Survivorman's Secrets of Survival s01e06 Episode Script
Dangers
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Survival can be dangerous.
Things that happen to me, elements of the unknown, getting stung or bitten or eaten for breakfast.
These are the outside forces that affect whether I live or die.
Up here there's a saying, "stop thinking and you'll stop trying.
Stop trying and you'll die.
" ONE MAN ALONE NO FOOD NO T.
V.
CREW Survivorman Secrets of Survival: Dangers it's all around me, everywhere I step, sit, eat, sleep.
Sometimes it doesn't even know I'm there, but it still affects me.
Danger.
It comes in many forms, none of which are benign and all of which threaten my very existence.
These are my top 5 dangers of survival, things I have to survive through if I expect to stay alive.
I can't think anymore.
I need some food.
My fears, that which stops me cold, has me sitting up all night, just watching and waiting.
[Bleep.]
And my frustrations, little annoyances that get in the way of my survival, and everything in between.
But before we hit the top 5, let's look at a few unique dangers I've had to deal with over the years and the secrets of survival that have gotten me through them.
This is starting to feel like a bad idea.
Oh, god.
Oh, god.
[ Breathing heavily .]
I got to say probably the creepiest moments of survival revolve around when I have to shove my hand in some deep, dark hole, trying to get some food or catch some food or pick some plants, not knowing what's in that hole.
Here in the amazon jungle, I watched an old lady go underneath the water and reach into these mudholes to catch catfish.
I remember thinking, "sure, I can do that.
" But once I was out here, alone, the prospect of shoving my hands deep inside little holes on the side of an amazon river caused more trepidation than I care to share.
Whenever there is an unknown, you have automatic danger.
Ooh, what the heck is that? Ooh, there's some big holes in the side there, and I better be careful, because there could easily be snakes in those holes.
This shot inside the wasp nest was a complete surprise to me.
I didn't even see the footage until I got back into the editing suite a few months later.
I simply jumped quick when I noticed a couple of wasps come by.
That gave me a fright.
Maybe a stupid move on my part, eh? Some deep holes in this cliffside, and in my situation, probably not smart to try poking in them.
I think I just woke up a hornet's nest in the other hole.
[ Exhales sharply .]
All right.
I've walked this far upstream because there's a feeder stream just over there that's hopefully dropping food into the water for fish in this area.
Now, what I'm going to do is I'm gonna go to the backwash areas, and I'm gonna be shoving my hand in, underneath and into the holes, trying to catch the catfish that might be in there.
Now, the dangers are many.
First of all, there's getting the wrong kind of catfish, the spiny catfish.
If I grab one of those by accident, extremely painful.
Secondly, the electric eel.
They like to live in the same place that catfish do, so that can be very painful.
And lastly is the freshwater stingray.
The huaorani fear it equally to any snake in the jungle.
Its sting is so painful and powerful, and it instantly infects.
This is what I like to do is shove my hand and my arm way deep inside a muddy, murky hole and overhang in an amazon jungle river.
This is just what I like to do.
My secret is to keep reminding myself that other people do this for survival.
I can do it, too.
And there is a reward of dinner, if I'm lucky.
That was spooky.
Hmm.
I don't know if I want to keep doing this.
There were some holes I shouldn't even go near.
Big hole.
Have to be very careful passing by these holes, because the leopards like to crawl down into them.
And if you walk right by the front, a leopard can jump out and attack.
So, they're always very cautious going by these big holes.
I never expected that violent human reaction to my presence was anything I would ever have to deal with.
Yet I found myself in the jungle worrying about exactly that.
[ Shouting in native language .]
I can't be sure, but I think, like a lot of indigenous cultures, when you come upon someone else's house, you've got to call from the bush first so they know it's not an enemy coming.
It's a tradition.
Now, you can see over here.
There's a farm over there.
It's an active farm, too.
So, there might be vegetables there that I can, well, steal.
The only problem with taking vegetables here, if you have permission, well, that's one thing.
If you don't have permission, you can find yourself decapitated.
That's not a good thing.
There's a reason most survival instruction manuals say stay put, wait for rescue.
That's good advice, because travel of any kind is going to automatically increase the risk of getting yourself in more danger and make chances of survival possibly less likely.
Yet travel I must because a lot of time safety could be just around the corner.
Aah! It's that thing where you walk through the bush.
9 times out of 10, you're holding the branch for the person.
The 10th time, you don't do it, you forget, they aren't watching, and whack! Right in the eyes.
Not a big deal -- well, it's always a big deal.
It's a little different when you're at your cottage.
But when you out trying to survive, it's everything.
One of the biggest problems I've had going through this forest Ow! it's all because of this fella right here.
It's called devil's club, and it is just covered with thorns.
Stuff gets into your skin, and it just hurts very much.
Sure enough, if I keep moving, I'll come upon terrain I have to deal with that's dangerous.
And the difficulty increases due to the fact that I'm completely alone.
If I fall or get stuck somewhere, no one is going to help me get out.
I can be on a 5-square-mile piece of ice that cracks over by the shore, and there could be 100 feet of water between me and the shore, and I wouldn't even know it.
Lots of cracks and crevices.
I could literally fall into the ocean here.
I got to be -- I better be careful.
[ Groans .]
I looked all around, and I can't find any other way except to cross this glacier.
Heading out onto a glacier alone any time of the year is foolhardy.
Going out now, right after some fresh fallen snow If you want to learn about how brutal, dangerous, or deadly it can be to fall into an ice crevice, then read about my favorite survival hero of all time, douglas mawson.
This is not simple hiking.
The potential to climb across a weak area of ice and plunge 100 feet down to a cold death is not only possible.
It's likely.
That is where I came from.
And that's where I'm going.
I'm getting poured on here, and there's a few things I'd like to tell you about with these glaciers.
I'm a little freaked out at the amount of crevices in my way, so I just want to get off of this thing.
Oh, sometimes I wonder what I get myself into.
For my first on the top 5 of the list of dangers in survival, I take a look at what usually happens to put someone in a survival situation in the first place.
Stroud: Wherever there are roads through mountains, there are people willing to take the chance to try to push on through to their destination.
For some reason, people would rather take the chance and hike over some hill that they don't know, because they think it's a shortcut to safety.
And in reality, it's a one-way ticket to hell.
The number-5 danger while in a survival ordeal -- becoming disoriented.
This is the moment where everything changes, where you turn right instead of left.
One way is salvation, and the other way is full of danger.
But confusion leads to frustration, and fear makes everything worse, until you push yourself further and further into trouble and away from safety.
When it happens while you're already in a survival situation, it just adds insult to injury.
And so ends a pretty typical day of backpacking.
Beautiful trails to follow.
Cross a few creeks.
Check out some wildflowers, maybe a few animal tracks.
[ Breathing heavily .]
Nature at its best.
What could go wrong? So, this is the worst part, when you think you should be there.
It should have been around that next corner, over that bend.
And you start to panic.
And unfortunately, when you panic, you start moving faster.
People get turned around simply walking 200 yards to relieve themselves and can get lost for days after that.
You get all frustrated.
You're sure it's got to be around here somewhere.
The secret is to stop moving and get calm, but rarely do we do that.
You're pretty sure you should've been there by now.
And instead of moving cautiously and carefully, you kind of get in a panic.
People who've been through this before describe it like there's something chasing you, pushing you onward and onward.
I call it bush panic.
I hate that feeling, like you've lost your sense of direction.
Holy mackerel.
