Now it's just dudes walking in treacherous terrain, filmed with a shaky camera and produced with dramatic music and ominous voice over, followed by sounds of crashing and snapping branches while someone shouts a bleeped out expletive.
Kind of like Bear Grylls.
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I'm of the opinion that the producers are ruining this format by injecting their "reality show" agenda into the show by making these shows increasingly up the ante. Dual Survival went from setting traps and snares, foraging for wild edibles and fishing to having the guys leap on a pig from above with a knife and biting into a raw fish while screaming at the camera.
Well said. Nothing to add here.
There has to be people out there like me who just want a basic survival show like Survivorman without all the drama and contrived garbage that has infested tv.
I'm with you. I'm not saying I want to watch a guy weaving a basket from vines for 45 minutes, but they at least used to demonstrate certain techniques like reverse wrapping, flint napping, trap setting, etc
Now it's just dudes walking in treacherous terrain, filmed with a shaky camera and produced with dramatic music and ominous voice over, followed by sounds of crashing and snapping branches while someone shouts a bleeped out expletive.
Oooh, how exciting. /sarcasm

I fully agree with the sentiment: Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. But I can't help but believe that somewhere, somehow, someone might face charges for surviving. Every now and then you read about a good Samaritan facing charges because they violated a law while helping someone. I could see a survival situation being the same if local authorities chose to be an equine posterior. LOL
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Originally Posted by
rickathedj
:
Of course, in a real survival situation, you wouldn't necessarily be bound by those laws, but I suppose you could be. In this day and age of over regulation, I could see someone being charged with taking an animal out of season when they are in a true survival situation.
Normally when you break into a house you would be charged, but in a true survival situation you wouldn't. Normally if you transmitted a 2-way radio on a police frequency you would be in deep poo, but in a true survival situation you wouldn't. Normally if you fished without the correct stamp you would be fined, but in a true survival situation you wouldn't. There are many scenarios where, without the emergency aspect, the outcome would be very different. When it comes to survival, it is better to be judged by twelve then to be carried by six.

He mentions on Live Free or Die that he left the canyonlands which was his home for many years five years ago to see the world. During that time a few of those years was spent filming Dual Survival and Dude You're Screwed.
For the most part he probably does live that way full time when he's not filming a show. I assume the producers of Dual Survival didn't let him run wild and live iff grid between filming.
Up until five years ago he did live that way full time. IMO the idea of watching him do it is much more appealing than what Dual Survival has become.

While I would love to see Matt doing a workshop kind of show, he doesn't necessarily thrive.
I see. I've never seen Live Free or Die, I just meant in general. And this is probably pretty naive on my part, but I was sort of under the impression that Matt actually lived this way full time by choice.
One of his problems is he is bound by local hunting and fishing laws which can put a damper on a survival show.
I think that they probably get special permits ricka, because that's the only way that I can see that this sort of thing would fly. But I'm pretty sure that in an actual wilderness survival situation (Not by choice) anything goes, at least here in North America.

I think that a show with Matt Graham might be at odds with a general viewing audience, because most viewers can relate more to an ordinary person with some basic survival skills making a go of it and succeeding. And with Les, as good as he is, you can see that in many scenarios, he's really struggling towards the end. Matt on the other hand would simply be thriving in a wilderness survival scenario, and the draw of being at odds with nature would be absent. I think a show featuring Matt might be better marketed as a primitive survival skills workshop type of format.
While I would love to see Matt doing a workshop kind of show, he doesn't necessarily thrive. On Live Free or Die he's struggling a bit. He's not crying about starving, but he has been very matter of fact about food being in short supply in some of his locations. One of his problems is he is bound by local hunting and fishing laws which can put a damper on a survival show. Of course, in a real survival situation, you wouldn't necessarily be bound by those laws, but I suppose you could be. In this day and age of over regulation, I could see someone being charged with taking an animal out of season when they are in a true survival situation.
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There has to be people out there like me who just want a basic survival show like Survivorman without all the drama and contrived garbage that has infested tv.
I've watched a good many of these survival shows Arbuckle, and while I've never came across one that I flat out didn't like, none of them came close to Survivorman in my opinion. Les even managed to make raw, gritty survivalism watchable, but I suppose creative editing plays a part there, so kudo's to Les and his production team.
I think that a show with Matt Graham might be at odds with a general viewing audience, because most viewers can relate more to an ordinary person with some basic survival skills making a go of it and succeeding. And with Les, as good as he is, you can see that in many scenarios, he's really struggling towards the end. Matt on the other hand would simply be thriving in a wilderness survival scenario, and the draw of being at odds with nature would be absent. I think a show featuring Matt might be better marketed as a primitive survival skills workshop type of format.

