More Survivorman Q and A
Les answers more questions.
Q: Just wondering if Les is planning to do any extended episodes where he will try to last longer then a week? I think a show where he has to catch food and build a good shelter to last him more then a week would be a really interesting addition to the already kick-butt show.
A: Thanks! In fact I am now discussing the possibility of stretching the timeline of the survival ordeals so that we can show so much more.
Q: What's it like emotionally when you're out there for the show? Even though you know folks will come looking for you in seven days, do you ever panic?
A: Usually on about day three or four I just want to quit and go home to see my family. Sleeping on the snow or under a rock is not fun. But my passion for making the film and for primitive and modern survival skills keeps me going past the midweek loneliness hump.
Although I'm supposed to have a safety net in place and the ability to call in the rescue team at any time, it doesn't always work — as in the case of lost-at-sea, or the canyonlands, or the swamp, or Costa Rica. In all these places I found through random testing that my emergency radio/phone set-up did not work, leaving me utterly alone and exposed.
I never panicked — that would be foolish — but I felt very alone and became very cautious at those times, thinking, "If I'm attacked by a shark right now, there's nothing anyone can do for me." Those were the moments where I felt, "Oops, maybe I've taken this too far this time!"
Q: Do you think regular people should try to replicate your techniques if they get into trouble in the wilderness?
A: I think regular people should try to survive with any means they can. I'm just regular people, not a survival guru. I show only a handful of techniques for survival and, yes, they should help. Hopefully folks are paying attention when I point out the WRONG thing to do as well!
Q: The show often ends happily with you getting retrieved. Have there ever been instances where you experienced some lingering effects of your journey, even after you returned to civilization? For instance, finding out you had contracted some disease from insect bites or bad water?
A: I carried a bad parasite in my system for a year after the swamp show.
Q: Are you vegetarian? You've made comments on the show that you don't enjoy taking away life, and only kill because it is absolutely necessary for survival. It sounds like you either don't like eating meat, or you just don't like the process of killing.
A: I eat little meat, but when I do, I prefer wild meat — moose, dear etc. I hardly ever eat cow or pig. Personally no, I don't like the process of killing. But every time I start up my car, use plastic, use my cell phone or go to a movie — hell, just live in this modern world, I am killing and damaging the environment and all that lives in it. But as Bill Mason said, "We can't go back to living in teepees."
For the longest time I took flack from hunters who thought, "He can't be real, he doesn't kill anything." They missed the point that sometimes you may HAVE to eat a snail or a leech to survive and it's good to show that at least it’s possible. Besides, the likelihood of an inexperienced person catching actual "game" without a rifle or bow and arrow is pretty low, so knowing you can at least eat snails is encouraging.
When I showed catching a rabbit in northern Ontario, all the hunters loved me and the animal rights people hated me. But the fact is I’m showing survival, and it just happens that with very little experience you can actually catch a rabbit in the wintertime fairly easily … and … survive! I want to remain sensitive to my love of all things wild and free, but I know that to truly show survival, sooner or later I have to catch and kill something to eat. You can't be a vegetarian in northern Ontario in the winter.
Dr. David Suzuki once said, "We all lead lives of conflict." And so I realize it’s "just a TV show," but it is a show about survival, and if I pull too many punches (i.e., eat only leaves), people won’t get the real deal.
Q: Do you carry any kind of beacon when you're out in the wilderness? I don't see it as something that would assist in your survival, it would just be a safety measure. Or perhaps you don't carry one because the knowledge alone of having one would diminish your spirit for getting the heck out of wherever you were?
A: I have a wife and kids I want to come back to, and I'm not willing to risk life or limb for my "art." So yes, I carry an emergency satellite phone, but unfortunately it has proven to work only half the time, which has been disconcerting.
Q: How does Les shoot the video? Does he climb down the mountain, set up the camera, climb back up the mountain and film his descent? I would love to see a behind-the-scenes look at how the show is filmed.
A: I run all my own cameras. Being alone for this venture is, in fact, the whole point. I do have a camera crew with me for the first day to film my departure, but after that it's just me with anywhere from three to five cameras — which means five cameras to set up and tear down, five lenses to clean, five tapes to put in, five cameras to unclog etc.
Often to get a good long shot I will climb a cliff or tree and set up the camera, run into position, get the shot, run back, climb again, check it out, only to discover that I chopped my head off or came in from the wrong position and then I have to do it all over again. A simple six-second shot may take an hour to produce.
Q: Where were you when you decided to try living this way? How did you learn what to do before you went out into the wilderness, or is that how you started?
A: I initially took course after course in survival anywhere I could find one. Then I began numerous forays into the wilderness on my own or with friends to practice survival methods. I spent a year living in the bush with my wife, Sue, as if it were 500 years ago; no metal, no matches, no plastic, no nylon etc.
Before each Survivorman week, I spend a few days on location with a local expert. I can transfer the survival basics to anywhere, but I can't know what is poisonous or what I can eat in Costa Rica when I have never been there before.
Q: After the hurricane hit New Orleans, the world saw a lot of people trying to survive in a ruined urban setting. What kinds of skills should most people have to survive in that type of environment?
A: It's more a mind-set — the will to live, the will to go on and to do what is necessary to survive. That said, a good understanding of dealing with fire is importan — and not necessarily a skill many have mastered. In the case of New Orleans, the knowledge of how to purify water would be an excellent skill to draw upon — i.e., how to acquire fresh water from salt water.