This just keeps getting -- it's like the forest is closing in on me here.
I'm just gonna simulate what actually happens.
Okay, guys.
You're on your own.
There isn't a dog sledder out there who hasn't found himself lost without the dogs.
That's got to be one of the most uncomfortable feelings you can have in life, is to be disoriented and not know which way you should be turning.
Okay.
Well, now I got a decision to make.
Do you follow them, or do you keep going east because you think there's a highway over there? You could go up the railway tracks and be right around the corner from an establishment.
On the other hand, you could be 250, 300 kilometers from the next junction.
And maybe the place that's close is that way, and you go that way.
Train tracks, trails and roads, even powerlines -- they're all a good start.
But without knowing for sure which way to go, following them could lead me to hours or even days of more trouble than I want.
And instead of hastening my rescue, moving in the wrong direction can simply prolong my survival ordeal.
It doesn't happen that often, but every once in a while, I break my own rules.
It happens because I become overconfident, a little too cocky.
Like in norway, when I was going down the hill, I was sure that I'd find shelter.
But I was wrong, and I allowed myself to be soaking wet, right through to the skin, both with sweat and freezing rain.
It was one of the most dangerous survival situations I've ever been faced with.
I'm trying to see my way down, but the snow's getting in my eyes.
This is starting to feel like a bad idea.
The trouble started when my own survival arrogance caused me to figure the hike down would be no big deal.
[ Grunting .]
Damn.
It's probably already starting to get dark on me.
I got to get to the bottom before it does.
As long as I don't come up against a cliff, I'll be okay.
Kind of like what's happening to me right now.
I can't go back.
Oh [Bleep.]
Just keep going down, les.
Keep going down.
[ Grunts .]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Oh, god.
Oh, god.
[ Breathing heavily .]
Gonna catch my breath.
To become disoriented is to lose control of the situation.
And feeling out of control is a position of great fear.
It's the silliest of feelings that can be a horrible enemy, embarrassment.
Some people will even focus on how embarrassed they're going to be when they finally get out.
And it can lead you to make the wrong decision.
And one wrong decision can kill you.
I just want to get to the shore before dark.
That's all I'm asking.
[ Grunting .]
[ Bleep .]
I looked at this hike down the hill as no big deal and ended up putting myself in one of my most dangerous situations ever.
I got what I wished for.
I'm at the bottom.
That's the ocean.
It's raining.
[ Breathing heavily .]
And no shelter.
And I'm soaked.
If I'd got down to the bottom of that hill and not been able to make a fire or get underneath a rock, hypothermia would have set in fast, and hypothermia is a killer.
If becoming disoriented adds insult to injury in the case of survival, then my number 4 on the list will push that even farther.
Oh, damn.
I just sliced my finger open.
Okay, that was just plain stupid.
The number-4 danger in a survival situation -- getting injured.
Speed kills.
Trying to effect survival impatiently will almost always lead to some kind of accident.
And out here, getting injured stacks the odds of survival against you.
It takes an almost manageable set of circumstances and turns them into a horrible ordeal.
No one wants to be injured.
No one plans to be injured.
Yet it's the one thing that is always on my mind, no matter what I'm doing to survive.
And when it happens, it changes everything.
I hit the bone with a knife.
I could feel it -- kah-kunk! Like that.
Just that feeling of going in deep.
It stopped bleeding, and I just kept it pressed for a while.
Infection in the jungle is one of the most insidious circumstances to deal with.
It can just leave you in agony.
You know, if you fantasize about being in a survival situation and how you'd make it through, well, try doing that and think about having a broken leg or a broken arm.
We always see ourselves as super fit and strong and fighting against the elements and persevering.
We never think about the fact that we could have something as simple as a migraine headache, a bad stomachache or a sore back that could slow us down or even stop us and make it hard to survive.
Anything like that turns a real bad situation into a horrible situation.
There's two things that will knock you down really quickly -- shot feet and a rot gut.
And right now, I've got both.
The old saying is an army marches on its stomach.
And it's true.
And here in mexico, all my progress towards surviving was stopped cold by simply eating the wrong oyster.
I'm just trying not to throw up right now.
[ Sighs .]
I don't think I'll be eating any more of those oysters.
All I can do is persevere through.
It's times like these I could care less about running the cameras.
On one occasion, I wanted to experience what it would be like to be debilitated and left without the use of a limb.
After all, there are hundreds of stories where someone has been badly injured.
I figured I should take a shot at it myself.
Well, I've been thinking.
Something I've never shown is what you'd have to do if you were actually injured.
And in a plane crash situation, if you did survive, it's highly likely that you're injured.
Let's do this with an injury this time.
Just kidding.
I've had broken bones in my life, but never in a survival situation.
And just trying to immobilize the injured arm with the one good arm proved difficult.
Survival without both arms and hands was 10 times worse than I expected it to be.
And it drilled home to me the importance of preventing all injuries out here.
Wrist is immobilized.
Arm is immobilized.
I'm now officially injured.
The rest of your body takes the punishment in lieu of the immobilized arm.
And things can just keep getting worse from there.
Now I do have one serious problem.
[ Sighs .]
The possibility of heatstroke.
I'm feeling extremely hot.
I'm still sweating.
That's a good sign.
But I got to be really careful.
If I get to the point where I'm not sweating, that's very dangerous.
I got to go cool down.
Sunburn and heatstroke, just like getting sick, are all part of dealing with the odds I'm up against.
I feel like I'm overheating, like I might have heat exhaustion.
I'm feeling pretty nauseous.
I sacrificed a bit of water to put on my bandana, to get around my carotid arteries.
'Cause that's what you want to do.
You want to cool your blood down.
I stopped taking the temperature out there today when it hit 60 degrees celsius in the sun.
That's 140 degrees fahrenheit, and that kind of heat can cause substantial changes to the human body.
[ Chuckles .]
It was like being in a worldwide oven.
Next on my top 5 list is something very difficult to present on camera, yet it is by far one of my greatest dangers to deal with.
Did I mention that scorpions are attracted to fire? They come in for the warmth.
I hate thinking about stuff like that when I'm trying to sleep.
The number-3 danger -- sleep deprivation.
The one thing that no one ever talks about in a survival situation is sleep deprivation.
Yet it's been my constant nemesis throughout the years.
It gets me to a place where I can't even think straight any more.
And I end up sleeping during the day, when I should be doing things to help myself.
In a survival ordeal, sleep deprivation is a silent killer.
Over the years, I've learned how to recognize and deal with it.
But here in northern ontario, on my very first "survivorman," I'd also get my very first taste of what it means to go without sleep.
I spent the entire night last night laid out on this flat rock, just laying there with my hat overtop of me, being bombarded by a forest's worth of mosquitoes.
Oh, man.
I'm asleep here, listening to the sound of the mosquitoes.
I usually tuck my hands in my pocket, just to get them away from the bugs.
Ohh.
And it's a brutal experience.
In the army, sleep deprivation is used for training.
And at times, it's even used for torture.
In survival, it's a constant nemesis.
And it's an odd thing because in norway, faced with the cold outside or the warmth and relative comfort of the inside of a car, I ended up swinging the pendulum the opposite way and got so much sleep I missed out on effecting better survival.
It was a foolish move.
Okay.
I think I just made what might be a bit of a mistake.
And with the storm raging outside, I closed my eyes, and I actually started to fall asleep.
Didn't sleep much last night.
But I've just woken up.
It's 3:00.
