Survivorman is bad-ass
Wow! I only just discovered Survivorman last week and it's pretty amazing. (I had seen the ads for it before, but thought it was something to do with Survivor the gameshow, which I generally despise.) If you haven't seen it, definitely check it out - I've been watching with complete fascination. Les Stroud is the "host" of the show, and he gets dropped off in some random far-away location with bare minimum of supplies and they come back to get him a week later. He then films himself making shelter, finding food, etc. He goes for days without real food sometimes, yet is still able to function. And from what I've read online, function *and* manage 50 lbs of camera gear. Insane.
I've only been able to catch four episodes out of the original 10 - the northern bush, mountain, swamp and arctic - but they've all been pretty amazing. I just saw the swamp one where he catches a turtle in a "funnel trap" (neato!) and after getting startled by a massive rattlesnake, turns around and kills it with a stick and cooks it up to eat. That's when I decided, "Wow, this guy is totally bad-ass." Hell, the first time he made fire with a stick and bow, I thought it was incredible - Hey, I remember that stuff from god knows what sort of nature thing I did when I was a kid, but to see him actually do it for real - in a situation where he *really* needed a fire, is pretty astounding.
Can't wait to catch the rest of the shows. :-)
-Russ