Lately I have been thinking more and more about an important decision in my life. One could argue that it could be the difference between life and death someday. It is a choice between two men who essentially want to do the same thing. Both of them have different ways of going about their jobs and do it very effectively. On one hand you have the young guy who is very popular and is very fun to watch with all of his big fancy words and ways. His opponent is, of course, the older veteran of the occupation, relying on old tricks and experience for his support.

When it comes down to it, I have no idea who I will choose. Both have their own ups and downs, and it is a decision not to take lightly. The situation I am talking about is of course between Bear Grylls and Les Stroud, stars of the shows “Man vs. Wild” and “Survivorman.” Both shows have the same basis of showing the viewers how to be able to survive in all situations in the wild. The question is: Is one show better than the other? The answer is, of course: False, it is debatable. These are essentially the two schools of thought on how survivorship shows should be, so let’s take a look at them.

“Man vs. Wild” features host and all around BA Bear Grylls going into very different types of situations and showing the viewer how to beat mother nature into a bloody pulp, all with a sweet accent might I add. 

Bear is a highly trained lieutenant commander in the Royal Naval Reserve for the UK and uses these skills to make the wild submit. He is followed around into various situations by a camera crew and can be seen drinking his own pee, drinking fluids from elephant poop and just about any other gross thing you can think of. Bear also climbs waterfalls, mountains, and trees during the show. The knock on his show is that he is followed around by a camera crew and therefore is helped out by them. Bear is accused of only doing fun stunts and then going back to a hotel at night to sleep. Whether this is true or not, the man still drank elephant poop and can probably punch my heart through the back of my chest.

The other show is “Survivorman.” This features a friendly neighbor from the North — that means he’s Canadian. Les Stroud goes into the wild by himself with nothing but a harmonica and his Leatherman tool. Les is an old guy who basically outthinks Mother Nature by taking whatever he can find around him and making it into a shelter or something to eat. He will often start by making a fire and shelter and eventually finding some food. Often Les will go days without eating more than a bug or two. 

The most impressive thing about Les is the fact that he does all the filming himself. He is his own camera crew and does a wonderful job portraying what it would be like to be alone in a desert, jungle or savanna. The one knock on Les is that the gist of his show is that he goes somewhere, sits under a tree and starves for a week then walks out. He essentially just barely survives and gets by on the bare essentials.

It is a very tough call between these two men. The young gun, Bear Grylls, is all flashy but frankly, is not as hard-core about truly surviving as his opponent. Les Stroud can just put his body through an immense amount of stress and hardship every episode. Frankly there is only one logical way to settle it: Les vs. Bear.

I imagine that both men would agree to go on a show and try to out-survive the other man. This can be done by putting out the other man’s fire, wrecking his shelter or just beating him mentally by calling him names.

I suppose we could also let each show’s ratings decide, but frankly, where is the fun in that?

— Justan Spaid is a sophomore in history from McCallsburg.