The sun's going down already.
And I've just lost some valuable time, time I could've used to be proactive and to get some firewood maybe together or a little bit clearer understanding of where I am.
Often I'll turn the cameras off and just pace, unable to find a place to sleep, unable to find any bit of comfort.
My mind goes numb, and all I do is concentrate on the eastern horizon, hoping and praying that I'll see a sliver of light indicating the rising sun.
But it never seems to come.
My own wristwatch can be a point of horrible frustration, taking a peek at it and hoping it's almost morning, only to find out that it's barely past midnight.
I have a feeling this is gonna be a long night.
And I have a second feeling that I'm not gonna be sleeping much.
Becoming disoriented or injured have practical solutions, things you can do or not do to help yourself out.
Not so with a lack of sleep.
I have no hotel to go to at night, so I just slip further and further into the abyss of confusion and a lack of the mental ability to deal with the circumstances as they are.
Throw in the fact that I'm supposed to be filming it all as it happens, and you begin to understand what I have to go through.
He's gonna set me up a special place inside here for sleeping tonight.
A place of honor, actually.
They'd give me the most comfortable place on the boat.
Honestly, I don't know how they really get through living like this after a while.
The boat heaves all night long.
And you're sleeping on a wooden plank the whole time.
The night seems to go on forever.
It's still dark.
And there's no way, really, of getting comfortable in this little -- like, this little boat.
There's actually a fair bit of noise, too.
People are up talking a lot throughout the whole village.
And, uh It's a crazy existence.
Sleep deprivation takes pragmatic and practical survival and turns it into some kind of surreal experience.
A dream, but I'm awake.
My number-2 danger is as real as it gets.
[ Animals growling and grunting .]
Okay.
I am listening to something very large growl and moan and groan not too far from here.
[ Growling and grunting continue .]
For the first time ever, I've got a gun.
I was actually required to bring the gun.
They wouldn't let me come out here without it.
One reason and one reason only polar bears.
The number-2 danger in survival -- predators.
I'm nervous as anything about aggressive snapping turtles.
Biting stinging ants.
A rattlesnake without a rattle.
1,500 pounds of claw, fang, and muscle.
Ticks and things called jiggers.
And monster tarantulas.
Vampire bats.
Cape cobras.
Millions of mosquitoes.
Scorpions.
The black mamba.
I have no way of knowing whether it's a wildebeest, buffalo, leopard, or a lion.
And the jaguar.
Not very far from my hut was a jaguar.
I watched him for a while.
He watched me.
I yelled.
I used my whistle.
And unfortunately, he didn't even flinch.
I've done my time in grizzly territory.
But there's just something about a big cat who's interested in you that makes me nervous.
I think I love to be out here in the jungle.
[ Sighs .]
Reality is that most predators are predictable.
You can pretty much know where they're going to be and usually even what they're going to do.
Now, I worry a lot more when I'm searching for food about coming across stinging and biting ants and scorpions, spiders.
Those are the predators that I worry about.
I'm told that there are some caterpillars, that if they're smooth, probably like this one, that I might be able to eat them.
But I'm also told there are caterpillars here that can pretty much kill you if you touch them once.
I don't think I'm gonna take the chance.
I can't get too close to that camera because there's a big wasp who's decided he likes it.
I don't feel like getting stung on the first day out here.
Just a small problem here, this place is crawling with leeches.
And I just asked tarocha if they're a problem.
He said, "yeah, there a problem for sure.
" As soon as he saw one on himself, he pulled it off right away.
And they're everywhere, just these little tiny leeches.
I asked him if they go into the skin.
And he said, "yes, yes.
" And I remember hearing a story.
A guy was in the jungle like this.
It was an adventure race.
Yeah, this guy was here, and he says he just watched a leech disappear up his urethra.
He wants to know what to do.
The killer part of that story is the answer.
He said, "well, it's okay.
It'll engorge itself with blood, and then it'll leave.
" [ Chuckles .]
You just have to wait.
I'm doing my pants up tight tonight.
Fortunately for me, I don't have arachnophobia, the fear of spiders.
Because in their world, they are indeed master predators.
And when our worlds collide in a survival situation, one bite and they win.
The secret of dealing with these potent little killers is identification.
Once I know it's not poisonous, I relax.
Ay-yi-yi.
That thing's the size of my hand or bigger.
Some of these bugs, at the very least, aren't palatable.
But often, they'll even have toxic poison in them.
This guy -- well, he's got a couple things going against him.
Number one -- he's got brightly colored legs.
That's the first thing you want to look out for.
Bright colors, be careful.
Usually means something toxic.
Number two -- he's really cumbersome and just plodding along and just bumbling along, right out in the open, without issue.
And when they do that, it means they've probably got nothing to worry about.
They're probably carrying some kind of a toxic poison with them.
And number three -- and I'm not even gonna bother testing this one -- is do they smell bad? And often, they'll have a horrible little odor to them.
So, if they meet three of those or even just one of those three conditions, then it's probably a good bug to stay away from.
This place is crawling with scorpions.
Check out all the holes.
Big scorpion hole.
Scorpion hole.
Scorpion hole.
Scorpion hole.
See, the thing is the scorpion is as wide as its hole.
I've got a mother scorpion here, and she's got all of her little baby scorpions on her back.
This particular one here is not one I'm gonna mess with.
See the little tiny pinchers on it? I don't know a lot about scorpions, but I've been told when the pinchers are small, watch out, 'cause that means the tail is gonna pack a wallop.
And this one, this mother will pack a painful wallop.
It doesn't take a big creature to kill you.
Some of the smallest creatures in the jungles and the forests can kill you with one bite.
That's the truth about creepy-crawlies.
As predators, spiders and snakes don't bother me.
The creature I have to deal with the most and gives me the most cause to be jumpy -- ants.
Like the adventurous movie character indiana jones, who always has to deal with snakes and his fear of them, I always have to deal with ants.
I don't fear them.
I just know they're always there.
And whenever I sit, stand, walk, or build a shelter, I've got to watch out for ants.
I've chopped him in half, and he's still trying hard to bite me.
I've got his bum over on a leaf there.
And it inflicts one of the most painful stings in the jungle.
It's been described as taking a pair of red-hot pliers, jamming them in to your skin, squeezing hard, twisting, and holding for five hours.
That's the decapitated version.
He has no head.
And as I touched him with a stick, you can see that he was -- it's still trying to sting, even though it's been decapitated.
These guys are mean.
When you don't have a phobia, you can't understand other people that do.
You can't relate.
Now, don't get me wrong, I have a healthy respect for large or small poisonous snakes.
I just don't shiver at the sight of them.
When I was young, I could even inflict revenge on school field trips when I learned that the class bully was afraid of snakes.
Of course, the fear is not without good reason.
Okay, buddy.
This is a full-on spitting cobra.
This is a nasty, nasty snake.
These guys are responsible for a lot of bites in this area.
Oh, oh, oh.
He just bit the stick.
On this planet, this is a snake to fear.
He can shoot his venom nearly 20 feet.
I'm within 4 1/2 feet of him right now.
But this guy, when riled, he can be one mean, mean dance partner.
It's been said that to deal with a black bear, it's best to intimidate it -- scare it off, make noise, make yourself look big.
And for grizzly bears, do the opposite.
Never challenge it.
Even play dead if you're trapped.
But I never worry about grizzly or black bears.
A polar bear is another story altogether.
I'm in probably the thickest polar bear area around here, and I'm sitting here with a big hunk of raw seal meat.
