Introduction
It was decidedly fate. Soon after quitting the music industry and resolv
ing to live a life of outdoor adventure at the age of 25, I opened the newspaper
one morning and saw a small ad for a wilderness survival course. Not long
after, I found myself on my first solo outing: curled up in my shelter, boots
sticking out the entrance, rain teeming down . . . and I was giddy. I realized
then and there that I was reliving my boyhood days of building shelters behind
our family cottage, only this time I could stay out all night. I was hooked, and
since then, wilderness survival has figured prominently in my life.
In Surviving the Extremes, Dr. Kenneth Kamler writes, “Human beings
are the only animal whose emotions, spiritual imperatives and lust for
adventure override our survival instincts. We get into trouble because we
have an insatiable desire to explore. We know very well we have assumed
risks when we travel in an extreme environment and that our decisions
could have fatal consequences.” My own insatiable lust for adventure has
seen me voluntarily place myself, time and time again, in survival ordeals
or extreme adventures. I used to do it for fun, and I guess I still do.
I have always channeled my creative energy toward filling voids,
doing things that nobody else has done. Creating a survival series for tele
vision was no different. I had seen lots of survival films; they seemed dry,
boring, and of little interest to anyone but the hardestcore survivalists.
What was missing was the drama that unfolds in reallife situations. I rea
lized that to really show how to survive you need to go out and actually do
it—and film the experience. Out of this thinking, my idea for producing a
television series, eventually called Survivorman, was born.
From the getgo, I vowed not to let Survivorman make a mockery of
survival by incorporating games and challenges, or by cheating my way
through it by staying in hotels every night or bringing along a makeup
artist to help me look dirty. There would be no camera crew to offer me
food and assistance. I needed to be out there, alone, just as I had for years
trained to be, actually surviving, or at least coming as close as I could to
simulating that experience.
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