kinda liked the show in general..ex military (Army)and have done numerous survival courses in : Northern Scotland , both Tundra and Boreal Canada , Brunia , Norway , Belize and Botswana.question is : Is it survival or just existing on the land ?
1 st enemy is mindset:whether it is ego or insecurity..many of the contestants claim to be wilderness instructors etc.. However, I doubt most had spent more than several nights under makeshift shelter, no matter what series they were in.. again your head is in a different space when you know warmth /shelter /food is going to be available very soon.
So then you are parachuted into a situation that you simply have to figure out the basics... then longer term ( this is now your home) all this when you can "TapOut" different game if no Tap out available or you become mobile..
I suspect many of the contestants were simply chosen, or are set up to crash and burn, more or less scripted.
No matter what is available and is accessible day to day , if your head is not there you will identify those resources.
short form story ,
our team sent on a 10 day survival course on what was a barren uninhabited heather gorse and broom covered island .. previous 3 days was more or less camp based with classroom instruction : the usual , gull egg omelette +/- worm etc.. no streams , no trees .. rabbits galore .. constant wind from the NNW cut right through you , temps 10 C or lower to below freezing with mist and rain .. ocean shore was pretty well inaccessible due to the cliffs, this was the pre gortex etc. days wool more wool ..
several people die in that situation yearly in Scotland, simply wet cold and hungry ( hypothermia) then they make bad decisions.
back to the survival-ish course , forgot to mention that there was probably a hundred or more sheep and wild goat.. that our squad include myself and another that were butchers in civvie life , that and we were raised snaring rabbits , personally never gathered eggs, but many did.
live off of the land was in the Orders of the Day,
no one said do not eat the sheep or goat, Goats were to wily to catch , sheep are stupid .. I put weight on during that exercise, but it cost me the market value on the sheep we killed, I think the markets must have been really good that day, but no 252, this time.