You know, this is not the most intelligent thing I've ever done.
To a polar bear, all I am is just one big, upright seal.
Or in other words, I can represent dinner to a polar bear.
Wow.
What's important about these tracks is that they're only 30 feet from where I've been sleeping.
And you thought I was kidding about polar bears.
[ Branches snapping .]
I just heard something big crack.
[ Branches snapping .]
Holy crap.
This is a lone female moose that walked right past me in northern ontario.
The danger is more with the bull that may be following her, because in the fall rutting season, I consider the bull moose to be the most dangerous animal on the continent.
1,500 pounds of testosterone-driven rage, and this female could be leading him right to me.
Look what I found.
An old running shoe.
Not a big deal, except that out of the heel of it are the distinct markings of grizzly bear teeth.
Shoot.
There's a black bear.
I have no idea if he He's got to know I'm here.
The old cliché holds true.
He's more afraid of me than I am of him.
All I have to do is remain calm.
So, there's no need to panic.
No need to fear bear at all.
Really, it's just a matter of be cautious, give them their space, hold your ground.
And most likely they'll just take off.
My number one -- and therefore my greatest survival danger to deal with -- is not as sexy as the concept of predators.
But it is the most likely to cause my death if I don't respect it.
The wind is coming in way too strong.
It's brutally cold coming in off the arctic ocean.
I'd be chilled to the bone in no time.
The number-one danger in survival -- succumbing to the elements.
Going without sleep for days on end, becoming lost and disoriented when I already have to survive out here, avoiding deadly predators and getting injured all take a back seat when it comes to dealing with the weather.
I always say, in survival, I'm either dealing with bad weather or preparing for it.
One thing is for sure.
There's no escaping the forces of wind, cold, heat, or rain.
Nature, in the end, rules the day.
And if I don't respect it, the natural forces meant to keep the planet alive will likely be the same forces that cause my own death.
This tropical sun is a killer.
Just moving around in it at all is wiping me right out.
I have to stop pretty often just to rest in the shade.
It gets really hot here during the day, hot enough to dehydrate you quickly.
But at night It still gets below freezing.
Wind is an unseen danger, but it can shut me down faster than anything else.
The wind has just, as you can see, picked up intensely.
I mean, it's even blowing seaweed across the beach now.
Wind like this works in a convection sense.
It just sucks the moisture right out of your body.
As it is, I can feel some of the symptoms of dehydration now.
I certainly haven't urinated in an awfully long time.
Hot wind, cold wind.
Either way, it affects my body heavily by either pulling moisture out of me or chilling me down to the point of becoming hypothermic.
And hypothermia is quite possibly the danger I fear the most, because it can creep up on me.
Before I know it, I'm in the latter stages, and it's a slippery slope from there to dying from exposure to the cold.
I guess the bright side is that it's supposed to be a gentle way to die.
You eventually fall asleep.
.
Forever.
It got terribly cold last night.
The wind stopped, the sky opened up, and that meant bitter-cold temperatures.
The sky cleared out, and we're left with a beautiful, blue-sky day.
But as soon as you see those stars come out at night and you're wondering whether or not it's gonna be warm or cold.
It's gonna be cold.
This is the weather that kills.
Hypothermia at this time of year is the most dangerous thing you have to deal with.
Fear of becoming hypothermic leads me to get active and to build shelters for protection.
And all of this work depletes my energy, making me even more susceptible to the cold.
It's a vicious cycle, and out here I can't afford to let myself get in a panic state when I have a danger looming over me like death from exposure.
It's one thing to get sweaty out in the winter wilderness when you know you're going home to a warm bed and a hot shower.
It's quite something else when you don't know where you're gonna end up.
It's so vitally important that I don't let myself sweat now.
You sweat, you die.
You sweat, you die.
It's real easy to get hot and sweaty doing this.
That's a problem, 'cause if you sweat, you die.
That's not a phrase that I throw out there lightly.
Exposure to the elements is the one thing I spend most of my time preparing for, guarding against, and dealing with.
When the weather's good, it's great.
When the weather's bad, it turns a survival situation into a life-or-death ordeal.
Stuck in a life raft for four days off the coast of belize, all was well until the weather came in on me.
In a few hours, my calm and flat ocean, where I was worried most about being scorched by the sun, was about to become a frothing, dark, and wild sea.
Sitting here in calm water, no wind, waiting for a big storm to come down on you.
And watching it come down the way.
[ Thunder crashes .]
[ Wind blowing .]
Here comes the rain.
It's really coming down out there and just blowing like crazy.
This is pretty intense.
All right.
This is getting dangerous now.
I've put on my strobe flasher, and I think the crew is gonna come out and tether me to their boat.
The winds have picked up, and it's storming.
The rain is bucketing down, and there's a good chance they could lose me tonight if they don't come and tether me.
It's one of those better come and get me now, or they could lose me forever.
I had to be grabbed before I was blown to honduras and, likely, my demise.
Well, I'm in it now.
The middle of labrador, during what is probably one of the most dangerous seasons -- the period of time at the end of winter and beginning of spring, when just about anything could happen weather-wise.
Around the fifth day of my survival, I was working on my shelter a few hours' snow mobile ride from my safety team.
It had been raining a long time, and we were many hours' ride across a frozen ocean to a remote area where I had been left to survive on my own.
The rain had turned the ocean into a massive, 6-foot-deep swimming pool.
With the water and slush on the top and the ice underneath, we were all trapped.
Apprise me of the situation.
Well, are they slushy, or what's the deal? We had to go all the way around the side.
This rain we have here now, you're gonna have at least maybe 6, 8 feet of slush, which is gonna make that ice -- you don't think we'll get across? No.
With that little river there this morning, that's why I opened this morning.
We had to go all the way around it.
Man: And it's compressing.
It's pushing it down and driving the water up on top, too.
I was, in fact, doing fine, prepared to stick it through to the end of my seven-day ordeal.
But many miles away, the crew was in a precarious situation, and they had to be rescued, not me.
Let me say that again in case you missed it.
They had to be rescued, not me.
Oh, here he comes.
I can't believe we all have to be choppered out of here.
But that's the nature of shooting a "survivorman" show.
We take our chances.
We're way out in the middle of labrador here.
And what's happened is, the ocean and all the rain, all the water has come up.
And it's just slush between here and a 4 1/2-hour drive on snow machines back to safety, back to town.
We can't make it.
We can't get back.
We're stuck out here.
We're gonna helicopter everybody, all the machines, everything out of here.
And that's why they had to come and get me, too.
I was fine making my shelter miles away, but the crew had a lot at stake.
And this went down in history as the only time I was forced to submit to a rescue and halt a "survivorman" mission short.
And it wasn't because of a lion attack or a snake bite or sickness.
It was simply weather, the most powerful natural force on the planet.
So, that's it.
Well, I may have survived labrador.
And my safety crew, they were doing all right.
But the weather here has decided differently for us.
It effectively stranded me from my safety crew and my safety crew from civilization.
By its very nature, a survival situation is a dangerous place to be.
And danger is something to be avoided.
Survival is not an adventure sport.
It's a real life-and-death struggle and never to be taken lightly.
All steps that could be taken to avoid and keep yourself out of danger while faced with having to survive must be taken.
Survival is about staying out of danger, not flirting with it.
Let me say this again.
Survival itself is dangerous.
Knowing how to avoid any new dangers is indeed the secret to survival.
