Out of all the survival shows being made today, this one is by far the least realistic. Many scenes are often staged (as mentioned in the disclaimer before each episode) and the the survival techniques are suspect. Additionally, some things are done purely for the shock value, such as the way he eats live insects, reptiles, fish, etc with his mouth open and so close to the camera. This is NOT a show to watch to learn survival skills. If you go out and do what you've seen here, you will most likely die a painful and embarrassing death. Your obituary will read like that of a teenage kid who died imitating something he saw on Jackass.
However, with that understood, there is something to be said for the entertainment value, provided that you almost watch it as if it were a fictional TV series. The scenery is amazing and Bear Grylls is fun to follow through the different locations. He's got a great personality and can even be amusing at times. And there may even be a good survival tip in there now and again, but you have to be able to distinguish it from the rest of the stuff and realize that it will almost never be as easy as he makes it out to be. Plus I gotta admit, the concept of always taking a knife, a canteen with a pot and a fire starter of some sort as a minimum of equipment for any trip in the wilds seems to be good advice.