I didn't find it until it was towards the end of the second season, then watched the previous episodes online. I don't think it was editing that made some of those people look incompetent. LOL
Some of the shelters did improve, but most stuck with the tarp. Some of them were actually pretty good. I was amazed at how well they stood up to some of the winds. The biggest laugh I got out of a shelter was the one where the guy thought the old dead tree would make a good chimney for the fireplace, and ended up setting it on fire.
I wish Matt had his own show rather than being a part of Live Free or Die. I'd like to see more of him. I'm pretty sure Les has better sense than to get into a long term survival scenario. He and I are about the same age and I could fully understand him not wanting to take on something that arduous. He even cut back on his short term shows just because of the toll it was taking on him.
I definitely think with season 3 they got better at choosing their contestants. Last episode I saw they were on day 35 and still had 8 people left.
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I have been watching since the beginning. I like the show, i just wish it was a bit more in depth. Some of the contestants in the first 2 seasons came across as incompetent due to editing. I realize there is no way around that due to time constraints.
I would like to see someone like Matt or Les in a long term scenario like this.
I'm still a few episodes behind on the third season so maybe things have changed but I don't understand why none of these people bother to build better shelters. When they build their shelters they use one of their tarps rather than using the abundance of natural resources for the roof and save the tarp.
I remember a guy from last season who made a shelter with a tarp and had open ends on both sides during winter and he wondered why he was cold all the time.

Have you seen Alone?
http://www.imdb.com/board/14803766/reference
Its into its 3rd season. 10 contestants per season are dropped off at different sites in the same region, with 10 pieces of survival equipment and camera gear. The winner gets $500,000.
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Do you know if it was ratings or just the network not liking the show?
I'm of the opinion that the producers are ruining this format by injecting their "reality show" agenda into the show by making these shows increasingly up the ante. Dual Survival went from setting traps and snares, foraging for wild edibles and fishing to having the guys leap on a pig from above with a knife and biting into a raw fish while screaming at the camera.
There has to be people out there like me who just want a basic survival show like Survivorman without all the drama and contrived garbage that has infested tv.
Is it too much to ask to just have a camera crew follow someone like Matt Graham around when he's living off grid?
Stop setting up people for failure. I go hiking and camping pretty regularly and I have yet to come across someone who goes out there with nothing. I'm not asking for full camping gear either just basic supplies. Who goes hiking without water?

Wanton87
I don't know why it was cancelled. Just read that it was on Dave's Facebook page. You should check out the show Alone.
http://www.imdb.com/board/14803766/reference
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I wish Dirty Rotten Survival had gotten a second season.
I'm sorry to hear of this ricka. I hadn't tuned into it lately, but have watched about 5 episodes so far, and liked them all, and was planning on watching some more. I was under the impression that it had gone on beyond one season, so I'm a little disappointed to hear of this.
I liked the format of walking into a given store and making the most of whatever you could apply to a survival situation.

I honestly didn't care for Dave much back in the day, but he's really grown on me over repeated viewings of both Dual Survival and Dirty Rotten Survival.
I wish Dirty Rotten Survival had gotten a second season.
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Dave
Matt
Cody
Joe
I honestly didn't care for Dave much back in the day, but he's really grown on me over repeated viewings of both Dual Survival and Dirty Rotten Survival.
I'm not counting anyone from seasons 7, 8, or 9 because those episodes don't feel like Dual Survival to me.
Calm down, have some dip.

Cody and my homie Josh
They bought abit of humour to the show along with the survival talents

Matt and Joe.their chemistry worked
Bill and Grady were not a good choice

Matt is my all time favorite. I like watching the repeat episodes with him in them.

Josh/Grady - seems like I may be in the minority on liking these two the most.
Matt
Dave
Cody
Joe - Never liked him
BIll - just awful

Matt
Dave
would have loved to see those 2 paired up.
Cody
Josh
Grady
far below them would be Joe
and way at the bottom would be Bill
even Joe is more palatable than Bill.

Matt
Dave
Cody

Matt
Cody
Dave
none of the others

Matt
Dave
Cody
Joe
Grady/Bill