(Sorry in advance for the bad English. I'm from Norway.)
I like your shows a lot, Ray. Let me be clear on that to start with. The name of this series "Extreme Survival" might profess to potential buyers that it will teach them tricks and crafts to help them survive in extreme conditions. It won't.
It's more like this DVD-series focuses on TELLING stories of extreme survivors. It turns out that's is not the same thing at all. Watching these stories, played out by more or less mediocre actors, is all fine and dandy, but it won't necessarily teach you all that much about what to do when you find yourself in a similar situation. It's not like the SAS survival handbook.
In other words, you won't be learning very many skills from this particular DVD- series. Ray keeps his skill teaching at an absolute minimum in this one if you ask me. In stead there are the stories, some of which are really good, some of which are less impressive. The worst thing is however, that both kinds are dragged out by lengthy sequences with heaps of moody pan flute muzak over. When I go outdoors, a big part of the reasons is to escape that kind of irrelevant noise in my ears. Some real music please. Or even better, let the sounds of nature speak for themselves.
Oh, and another thing regarding this series's low "new skills"-rating: Come om Ray. Don't be afraid to show us more of the good stuff, the survival skills you teach at your camps. You probably won't loose any potential pupils anyway if that's what you're afraid of. My prediction is that those who are that interested will come anyway. I know I would!
And another thing: YES, we get it! Bushcraft is important, and so much better than most other stuff. We think so too! So it's not necessary to stop and remind us of that every ten minutes.
But as long as you are aware of this, these DVDs are pretty interesting in their own way.