Some scenes may contain graphic content, language and nudity which may not be suitable for all audience.
Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
Survival can be dangerous.
Things that happen to me, elements of the unknown, getting stung or bitten or eaten for breakfast.
These are the outside forces that affect whether I live or die.
Up here there's a saying, "stop thinking and you'll stop trying.
Stop trying and you'll die.
" ONE MAN ALONE NO FOOD NO T.
V.
CREW Survivorman Secrets of Survival: Dangers it's all around me, everywhere I step, sit, eat, sleep.
Sometimes it doesn't even know I'm there, but it still affects me.
Danger.
It comes in many forms, none of which are benign and all of which threaten my very existence.
These are my top 5 dangers of survival, things I have to survive through if I expect to stay alive.
I can't think anymore.
I need some food.
My fears, that which stops me cold, has me sitting up all night, just watching and waiting.
[Bleep.]
And my frustrations, little annoyances that get in the way of my survival, and everything in between.
But before we hit the top 5, let's look at a few unique dangers I've had to deal with over the years and the secrets of survival that have gotten me through them.
This is starting to feel like a bad idea.
Oh, god.
Oh, god.
[ Breathing heavily .]
I got to say probably the creepiest moments of survival revolve around when I have to shove my hand in some deep, dark hole, trying to get some food or catch some food or pick some plants, not knowing what's in that hole.
Here in the amazon jungle, I watched an old lady go underneath the water and reach into these mudholes to catch catfish.
I remember thinking, "sure, I can do that.
" But once I was out here, alone, the prospect of shoving my hands deep inside little holes on the side of an amazon river caused more trepidation than I care to share.
Whenever there is an unknown, you have automatic danger.
Ooh, what the heck is that? Ooh, there's some big holes in the side there, and I better be careful, because there could easily be snakes in those holes.
This shot inside the wasp nest was a complete surprise to me.
I didn't even see the footage until I got back into the editing suite a few months later.
I simply jumped quick when I noticed a couple of wasps come by.
That gave me a fright.
Maybe a stupid move on my part, eh? Some deep holes in this cliffside, and in my situation, probably not smart to try poking in them.
I think I just woke up a hornet's nest in the other hole.
[ Exhales sharply .]
All right.
I've walked this far upstream because there's a feeder stream just over there that's hopefully dropping food into the water for fish in this area.
Now, what I'm going to do is I'm gonna go to the backwash areas, and I'm gonna be shoving my hand in, underneath and into the holes, trying to catch the catfish that might be in there.
Now, the dangers are many.
First of all, there's getting the wrong kind of catfish, the spiny catfish.
If I grab one of those by accident, extremely painful.
Secondly, the electric eel.
They like to live in the same place that catfish do, so that can be very painful.
And lastly is the freshwater stingray.
The huaorani fear it equally to any snake in the jungle.
Its sting is so painful and powerful, and it instantly infects.
This is what I like to do is shove my hand and my arm way deep inside a muddy, murky hole and overhang in an amazon jungle river.
This is just what I like to do.
My secret is to keep reminding myself that other people do this for survival.
I can do it, too.
And there is a reward of dinner, if I'm lucky.
That was spooky.
Hmm.
I don't know if I want to keep doing this.
There were some holes I shouldn't even go near.
Big hole.
Have to be very careful passing by these holes, because the leopards like to crawl down into them.
And if you walk right by the front, a leopard can jump out and attack.
So, they're always very cautious going by these big holes.
I never expected that violent human reaction to my presence was anything I would ever have to deal with.
Yet I found myself in the jungle worrying about exactly that.
[ Shouting in native language .]
I can't be sure, but I think, like a lot of indigenous cultures, when you come upon someone else's house, you've got to call from the bush first so they know it's not an enemy coming.
It's a tradition.
Now, you can see over here.
There's a farm over there.
It's an active farm, too.
So, there might be vegetables there that I can, well, steal.
The only problem with taking vegetables here, if you have permission, well, that's one thing.
If you don't have permission, you can find yourself decapitated.
That's not a good thing.
There's a reason most survival instruction manuals say stay put, wait for rescue.
That's good advice, because travel of any kind is going to automatically increase the risk of getting yourself in more danger and make chances of survival possibly less likely.
Yet travel I must because a lot of time safety could be just around the corner.
Aah! It's that thing where you walk through the bush.
9 times out of 10, you're holding the branch for the person.
The 10th time, you don't do it, you forget, they aren't watching, and whack! Right in the eyes.
Not a big deal -- well, it's always a big deal.
It's a little different when you're at your cottage.
But when you out trying to survive, it's everything.
One of the biggest problems I've had going through this forest Ow! it's all because of this fella right here.
It's called devil's club, and it is just covered with thorns.
Stuff gets into your skin, and it just hurts very much.
Sure enough, if I keep moving, I'll come upon terrain I have to deal with that's dangerous.
And the difficulty increases due to the fact that I'm completely alone.
If I fall or get stuck somewhere, no one is going to help me get out.
I can be on a 5-square-mile piece of ice that cracks over by the shore, and there could be 100 feet of water between me and the shore, and I wouldn't even know it.
Lots of cracks and crevices.
I could literally fall into the ocean here.
I got to be -- I better be careful.
[ Groans .]
I looked all around, and I can't find any other way except to cross this glacier.
Heading out onto a glacier alone any time of the year is foolhardy.
Going out now, right after some fresh fallen snow If you want to learn about how brutal, dangerous, or deadly it can be to fall into an ice crevice, then read about my favorite survival hero of all time, douglas mawson.
This is not simple hiking.
The potential to climb across a weak area of ice and plunge 100 feet down to a cold death is not only possible.
It's likely.
That is where I came from.
And that's where I'm going.
I'm getting poured on here, and there's a few things I'd like to tell you about with these glaciers.
I'm a little freaked out at the amount of crevices in my way, so I just want to get off of this thing.
Oh, sometimes I wonder what I get myself into.
For my first on the top 5 of the list of dangers in survival, I take a look at what usually happens to put someone in a survival situation in the first place.
Stroud: Wherever there are roads through mountains, there are people willing to take the chance to try to push on through to their destination.
For some reason, people would rather take the chance and hike over some hill that they don't know, because they think it's a shortcut to safety.
And in reality, it's a one-way ticket to hell.
The number-5 danger while in a survival ordeal -- becoming disoriented.
This is the moment where everything changes, where you turn right instead of left.
One way is salvation, and the other way is full of danger.
But confusion leads to frustration, and fear makes everything worse, until you push yourself further and further into trouble and away from safety.
When it happens while you're already in a survival situation, it just adds insult to injury.
And so ends a pretty typical day of backpacking.
Beautiful trails to follow.
Cross a few creeks.
Check out some wildflowers, maybe a few animal tracks.
[ Breathing heavily .]
Nature at its best.
What could go wrong? So, this is the worst part, when you think you should be there.
It should have been around that next corner, over that bend.
And you start to panic.
And unfortunately, when you panic, you start moving faster.
People get turned around simply walking 200 yards to relieve themselves and can get lost for days after that.
You get all frustrated.
You're sure it's got to be around here somewhere.
The secret is to stop moving and get calm, but rarely do we do that.
You're pretty sure you should've been there by now.
And instead of moving cautiously and carefully, you kind of get in a panic.
People who've been through this before describe it like there's something chasing you, pushing you onward and onward.
I call it bush panic.
I hate that feeling, like you've lost your sense of direction.
Holy mackerel.
