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Who would you trust to spend time with in a survival situation, Bear Grylls or Ray Mears? We are erring for Ray as after all the nuts and berries he has to do for TV he's probably more likely to prioritise getting to a pub for pies, folk music and real ale. He'll avoid eating dead and rotting things, might be less likely to try and convert you to scouting or God, but he's probably not as fit and strong although the plumpness could be handy in case he dies first and you need to eat him. Mind you, you could die first waiting for him to make a tiny spoon from a huge log or building a massive canoe out of bark. Dilemma.
Lofty.
Burger King Mears any day, don't get that fat living off the land.
Ray Mears, hands down. He is less of a fraud.
Depends if you have to fight someone or something!
Put them both on an island and then take the [s]one who ate the other[/s] winner
Ray
I went out with a lass called Ray once, so chuckles at thread title 🙂
Bear, then I could stay with him in his hotel.
A bear vs a stingray? Are they on land or in the sea?
Lofty.
I'll see your Lofty, and raise you an Eddie McGee.
(Edit, Though I would also consider Jack Hargreaves)
The Bush Tucker Man
Can I have the Bushtucker Man?
APF
Ray. Reckon you'd live relatively comfortably with him around. Plus I don't think Bear can whittle. With Ray around you'd have a set of sporks to eat with in no time...
My dad was in the army with Eddie McGee. He was dead excited when Eddie tracked that murderer down in the 80s.
Ray, went to one of his shows once. Based on 2 hours in his company, if the survival thing took a turn for the worst death might actually come as a relief.
Ray
Bear would make you suchkthe goo out of frogs
Ray would snare a rabbit cook it up nice and season it with some salt and pepper from his utility belt, only danger would be sitting opposite him round the campfire his short shorts might gape
nwill1 - Member
Depends if you have to fight someone or something!
Even then, I'd wager Ray's Judo would prove more effective than Bear's whatever...
Did I mention I have a massive man crush for Ray Mears??
Ray I think he would be worth having around. I'm sure Bear would view me as food so I'd kill him and eat him before he did the same to me. It would be quite satisfying making a hearty meal and shutting him up for good.
Ray, he's spent his life learning how to live in the wild.
Bear, just seems to have learnt how to run away from it eating a few raw items on the way out.
Ray, hands down. His food is probably more tasty than Bears &......
I've been on a bike ride in Swaledale with his Mrs, Ruth, from the same village as me in County Durham. 😉
Ray here too, he doesn't wear his own branded gear 😆
Out of the two it would have to be Ray.
Although I'd probably go for Ed Stafford if I could go for another suggestion.
Ray or Bushtucker man!
Ray, without a doubt; he works with the land, Bear, always has to fight it.
ninfan - Member
Lofty.
I'll see your Lofty, and raise you an Eddie McGee.(Edit, Though I would also consider Jack Hargreaves)
Jack Hargreaves? Showing your age a bit there? 😉
I have to admit, [i]Out Of Town[/i] was one of my favourite telly programmes, met Jack when I got taken to the Boat Show at Earle's Court when I were but a lad.
Bear...you lot can have your fun around the camp fire ...I'll grab the 1st chopper out of here back to civilisation thanks
ray out of the two, but survivorman l. stroud over both.
My uncle was J Hargreaves. Sometime I should write a book about the family stories...
If the shit really hit the fan Bear could pray his way to safety.
I do know someone who, around dusk near the end of a military training exercise, pulled one of these survival experts from a snow drift where they lay in a near hypothermic state and marched them back to camp.
it sounds like he wasn't prepared...
Swampy
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Swampy
I heard he was in pretty bad shape due to heart disease? Aparrently the doctors offered him a bypass but there was no way he was going to give up his principles....
I have to admit, Out Of Town was one of my favourite telly programmes,
It's remarkable how educational those programmes were about so many of 'the old ways' that just a few years have seen us lose, how we have lost our connection with the land. I recall him telling us how to catch eels with a horses head in a sack of straw, fascinating old tricks. I must buy the box set, I believe his son in law has kept the archive going and restored a lot of the old episodes.
