Common Sense Media Review
By Sierra Filucci
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
How not to die in the wilderness -- tweens and up.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 9 parent reviews
Based on 22 kid reviews
Kids say the show is a fascinating and educational survival series featuring Bear Grylls, who demonstrates essential survival skills in extreme environments, although it can include graphic scenes of animal killings and occasional nudity. Many reviewers appreciate Bear's entertaining personality and the show's overall message of resilience, while some caution about its suitability for younger audiences due to its content.
- educational
- survival skills
- graphic content
- suitable for older kids
- entertaining
- Bear Grylls
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
In MAN VS. WILD, survival expert Bear Grylls helicopter drops into some of the world's harshest terrain and then fights his way back to safety. With only a few basic instruments, Grylls demonstrates survival techniques and teaches skills like finding water in the desert, climbing out of quicksand, catching fish without a pole, and fighting hypothermia after falling into a frozen lake. The idea is to provide help to adventure tourists who might find themselves stranded in inhospitable circumstances and would otherwise die or create a search-and-rescue nightmare. Throughout Grylls' adventures, he relates recent real-life tragedies of people stuck in similar situations.
Is It Any Good?
The combination of gorgeous locales -- like Utah's Moab Desert, the Costa Rican rainforest, and the Swiss Alps -- and Grylls' considerable British charm make Man vs. Wild a pleasure to watch. Whether an average tourist could recreate some of his feats (his first name is Bear, after all) is disputable, but it's certainly nail-biting to watch him scale a slippery desert wall and swim across the swift Colorado River. Throughout each gnarly adventure, Grylls is able to narrate his experience surprisingly well.
Tweens and up will enjoy Grylls' adventures, though parents may want to do a reality check with younger viewers to make sure they know that Grylls is highly trained -- and that kids shouldn't try any of his techniques, even for fun, without checking with an adult first (frying an egg on a rock is probably harmless, but catching a snake with a rock and a stick, not so much).
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about dangerous situations. What's the scariest place that parents and kids have ever been in? Has there ever been a situation you wondered how you'd get out of? What did you do? Have you taken any training to prepare for dangerous situations (first aid, self-defense, wilderness training)? What would you do if you found yourself in one of the situations that Grylls demonstrates?
TV Details
- Premiere date : October 27, 2006
- Cast : Bear Grylls
- Network : Discovery Channel
- Genre : Reality TV
- TV rating :
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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