This just keeps getting -- it's like the forest is closing in on me here.
I'm just gonna simulate what actually happens.
Okay, guys.
You're on your own.
There isn't a dog sledder out there who hasn't found himself lost without the dogs.
That's got to be one of the most uncomfortable feelings you can have in life, is to be disoriented and not know which way you should be turning.
Okay.
Well, now I got a decision to make.
Do you follow them, or do you keep going east because you think there's a highway over there? You could go up the railway tracks and be right around the corner from an establishment.
On the other hand, you could be 250, 300 kilometers from the next junction.
And maybe the place that's close is that way, and you go that way.
Train tracks, trails and roads, even powerlines -- they're all a good start.
But without knowing for sure which way to go, following them could lead me to hours or even days of more trouble than I want.
And instead of hastening my rescue, moving in the wrong direction can simply prolong my survival ordeal.
It doesn't happen that often, but every once in a while, I break my own rules.
It happens because I become overconfident, a little too cocky.
Like in norway, when I was going down the hill, I was sure that I'd find shelter.
But I was wrong, and I allowed myself to be soaking wet, right through to the skin, both with sweat and freezing rain.
It was one of the most dangerous survival situations I've ever been faced with.
I'm trying to see my way down, but the snow's getting in my eyes.
This is starting to feel like a bad idea.
The trouble started when my own survival arrogance caused me to figure the hike down would be no big deal.
[ Grunting .]
Damn.
It's probably already starting to get dark on me.
I got to get to the bottom before it does.
As long as I don't come up against a cliff, I'll be okay.
Kind of like what's happening to me right now.
I can't go back.
Oh [Bleep.]
Just keep going down, les.
Keep going down.
[ Grunts .]
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Oh, god.
Oh, god.
[ Breathing heavily .]
Gonna catch my breath.
To become disoriented is to lose control of the situation.
And feeling out of control is a position of great fear.
It's the silliest of feelings that can be a horrible enemy, embarrassment.
Some people will even focus on how embarrassed they're going to be when they finally get out.
And it can lead you to make the wrong decision.
And one wrong decision can kill you.
I just want to get to the shore before dark.
That's all I'm asking.
[ Grunting .]
[ Bleep .]
I looked at this hike down the hill as no big deal and ended up putting myself in one of my most dangerous situations ever.
I got what I wished for.
I'm at the bottom.
That's the ocean.
It's raining.
[ Breathing heavily .]
And no shelter.
And I'm soaked.
If I'd got down to the bottom of that hill and not been able to make a fire or get underneath a rock, hypothermia would have set in fast, and hypothermia is a killer.
If becoming disoriented adds insult to injury in the case of survival, then my number 4 on the list will push that even farther.
Oh, damn.
I just sliced my finger open.
Okay, that was just plain stupid.
The number-4 danger in a survival situation -- getting injured.
Speed kills.
Trying to effect survival impatiently will almost always lead to some kind of accident.
And out here, getting injured stacks the odds of survival against you.
It takes an almost manageable set of circumstances and turns them into a horrible ordeal.
No one wants to be injured.
No one plans to be injured.
Yet it's the one thing that is always on my mind, no matter what I'm doing to survive.
And when it happens, it changes everything.
I hit the bone with a knife.
I could feel it -- kah-kunk! Like that.
Just that feeling of going in deep.
It stopped bleeding, and I just kept it pressed for a while.
Infection in the jungle is one of the most insidious circumstances to deal with.
It can just leave you in agony.
You know, if you fantasize about being in a survival situation and how you'd make it through, well, try doing that and think about having a broken leg or a broken arm.
We always see ourselves as super fit and strong and fighting against the elements and persevering.
We never think about the fact that we could have something as simple as a migraine headache, a bad stomachache or a sore back that could slow us down or even stop us and make it hard to survive.
Anything like that turns a real bad situation into a horrible situation.
There's two things that will knock you down really quickly -- shot feet and a rot gut.
And right now, I've got both.
The old saying is an army marches on its stomach.
And it's true.
And here in mexico, all my progress towards surviving was stopped cold by simply eating the wrong oyster.
I'm just trying not to throw up right now.
[ Sighs .]
I don't think I'll be eating any more of those oysters.
All I can do is persevere through.
It's times like these I could care less about running the cameras.
On one occasion, I wanted to experience what it would be like to be debilitated and left without the use of a limb.
After all, there are hundreds of stories where someone has been badly injured.
I figured I should take a shot at it myself.
Well, I've been thinking.
Something I've never shown is what you'd have to do if you were actually injured.
And in a plane crash situation, if you did survive, it's highly likely that you're injured.
Let's do this with an injury this time.
Just kidding.
I've had broken bones in my life, but never in a survival situation.
And just trying to immobilize the injured arm with the one good arm proved difficult.
Survival without both arms and hands was 10 times worse than I expected it to be.
And it drilled home to me the importance of preventing all injuries out here.
Wrist is immobilized.
Arm is immobilized.
I'm now officially injured.
The rest of your body takes the punishment in lieu of the immobilized arm.
And things can just keep getting worse from there.
Now I do have one serious problem.
[ Sighs .]
The possibility of heatstroke.
I'm feeling extremely hot.
I'm still sweating.
That's a good sign.
But I got to be really careful.
If I get to the point where I'm not sweating, that's very dangerous.
I got to go cool down.
Sunburn and heatstroke, just like getting sick, are all part of dealing with the odds I'm up against.
I feel like I'm overheating, like I might have heat exhaustion.
I'm feeling pretty nauseous.
I sacrificed a bit of water to put on my bandana, to get around my carotid arteries.
'Cause that's what you want to do.
You want to cool your blood down.
I stopped taking the temperature out there today when it hit 60 degrees celsius in the sun.
That's 140 degrees fahrenheit, and that kind of heat can cause substantial changes to the human body.
[ Chuckles .]
It was like being in a worldwide oven.
Next on my top 5 list is something very difficult to present on camera, yet it is by far one of my greatest dangers to deal with.
Did I mention that scorpions are attracted to fire? They come in for the warmth.
I hate thinking about stuff like that when I'm trying to sleep.
The number-3 danger -- sleep deprivation.
The one thing that no one ever talks about in a survival situation is sleep deprivation.
Yet it's been my constant nemesis throughout the years.
It gets me to a place where I can't even think straight any more.
And I end up sleeping during the day, when I should be doing things to help myself.
In a survival ordeal, sleep deprivation is a silent killer.
Over the years, I've learned how to recognize and deal with it.
But here in northern ontario, on my very first "survivorman," I'd also get my very first taste of what it means to go without sleep.
I spent the entire night last night laid out on this flat rock, just laying there with my hat overtop of me, being bombarded by a forest's worth of mosquitoes.
Oh, man.
I'm asleep here, listening to the sound of the mosquitoes.
I usually tuck my hands in my pocket, just to get them away from the bugs.
Ohh.
And it's a brutal experience.
In the army, sleep deprivation is used for training.
And at times, it's even used for torture.
In survival, it's a constant nemesis.
And it's an odd thing because in norway, faced with the cold outside or the warmth and relative comfort of the inside of a car, I ended up swinging the pendulum the opposite way and got so much sleep I missed out on effecting better survival.
It was a foolish move.
Okay.
I think I just made what might be a bit of a mistake.
And with the storm raging outside, I closed my eyes, and I actually started to fall asleep.
Didn't sleep much last night.
But I've just woken up.
It's 3:00.