One is a fraud, so Ray.
Been said before... Lofty.
Bruce Parry
CaptainFlashheart - Member
Lofty.
aphex_2k - Member
Been said before... Lofty.
Does anyone remember the name of a TV series that Lofty Wiseman mentored? (This was many years ago before any of the ‘SAS are you tough enough?’ type shows.)
There were a group of people from varying backgrounds being trained for a trek across part of (IIRC) South America. One was an ex-soldier who was a front-runner but got sick on the trek and had to retire. During training they had to put their heads in a terrarium with a snake in it. Also, I vaguely remember Lofty getting his beer stolen.
Bruce Parry
He would make very interesting company as you starved to death ... 😉
Survivor Man all the way
I met Sir Robert Swann a few months ago at a conference. He would be decent crack at beating either of them.
Ray, hands down. Although he can be a bit preachy at times, he does seem the real deal.
Bear Grylls takes narcissism to a whole new level and is a Walter Mitty type character who would be more likely to get you deeper in the shit than out of it.
I'd take Mick Dundee
I know f all about survival but I know not to jump into water or soft mud without checking it's depth to wear a hat on a snow covered mountain and not to take a short cut through a flooded long abandoned railway tunnel so I'd chose Ray over Bear and if I got stuck with Bear I'd kill and eat him immediately as an act of self-defense.
Most likely been said already but only one of the two looks like he enjoys eating. I would pick that one.
I'd have Ed Stafford
+1 for Mick Dundee. But I'd take some garlic too.
Ye Rays fat so obviously better at what he does in the woods.
Also Bear has kids called Safron, Botswana, Marmalade and Humperdinck and stuff.
Don't get the uproar bout him being a 'fraud' though, what sort of idiot would chose to sleep in a dead sheep if his producer said he'd pay for a hotel? No brainer.
Lofty!?
Crap. He would bloody well sing to you. He never looked very happy in the jungle. Windsor Davies would be a better bet I reckon.
Alistair Urquhart. That's tough.
Definitely Ray. Ranulph Fiennes before Bear.
Mind you, I reckon this dude would outlast both of them. 29 years!!!!
[url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroo_Onoda ]Japanese soldier in hiding for 29 years[/url]
It's remarkable how educational those programmes were about so many of 'the old ways' that just a few years have seen us lose, how we have lost our connection with the land. I recall him telling us how to catch eels with a horses head in a sack of straw, fascinating old tricks. I must buy the box set, I believe his son in law has kept the archive going and restored a lot of the old episodes.
That's really good to know, thanks for that, I'll check those out.
Loads on dailymotion
Lovely one here showing how a rake is made:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22fhad_out-of-town-with-jack-hargreaves-ep-12_shortfilms
Ray, went to one of his shows once. Based on 2 hours in his company, if the survival thing took a turn for the worst death might actually come as a relief.
This x2
During the Q&A Someone asked him why he was so fat if he lived on sour berries and seaweed. He did laugh. Majority of his income comes from corporate 'experiences', and they're catered, and he's weak for the vol au vent. According to the man himself.
This was done some time ago on this very forum.
The phrase "Ray doesn't look like he misses many meals" has stuck with me.
Ray. Every time. I'd feel less guilty eating Bear though as he's a fanny.
Mears for me. Interesting bit towards the end of his book where he tells about how he was involved in the hunt for Raul Moat.
The phrase "Ray doesn't look like he misses many meals" has stuck with me.
First rule of survival, don't miss the opportunity of a meal.
Ray anytime, he may not have the exciting persona of Bear, but he's much more in tune with his environment and would know what would work and what wouldn't.
Does anybody remember 'Now get out of that', BBC late 70's?
Ray, He'd set about building a canoe and forming a plan to get us out of wilderness, and in the meantime we'd be eating a cooked and properly seasoned meal every night. Bear would just spend the whole time eating carrion and standing around in the nuddie whilst he dried his wet clothes over and over again.