Ever worry about being stranded in the northern Canadian wilderness in January with only a Mylar blanket, a signal flare, a plastic tarp and two knives?
Me either.
…but just in case you ever come across this scenario, Dave and Cody will teach you how to survive it.
Dual Survival is a new Man vs Wild / Survivorman style show with a twist. Instead of one man fending for himself in extreme wilderness conditions, we have two men with polar opposite survival techniques that depend on each other to endure intense situations.
Dave is an army-trained, skilled hunter and survivor. He is strict and practical in his techniques: a real manly-man. Dave is partnered with Cody, a naturalist who teaches primitive survival skills in the African Bush. Cody’s big eccentricity is his unwillingness to wear shoes. He claims that he has conditioned his feet over the past twenty years in Africa by not wearing shoes and he is better at producing body heat because of it. Although the narrator gives an aside about the credibility of Cody’s claim, I really don’t think walking through the snow in sub-zero temperatures in nothing but a sweater, shorts and wool socks would be the greatest idea.
The two men of course spend their trip butting heads over survival techniques: hunting, shelter, when it’s okay to be separated, and most repeatedly: footwear.
Cody is very in touch with the Earth and must have a decent scientific background. He constantly explains how things are working and why he assembled them in such a way. He's the kind of guy a Boulder-ite can identify with.. in a way. Dave is the kind of guy that will go out and eat the raw heart of a porcupine after beating it with a paddle and skinning it. Dave is a pretty serious bad-ass, but he’s definitely smart too.
All and all, I find that I like both of the personalities for their own little quirks, and the two definitely have a mutual respect for one another. I think this show is destined to be a worthwhile season but it doesn’t rival the classics of Bear Grylls and Les Stroud.
This looks like it could be an appealing show, both for the interesting social commentary and simple fact that it’s two people having to bring their ideas together (or argue/fight) in order to survive. I could definitely picture these two taking part in some heated discussions which in reality television terms usually means higher ratings. The survival expert narrative has become a little played out in the past few years but by adding some new elements, like two very different people, it could create some attention-grabbing television.
ReplyDeleteI like the contrasting ideologies of this show with Cody being the tree hugging hippie and Dave the Bad ass military man. It adds something to the show that Man vs. Wild and Survivorman don't have. It's going to turn this show into more of a drama than the other two. But i'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Cody's logic about going bear foot in temperatures below freezing is pretty flawed.
ReplyDeleteWait just a second.....Is this going to be another surprise like Brokeback Mountain? Because that wasn't very cool. This show seems to be more about naturalists vs. the rest of society than an educational series on wilderness survival. I'm curious to see who prevails.
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