The sun's going down already.
And I've just lost some valuable time, time I could've used to be proactive and to get some firewood maybe together or a little bit clearer understanding of where I am.
Often I'll turn the cameras off and just pace, unable to find a place to sleep, unable to find any bit of comfort.
My mind goes numb, and all I do is concentrate on the eastern horizon, hoping and praying that I'll see a sliver of light indicating the rising sun.
But it never seems to come.
My own wristwatch can be a point of horrible frustration, taking a peek at it and hoping it's almost morning, only to find out that it's barely past midnight.
I have a feeling this is gonna be a long night.
And I have a second feeling that I'm not gonna be sleeping much.
Becoming disoriented or injured have practical solutions, things you can do or not do to help yourself out.
Not so with a lack of sleep.
I have no hotel to go to at night, so I just slip further and further into the abyss of confusion and a lack of the mental ability to deal with the circumstances as they are.
Throw in the fact that I'm supposed to be filming it all as it happens, and you begin to understand what I have to go through.
He's gonna set me up a special place inside here for sleeping tonight.
A place of honor, actually.
They'd give me the most comfortable place on the boat.
Honestly, I don't know how they really get through living like this after a while.
The boat heaves all night long.
And you're sleeping on a wooden plank the whole time.
The night seems to go on forever.
It's still dark.
And there's no way, really, of getting comfortable in this little -- like, this little boat.
There's actually a fair bit of noise, too.
People are up talking a lot throughout the whole village.
And, uh It's a crazy existence.
Sleep deprivation takes pragmatic and practical survival and turns it into some kind of surreal experience.
A dream, but I'm awake.
My number-2 danger is as real as it gets.
[ Animals growling and grunting .]
Okay.
I am listening to something very large growl and moan and groan not too far from here.
[ Growling and grunting continue .]
For the first time ever, I've got a gun.
I was actually required to bring the gun.
They wouldn't let me come out here without it.
One reason and one reason only polar bears.
The number-2 danger in survival -- predators.
I'm nervous as anything about aggressive snapping turtles.
Biting stinging ants.
A rattlesnake without a rattle.
1,500 pounds of claw, fang, and muscle.
Ticks and things called jiggers.
And monster tarantulas.
Vampire bats.
Cape cobras.
Millions of mosquitoes.
Scorpions.
The black mamba.
I have no way of knowing whether it's a wildebeest, buffalo, leopard, or a lion.
And the jaguar.
Not very far from my hut was a jaguar.
I watched him for a while.
He watched me.
I yelled.
I used my whistle.
And unfortunately, he didn't even flinch.
I've done my time in grizzly territory.
But there's just something about a big cat who's interested in you that makes me nervous.
I think I love to be out here in the jungle.
[ Sighs .]
Reality is that most predators are predictable.
You can pretty much know where they're going to be and usually even what they're going to do.
Now, I worry a lot more when I'm searching for food about coming across stinging and biting ants and scorpions, spiders.
Those are the predators that I worry about.
I'm told that there are some caterpillars, that if they're smooth, probably like this one, that I might be able to eat them.
But I'm also told there are caterpillars here that can pretty much kill you if you touch them once.
I don't think I'm gonna take the chance.
I can't get too close to that camera because there's a big wasp who's decided he likes it.
I don't feel like getting stung on the first day out here.
Just a small problem here, this place is crawling with leeches.
And I just asked tarocha if they're a problem.
He said, "yeah, there a problem for sure.
" As soon as he saw one on himself, he pulled it off right away.
And they're everywhere, just these little tiny leeches.
I asked him if they go into the skin.
And he said, "yes, yes.
" And I remember hearing a story.
A guy was in the jungle like this.
It was an adventure race.
Yeah, this guy was here, and he says he just watched a leech disappear up his urethra.
He wants to know what to do.
The killer part of that story is the answer.
He said, "well, it's okay.
It'll engorge itself with blood, and then it'll leave.
" [ Chuckles .]
You just have to wait.
I'm doing my pants up tight tonight.
Fortunately for me, I don't have arachnophobia, the fear of spiders.
Because in their world, they are indeed master predators.
And when our worlds collide in a survival situation, one bite and they win.
The secret of dealing with these potent little killers is identification.
Once I know it's not poisonous, I relax.
Ay-yi-yi.
That thing's the size of my hand or bigger.
Some of these bugs, at the very least, aren't palatable.
But often, they'll even have toxic poison in them.
This guy -- well, he's got a couple things going against him.
Number one -- he's got brightly colored legs.
That's the first thing you want to look out for.
Bright colors, be careful.
Usually means something toxic.
Number two -- he's really cumbersome and just plodding along and just bumbling along, right out in the open, without issue.
And when they do that, it means they've probably got nothing to worry about.
They're probably carrying some kind of a toxic poison with them.
And number three -- and I'm not even gonna bother testing this one -- is do they smell bad? And often, they'll have a horrible little odor to them.
So, if they meet three of those or even just one of those three conditions, then it's probably a good bug to stay away from.
This place is crawling with scorpions.
Check out all the holes.
Big scorpion hole.
Scorpion hole.
Scorpion hole.
Scorpion hole.
See, the thing is the scorpion is as wide as its hole.
I've got a mother scorpion here, and she's got all of her little baby scorpions on her back.
This particular one here is not one I'm gonna mess with.
See the little tiny pinchers on it? I don't know a lot about scorpions, but I've been told when the pinchers are small, watch out, 'cause that means the tail is gonna pack a wallop.
And this one, this mother will pack a painful wallop.
It doesn't take a big creature to kill you.
Some of the smallest creatures in the jungles and the forests can kill you with one bite.
That's the truth about creepy-crawlies.
As predators, spiders and snakes don't bother me.
The creature I have to deal with the most and gives me the most cause to be jumpy -- ants.
Like the adventurous movie character indiana jones, who always has to deal with snakes and his fear of them, I always have to deal with ants.
I don't fear them.
I just know they're always there.
And whenever I sit, stand, walk, or build a shelter, I've got to watch out for ants.
I've chopped him in half, and he's still trying hard to bite me.
I've got his bum over on a leaf there.
And it inflicts one of the most painful stings in the jungle.
It's been described as taking a pair of red-hot pliers, jamming them in to your skin, squeezing hard, twisting, and holding for five hours.
That's the decapitated version.
He has no head.
And as I touched him with a stick, you can see that he was -- it's still trying to sting, even though it's been decapitated.
These guys are mean.
When you don't have a phobia, you can't understand other people that do.
You can't relate.
Now, don't get me wrong, I have a healthy respect for large or small poisonous snakes.
I just don't shiver at the sight of them.
When I was young, I could even inflict revenge on school field trips when I learned that the class bully was afraid of snakes.
Of course, the fear is not without good reason.
Okay, buddy.
This is a full-on spitting cobra.
This is a nasty, nasty snake.
These guys are responsible for a lot of bites in this area.
Oh, oh, oh.
He just bit the stick.
On this planet, this is a snake to fear.
He can shoot his venom nearly 20 feet.
I'm within 4 1/2 feet of him right now.
But this guy, when riled, he can be one mean, mean dance partner.
It's been said that to deal with a black bear, it's best to intimidate it -- scare it off, make noise, make yourself look big.
And for grizzly bears, do the opposite.
Never challenge it.
Even play dead if you're trapped.
But I never worry about grizzly or black bears.
A polar bear is another story altogether.
