Les Stroud isn’t a stranger to danger. With no food or water and only the clothes on his back, the Canadian survival expert has battled the bitter cold of the Arctic, endured the alligator-infested swamps of Georgia and was even lost at sea along the coast of Belize. Lugging around 50 lbs of camera equipment to film the entire show on his own, Survivorman stays true to his title, persevering through these perilous situations for seven days and somehow always survives.
The one-man reality show makes its much-anticipated return to OLN with a chalked-up level of intensity. Unlike last season, which was mostly filmed in North America, the second season challenges Stroud in more exotic locations like the Kalahari Desert or the African plains, where the notion of survival paints a very different picture than in the boundaries of our continent.
The second season’s première episode finds Stroud battling the elements of Ecuador’s Amazon jungle where the hostile tribes and 250-pound jaguars aren’t the only threats to the Mimico, Ontario native. But armed with his trusty multi-tool and harmonica, Survivorman prevails his seven days in the jungle even if the vampire bats and killer ants keep him up all night.
Over the phone from Toronto, the adventure enthusiast speaks to TV Guide about his most difficult episode this season, what he really thinks of Survivor and the three albums he’d bring with him on a desert island.
TVGuide: I got a chance to watch the first episode of the second season in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle, and I have to say that was the most gripping and exciting episode I’ve seen so far. It seemed like you had every threat and danger in the world against you. From those killer ants to the vampire bats and the jaguar that actually hunted you. Can you tell me a little bit about that experience?
Survivorman: That particular location was almost a profound experience. First of all it started out learning from the Waorani tribe who, 40 years ago were Stone Age and hunting each other with spears, so there was really intense learning from them. From the jungle side, I love the jungle and always have loved the jungle and grew up loving Tarzan movies and stuff like that, so I really was fascinated with my time in it. But you’re right, it’s one of those places where you just have to lean over on the wrong side of the grass and you get stung by something that’s going to kill you. It’s really bizarre! And those ants... man, I couldn’t believe those guys! They were mean and big and they just walk around and I swear, you walk by them a few feet away and they’re like a little dog; they stop and look at you, they raise up their little stingers ready to strike.
TVG: And what about the part with the jaguar? That was so frightening to watch, I couldn’t believe it actually followed you all the way back to the camp.
SM: Yeah, now it wasn’t like it was nipping my heels but it was definitely stalking me. And jaguars are kind of funny, they’re the kind of animal where you go ‘I could probably handle them, they’re not that big, and they’re not as big as bear’ but then you hear that a jaguar killed a ranger last week. So they’re a little unpredictable and spooky. Big cats like that kind of spook me a bit but are really beautiful. And then when we got back to the tribe he circled the village – that was a little creepy!
TVG: Last season was mostly filmed in North America and in second season you seemed to push it to more exotic locations. Did anything change for you this season in terms of preparation or recovery or even brushing up on different survival skills?
SM: Yes. I think maybe the intensity changed a bit because as soon as you get out of your North American boundaries you realize you’re out in different political regimes and different emergency scenarios. Hospitals might be really bad there so if I get hurt it’s going to be a problem. So I approached them with a bit more intensity for sure and more research as well but the research was that much more cooler because now I’m researching survival in Africa or something and I really enjoyed that part of it.
TVG: The one thing that amazes me about your show is that you film the entire thing yourself and I don’t know if a lot of people realize that. So much goes into just one shot. You’re basically the producer, the director, and the cameraman all by yourself while trying to survive. How do you juggle those two tasks? I mean, after not eating for a few days you must not care so much about getting that one shot?
SM: That’s a good point. It does start to wane a bit near the end of the week and I’m low on energy. And you know what often happens is sometimes I think ‘Ah, I’ve got a bunch of really beautiful shots at the beginning of the week and I can relax now,’ that does happen. But what keeps me going, on the other side of that, is my passion as a filmmaker and the fact that I desire to not come out of there with just a home video but something powerful, beautiful and compelling so that if you’re going to watch it, okay the drama is there and the story is good but how’s the footage, is it beautiful? And that’s my own personal mandate to myself to work very hard as a filmmaker.
TVG: I read that last season you found the Arctic episode the most challenging with the polar bears, in Season 2 what was the most difficult situation?
SM: I’m going to say the Kalahari Desert was the most difficult. It was 45 degrees in the shade. I had this little watch that took the temperature and I would literally put it just two feet behind me into the sun and 10 minutes later it would read 60 degrees Celsius. It was intensely hot and in that episode I got heat exhaustion which is no surprise and I had to deal with that. There’s a scene where I look straight into the camera and you can almost see my pupils dilating. When you watch that scene I tell ya, it’s very creepy but it’s very real, there’s no play acting going on there, I was going through it.
