I'm not the only one this happened to. Where's the end of it?

In case anyone doesn't know:

http://twitter.com/AloneInTheWild

L31mr0d

What's interesting from reading the Twitter posts he made is that he didn't seem emotionally prepared BEFORE he left. He was already starting to miss his family and friends before he even set foot in the wild.

I also think the fact he was allowed to twitter from the wild was a cop out (didn't know about it until today)

It's like being able to have a 1 way phone conversation with someone. Knowing someone is listening and hearing your thoughts is not isolation.

PirateShampoo

I enjoyed last weeks episode, but this weeks was 45 minutes of him crying and whining.

Had a hard time watching it. If i wanted to watch a grown man cry id kick my brother in the nuts a few times.

claiva

PirateShampoo wrote: »

I enjoyed last weeks episode, but this weeks was 45 minutes of him crying and whining.

Had a hard time watching it. If i wanted to watch a grown man cry id kick my brother in the nuts a few times.

What happened in the end ?
Sky cut off the last few minutes.......

Please tell me what happened from after he began eating the cheese !!!

L31mr0d

claiva wrote: »

Please tell me what happened from after he began eating the cheese !!!

He had a cry some more, then proceeded to continue to re-enact the final scene from castaway...

Seriously though. I haven't seen it. Going to see if it's here now.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/alone-in-the-wild/4od#2970626

rmcc1978

You can watch it again on 4OD, it's available in Ireland again.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/alone-in-the-wild/4od#2970626

Mr.Nice Guy

Let me get this straight, this guy had no survival training and yet he felt he could live in the harsh wilderness of western Canada all by himself? Surely your own intelligence ought to tell you that's a dumb idea? I don't see why the station should be blamed for this man's recklessness.

If I was to attempt something like this I would make sure survival training was drilled into my brain and ensure I had enough measures in place if things got too much. Seems like this guy overestimated his own capabilities and paid the price. Not the broadcaster's fault in my opinion.

My name is URL

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Let me get this straight, this guy had no survival training and yet he felt he could live in the harsh wilderness of western Canada all by himself? Surely your own intelligence ought to tell you that's a dumb idea? I don't see why the station should be blamed for this man's recklessness.

If I was to attempt something like this I would make sure survival training was drilled into my brain and ensure I had enough measures in place if things got too much. Seems like this guy overestimated his own capabilities and paid the price. Not the broadcaster's fault in my opinion.

I think the whole point of the show was for Wardle to be representative of how the average person would cope in such environments without specialist training

L31mr0d

My name is URL wrote: »

I think the whole point of the show was for Wardle to be representative of how the average person would cope in such environments without specialist training

The problem with it as well was that he wasn't allowed to kill any large game or birds (which is why you see the Moose walking around the lake with the swans and he's doing nothing) Pity he couldn't of proved Native American descent, otherwise he would of been allowed to kill anything that moved :pac:

I don't think I've ever seen rabbits, porcupine or other small animals when out in the wilds of Canada. I have however seen a lot of elk, deer, bear, moose, and large/medium sized birds (owls, hawks, geese, grouse... etc).

He should of been given 1 ticket to kill an older male deer/elk or moose at least (understandably he would never of been allowed to kill a Caribou)

Pete M.

Of who, the viewer?

C'mon bro, this chap just wasn't cut out for it.

As for him being like the average person trying to do it, he'd climbed Everest and trekked to the north pole, most people I know haven't done this, hardly what the average person does indeed.

Twas painful watching him whimper and cry for the last few days, what a wuss!

The worst thing was that he was filming himself all the time and as the previous poster has said, if he'd been able to bring down that moose, he would have been elected.

So therefore it wasn't really like living in the wild as the rule of law still applied and left him at a disadvantage.

Anyway, give me a knife, an axe, a rifle, freedom to shoot what I like and an oz of good grass, I'd manage three months no problem.
In fact I'd say I may even stay put there for longer, only coming back into civilisation for supplies like chewing tobacco, salt and bullets.
I'd bring war&peace, a couple of joyce books and a pencil and some paper and that would keep me going for about ten years I'd say.

I mean grizzley adams did it and he was a bit of a softie really.

MagicMarker

Was the episode on last week the last one? I thought there was one or two more to come?

The program wasn't all that great tbh, which is why I didn't watch the last episode!

Pete M.

MayoForSam wrote: »

On a lighter note, this bloke is the image of Tommy Tiernan so I suppose any Jewish viewers are having a right laugh at his predicament

Are you trying to suggest that Jewish people are so vindictive that they would laugh at the plight of someone who looked like someone else entirely who made a few jokes about them?

tut tut

But good job that Ed wasn't a Jew or Muslim himself as then would he have been able to eat the porcupine?

Anywho, the one good thing from this show was when he was cooking the porcupine and didn't look particularly hungry as it was roasting over the fire, only for him to reluctantly bite into the roast, then fried liver and absolutely love it.

Has got me back thinking about a road kill cook off again, hmmm, just imagine, panfried badger kidneys.........

Suspiria79

These type of tv shows are another form of reality tv. And that's what sells, lately. Behind the scenes he was probably living it up in some tent with a lady, or having wild parties around the bush with beer kegs sent down on a parachute.

It's all an act and he's now laughing all the way to the bank.