I'm in probably the thickest polar bear area around here, and I'm sitting here with a big hunk of raw seal meat.
You know, this is not the most intelligent thing I've ever done.
To a polar bear, all I am is just one big, upright seal.
Or in other words, I can represent dinner to a polar bear.
Wow.
What's important about these tracks is that they're only 30 feet from where I've been sleeping.
And you thought I was kidding about polar bears.
[ Branches snapping .]
I just heard something big crack.
[ Branches snapping .]
Holy crap.
This is a lone female moose that walked right past me in northern ontario.
The danger is more with the bull that may be following her, because in the fall rutting season, I consider the bull moose to be the most dangerous animal on the continent.
1,500 pounds of testosterone-driven rage, and this female could be leading him right to me.
Look what I found.
An old running shoe.
Not a big deal, except that out of the heel of it are the distinct markings of grizzly bear teeth.
Shoot.
There's a black bear.
I have no idea if he He's got to know I'm here.
The old cliché holds true.
He's more afraid of me than I am of him.
All I have to do is remain calm.
So, there's no need to panic.
No need to fear bear at all.
Really, it's just a matter of be cautious, give them their space, hold your ground.
And most likely they'll just take off.
My number one -- and therefore my greatest survival danger to deal with -- is not as sexy as the concept of predators.
But it is the most likely to cause my death if I don't respect it.
The wind is coming in way too strong.
It's brutally cold coming in off the arctic ocean.
I'd be chilled to the bone in no time.
The number-one danger in survival -- succumbing to the elements.
Going without sleep for days on end, becoming lost and disoriented when I already have to survive out here, avoiding deadly predators and getting injured all take a back seat when it comes to dealing with the weather.
I always say, in survival, I'm either dealing with bad weather or preparing for it.
One thing is for sure.
There's no escaping the forces of wind, cold, heat, or rain.
Nature, in the end, rules the day.
And if I don't respect it, the natural forces meant to keep the planet alive will likely be the same forces that cause my own death.
This tropical sun is a killer.
Just moving around in it at all is wiping me right out.
I have to stop pretty often just to rest in the shade.
It gets really hot here during the day, hot enough to dehydrate you quickly.
But at night It still gets below freezing.
Wind is an unseen danger, but it can shut me down faster than anything else.
The wind has just, as you can see, picked up intensely.
I mean, it's even blowing seaweed across the beach now.
Wind like this works in a convection sense.
It just sucks the moisture right out of your body.
As it is, I can feel some of the symptoms of dehydration now.
I certainly haven't urinated in an awfully long time.
Hot wind, cold wind.
Either way, it affects my body heavily by either pulling moisture out of me or chilling me down to the point of becoming hypothermic.
And hypothermia is quite possibly the danger I fear the most, because it can creep up on me.
Before I know it, I'm in the latter stages, and it's a slippery slope from there to dying from exposure to the cold.
I guess the bright side is that it's supposed to be a gentle way to die.
You eventually fall asleep.
.
Forever.
It got terribly cold last night.
The wind stopped, the sky opened up, and that meant bitter-cold temperatures.
The sky cleared out, and we're left with a beautiful, blue-sky day.
But as soon as you see those stars come out at night and you're wondering whether or not it's gonna be warm or cold.
It's gonna be cold.
This is the weather that kills.
Hypothermia at this time of year is the most dangerous thing you have to deal with.
Fear of becoming hypothermic leads me to get active and to build shelters for protection.
And all of this work depletes my energy, making me even more susceptible to the cold.
It's a vicious cycle, and out here I can't afford to let myself get in a panic state when I have a danger looming over me like death from exposure.
It's one thing to get sweaty out in the winter wilderness when you know you're going home to a warm bed and a hot shower.
It's quite something else when you don't know where you're gonna end up.
It's so vitally important that I don't let myself sweat now.
You sweat, you die.
You sweat, you die.
It's real easy to get hot and sweaty doing this.
That's a problem, 'cause if you sweat, you die.
That's not a phrase that I throw out there lightly.
Exposure to the elements is the one thing I spend most of my time preparing for, guarding against, and dealing with.
When the weather's good, it's great.
When the weather's bad, it turns a survival situation into a life-or-death ordeal.
Stuck in a life raft for four days off the coast of belize, all was well until the weather came in on me.
In a few hours, my calm and flat ocean, where I was worried most about being scorched by the sun, was about to become a frothing, dark, and wild sea.
Sitting here in calm water, no wind, waiting for a big storm to come down on you.
And watching it come down the way.
[ Thunder crashes .]
[ Wind blowing .]
Here comes the rain.
It's really coming down out there and just blowing like crazy.
This is pretty intense.
All right.
This is getting dangerous now.
I've put on my strobe flasher, and I think the crew is gonna come out and tether me to their boat.
The winds have picked up, and it's storming.
The rain is bucketing down, and there's a good chance they could lose me tonight if they don't come and tether me.
It's one of those better come and get me now, or they could lose me forever.
I had to be grabbed before I was blown to honduras and, likely, my demise.
Well, I'm in it now.
The middle of labrador, during what is probably one of the most dangerous seasons -- the period of time at the end of winter and beginning of spring, when just about anything could happen weather-wise.
Around the fifth day of my survival, I was working on my shelter a few hours' snow mobile ride from my safety team.
It had been raining a long time, and we were many hours' ride across a frozen ocean to a remote area where I had been left to survive on my own.
The rain had turned the ocean into a massive, 6-foot-deep swimming pool.
With the water and slush on the top and the ice underneath, we were all trapped.
Apprise me of the situation.
Well, are they slushy, or what's the deal? We had to go all the way around the side.
This rain we have here now, you're gonna have at least maybe 6, 8 feet of slush, which is gonna make that ice -- you don't think we'll get across? No.
With that little river there this morning, that's why I opened this morning.
We had to go all the way around it.
Man: And it's compressing.
It's pushing it down and driving the water up on top, too.
I was, in fact, doing fine, prepared to stick it through to the end of my seven-day ordeal.
But many miles away, the crew was in a precarious situation, and they had to be rescued, not me.
Let me say that again in case you missed it.
They had to be rescued, not me.
Oh, here he comes.
I can't believe we all have to be choppered out of here.
But that's the nature of shooting a "survivorman" show.
We take our chances.
We're way out in the middle of labrador here.
And what's happened is, the ocean and all the rain, all the water has come up.
And it's just slush between here and a 4 1/2-hour drive on snow machines back to safety, back to town.
We can't make it.
We can't get back.
We're stuck out here.
We're gonna helicopter everybody, all the machines, everything out of here.
And that's why they had to come and get me, too.
I was fine making my shelter miles away, but the crew had a lot at stake.
And this went down in history as the only time I was forced to submit to a rescue and halt a "survivorman" mission short.
And it wasn't because of a lion attack or a snake bite or sickness.
It was simply weather, the most powerful natural force on the planet.
So, that's it.
Well, I may have survived labrador.
And my safety crew, they were doing all right.
But the weather here has decided differently for us.
It effectively stranded me from my safety crew and my safety crew from civilization.
By its very nature, a survival situation is a dangerous place to be.
And danger is something to be avoided.
Survival is not an adventure sport.
It's a real life-and-death struggle and never to be taken lightly.
All steps that could be taken to avoid and keep yourself out of danger while faced with having to survive must be taken.
Survival is about staying out of danger, not flirting with it.
Let me say this again.
Survival itself is dangerous.
Knowing how to avoid any new dangers is indeed the secret to survival.