Survivorman Talk. And a Hypothetical.

I like a couple of TV shows. One of them is Survivorman (SvM), another is, Man Against Wild. I prefer the former.

Last week SvM had two shows back to back on Discovery Channel. In the first he was in Labrador, Newfoundland. Think very cold. He was dropped off in the most desolate section of the area with a team of dogs, some dog food, one match, a hatchet and a rifle. I'm not sure what purpose the rifle was to serve, the only life out there was them.

Like all his shows he has to survive alone for a week. Which he did. But what makes the show so fascinating is, of course, the way he survives, but also that he draws you into the experience. I like the way he is there with his cameras alone, and that he doesn't hide his frustration, hunger and pain. When he looks into the camera at 3 in the morning, his face reflecting the eerie green light, and says how difficult the last two days have been, you believe him.

He did survive the snowy cold somehow but because he couldn't catch anything to eat he had to make broth out of some of the raw-meat, dog food. I won't go into all the gross things about that.

The following show he was on the Amazon river for a week. He pointed to a harmless looking ant and said, "these can kill you." He had every conceivable bug crawling on him, fungus on his feet from the damp, and was in constant fear of man-attacking jaguars.

Man I love this show. He survived there, too, but I was uncomfortable watching those bugs crawling around on him.

Here's the question -- if you had to survive for a week in either the hot Amazon, or the frozen Labrador area, which would you choose? I think I'd take the cold. Those bugs would drive me crazy.