TVG: You put yourself in so many dangerous situations do you ever feel like you’re tempting fate or do you look back at an episode and think ‘What if?’ What if you did this differently or in the Amazon what if you didn’t see that jaguar?
SM: That’s that kind of hindsight scenario and posing the ‘What if?’ scenario. Yes, I do but I do that for a lot of things in life because I love adventuring and I’ve done a lot of adventuring and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But sometimes you come out on the other end of it and think ‘Hmmm, wonder how close I’m getting on the odds here because that one was a bit close.’ I definitely don’t want to dwell too much on the things that could have happened because a lot of things could have happened when you are voluntarily in harms way.
TVG: Understandable. And I’m sure you get this question a lot but viewers want to know what the most disgusting thing you’ve eaten is and what didn’t taste as bad?
SM: Strangely enough, because this is on the menu in certain places, but the most disgusting thing I ate was in the Georgian swamps and it was the turtle. It was just brutal, that one was really rank and I think I got a parasite from it which was probably my fault for not cooking it enough. The most surprising thing was both the grasshoppers and the scorpions – they taste really good! They really do!
TVG: What about a seal’s eyeball? Does it really taste like ice cream?
SM: It tastes like a sweet gelatin. It doesn’t taste that bad at all! And I remember that particular scene. That’s one of the beauties of the Outdoor Life Network is that’s a longer cut that included the seal eyeball situation, that doesn’t show up in some of the other countries.
TVG: They’re missing out!
SM: Yup, they’re missing out and as Canadians we get it all!
TVG: What is the first meal that you crave when you get back from filming an episode?
SM: Pizza and beer. There’s actually method to that madness. I spent a year living out in the bush with my wife, it was our honeymoon actually and during that period of time we really craved fresh vegetables because we had moose meat to eat and fat in our system. When I go into a Survivorman situation there’s no fat going into my system at all for seven days and my body really starts to crave that. My mind just starts thinking well what’s fat? Melted cheese. Melted cheese equals pizza. Ah man, I could really use a pizza right now.
TVG: What modern convenience could you survive without and what couldn’t you survive without?
SM: These days, I’ll say what I would like to survive without, and that’s the car. Man, I’m tired of driving. But I wouldn’t want to survive without music.
TVG: Well speaking of music, what would be the three albums you’d bring with you on a desert island or even on your show?
SM: Dark Side of the Moon, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and an obscure one by Steve Goodman called Jessie’s Jig & Other Favorites. Sometimes I get torn between Dark Side of the Moon and Animals but let’s go with Dark Side of the Moon.
TVG: I have to ask you, what you think of Survivor?
SM: Because of the title we all assumed it would be about survival and I will hand it to them that they never come out and say this show is about survival, it’s actually a challenge show. In the end to me that show is simply Outward Bound done with adults and put on television. Half of those games they do I used to do with kids, ropes courses and challenge courses. So it’s like corporate team building now – which is why so many team building exercises are doing Survivor themes. It’s not about survival, it never really has been but Mark Burnett is certainly a bit of a media genius, it’s got it’s attraction in terms of the voyeurism of the bickering and so on. But what I think, it is an extremely unique idea but almost like watching corporate team building on TV. It’s not really about survival.
TVG: I have a bit of a game for you – choose your favorite survivalist: Grizzly Adams or Jeremiah Johnson?
SM: Oh Jeremiah Johnson, hands down! That’s my favorite movie of all time. When I perform in concert I used to actually sing the theme song.
TVG: Robinson Crusoe or Tom Hanks in Cast Away?
SM: I’m going to go with Tom Hanks in Cast Away.
TVG: Did you like that movie?
SM: It had some good stuff to it and the one thing I always say about that movie – the guy crashes and has an abscess tooth and whenever that happens, I’m like ‘Yes, that’s what survival is like.’ You don’t survive when you’re fit and in shape, you survive at the worst of times. What are the odds that you go down in a plane and you have an abscess tooth and I thought that was a great moment in the movie – very realistic!
TVG: The Donner Party or the Uruguayan Rugby team in the Andes [from Alive]?
SM: Oooooh, I’m going to say the Donner Party because they were less apologetic about it.
TVG: And one last one – Crocodile Hunter or Timothy Treadwell from Grizzly Man?
SM: Hands down Crocodile Hunter. And not because of the circumstances but frankly I think Treadwell was a nut. I’m one of those guys who sides with the locals and says ‘No, he wasn’t special, the guy was a nut,’ and shouldn’t have been killed and he shouldn’t have been out there.
Survivorman returns Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET/9 p.m. PT, OLN
Published: Monday, October 1, 2007
