Bad Advice and Inaccuracies
From BearWiki
Below, you'll find an (incomplete) listing of potentially dangerous or known dangerous, or otherwise ill-advised or incorrect things that Bear has done or advised people who are lost to do. This includes both things he gives specifically as advice and things that he does which could be perceived as advice, but not things he does specifically to demonstrate a skill (such as jumping into a frozen lake or quicksand).
Instructions for contributors: Due to vandalism, this page is protected. To get a new article here if you don't want to log in, simply write the article. Another user will add it to the list shortly.
Please use references wherever possible. For external references, use the standard [YourFullURLHere] format. If you yourself are a reference (for example, you live in a place where Bear has gone, have done the things he claims to do, have experience with animals he interacts with, or whatnot), great; please sign your edit with {{reference|your brief qualifications|~~~~}} so that we know who is making the claim. For your reference to have meaning, please also list your real name, full relevant qualifications, and (preferably) contact information on your user page. A link to an external page that verifies your credentials would additionally be useful.
To registered users: Do not post descriptions on this page; only links to pages in which the issue is discussed. Do not post dead wikilinks or links to external sites. Rather, wikilink to a page on the questionable issue (either a stub or a detailed analysis). If (and only if) there seems to be an honest, general consensus on a particular claim, place one or more of the following tags to the right of the wikilink:
- {{confirmed}}: The claim has been confirmed by a person with firsthand involvement in the production of the series.
- {{confirmedlocal}}: The claim has been confirmed by at least one local resident or expert about the region.
- {{disproven}}: It can be generally agreed upon that this claim does not hold water, but is made commonly enough that it deserves a mention.
- {{trivial}}: Whether or not it's true, it's a trivial issue.
- {{critical}}: Whether or not it's true, it's a critical issue.
Contents |
General
- Show was originally supposed to be a more educational, less dangerous program, but was dumbed down (Confirmed by a member of the production team)
- Leaving where you are without urgent need to do so (Critical!)
- Taking unnecessary risks when your life isn't in immediate danger (Critical!)
- Going across obstacles instead of around them to save time (Critical!)
- Pursuing unimportant or long-term needs, with an obsession with protein
- Omission of critical survival skills
- Climbing feats far beyond an inexperienced person's capability
Season 1
Rocky Mountains (Pilot)
- Truly horrible bear advice
- Cliff diving without checking the water depth (Critical!)
- Getting unnecessarily wet (Critical!)
- Heating rocks without taking into account the explosion risk
- 2000 people die lost in the Rockies every year
- Using parachute cord to abseil down a cliff
Moab Desert
- Swimming under an obstacle that you can't see the end of (Critical!)
- Taking risks, burning calories, and losing water to get a small amount of food
- Eating eggshell to prevent calcium deficiency
- No mention made of the cave-in risks of heating a long-unoccupied cave
- Recommending use of a compass cactus without the caveats
- Swimming the Colorado river
- Moving through the desert in the heat of the day
Costa Rican Rain Forest
- Making a risky ascent to get your bearings
- Climbing down a waterfall (Critical!)
- No mention of the use of mud to keep mosquitoes away
- Bear’s fire bow demonstration looks like he never did it before and was staged
Alaskan Mountain Range
- Glissading
- Entering an ice tunnel
- Climbing down a waterfall (Critical!)
- Abandoning a near-ideal shelter or location
Mount Kilauea
- Using a shirt as a gas mask
- Not attempting to attract attention from helicopters
- Abandoning a near-ideal shelter or location
- Not spotting the ocean from the summit
- More Kilauea inconsistencies and bad advice (Confirmed by a local resident or regional expert)
- Climbing a tree to pick "ripe" avocados
Sierra Nevada
- Relying on boiled lakewater instead of melted snow
- 2x getting unnecessarily wet (Critical!)
- Abandoning the reasonable plan to follow the river to civilization
- Trying to ride feral horses
African Savanna
European Alps
- Advising the use of a snow cave without the caveats
- Unnecessarily crossing a frozen lake
- Making a risky ascent to get your bearings
- Using knotted parachute cord to arrest a crevasse fall (Critical!) (Confirmed by a member of the production team)
Desert Island
- Taking to the sea
- Myth that falling coconuts are significant killers (Trivial)
- Diving into the ocean to cool down
- Coconut oil to protect against the sun
- Signaling ships from 100 miles away
- Moray eel is the second most common type of food poisoning
Season 2
Everglades
Iceland
- Entering an ice tunnel
- Diving into icy water (Critical!)
- Getting unnecessarily wet
- Getting into hot water as a solution to hypothermia
- Claiming cooked meat is more nutritional and raw meat wastes calories
Mexico
- Presenting the fire-saw fire starting method as far easier than it is
- Magnetizing a wire for use in a compass by rubbing through hair (Generally Recognized As False)
