In 1987, I had this idea that a great way to teach wilderness survival would be to head out into the woods and do exactly that.

Survive.

Now I need the skills because I'd be filming myself alone.

And you, the viewer, would be made aware of that.

And I thought, what a great way to make these skills more relatable to you.

Problem was, the technology was not available for me to film myself beyond the old grainy camcorders as we used to call them.

Well, fast forward to the year 2000, 13 years and indeed the technology became available.

the take home information.

And the skills that you would learn from this series would make you more confident in nature.

You'd stay warm, dry and safe, and therefore you'd be able to reconnect to the natural world.

What you're about to watch is raw and real, and not to be confused with reality television.

These are my journeys into the world of survival and around the planet.

These are the skills that can keep you alive and open the doors to nature.

The only reality that matters.

- This season for "Survivorman," we shot nine episodes in nine separate locations.

(heavy breathing) And since then, the response has been nothing short of fantastic.

But there's been a ton of questions.

How do I get the shots?

Am I really alone?

And what kind of backup do I have if I get into serious trouble?

(grunting) This is a look at how we plan "Survivorman."

(grunting) How we take care of logistics, how I film it, and how I keep myself out of trouble, (laughs) which isn't always the case.

This is a look at behind the scenes of "Survivorman".

of "Survivorman".

Well, next to the will to live, I think fire is the single most important survival skill.

is the single most important survival skill.

When successful, it made my life a lot easier.

Let's see.

So I've got my fire bow.

The itsy bitsy spider move.

Sacrifice one of these pieces of tissue.

I don't like playing with gasoline.

I don't like playing with gasoline.

And although they said I can't hunt with the rifle, they didn't say I couldn't start a fire with it.

(gun shot) I guess I should have practiced this one at home.

(clapping) (metal clanging) Need a little bit of a, sort of funnel.

Let's try that again.

Ah, come on.

It's easy.

(spits) A good wad of sock lint.

Now this method I'm more familiar with.

Don't ask me how I know that.

This looks good.

(lighter clicking) (dramatic electronic music) (gun shot) Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Yeah baby Yeah baby Ha ha ha ha ha.

Success.

Oh, that's beautiful.

That was sweet.

Ooh, let's get this gas can outta here.

(laughs) Woohoo.

You know, there are many ways to make survival shelters, but the first way is just sleeping right out in the open, which isn't actually shelter at all, if you can sleep.

Oops.

Got the wrong side up.

(crickets chirping) When I do finally settle in, it'll be something like this.

Crabs and spiders and snakes.

Everything comes alive.

This is horrible.

Everything moves.

Everything's crawling.

I think there's army ants on the tree, 'cause I'm starting to get bitten all over.

And uh, scorpions.

Tarantulas this big.

It occurred to me while sleeping here, even with a loaded rifle, if I wake up and a polar bear is breathing down on top of me, I don't stand a chance.

In a couple hours, or at least when this fire dies down, I'll just sit here and wait for it.

I'll then push all the coals up against the big rock, take all these bows, put them down and sleep on top with a nice warm bed.

Basically, all the heat from the rock coming up through the bows.

(sticks rubbing together) The next is just building what you can with whatever is around you.

Classic A frame I lean to.

(tribal music playing) Every location is different, but if I am to survive seven days in Canada's north in the fall, shelter is a high priority.

Actually, kind of poke the branches in, so that they're nice and smooth like this.

You don't really have to, you can just throw them on, but this way, all the rain sort of goes with the flow of the, of the bows.

I shivered through last night because my shelter was thrown together so quickly to beat nightfall.

I'm hustling now to insulate it, and the bike frame makes a great supporting wall.

The Inuit have been relying on igloos for thousands of years.

It's the perfect shelter.

Snow is an incredible insulator, and the dome shape can withstand severe storms.

Built properly, an igloo is an amazing marriage of function and form.

(sighs) Of course, if you've got something manmade you can use for shelter, well go for it.

Let's just see what I can do with this guy.

(scraping sounds) Ho, ho!

(eerie adventurous music) Hmm.

Real simple equation.

You sweat, you die.

Let's see what I can get out of this guy now.

There.

(crunching) From the tape.

Little button rock.

Put the rock in.

(sticks rubbing together) If you're lucky, the land will provide a natural shelter for you, saving you a lot of work.

This may not look very comfortable.

That's because it isn't.

I may feel a little safer from polar bears now, but I'm sleeping under a massive glacier.

Millions of tons of ice above my head, that could come down at any time.

Goodnight.

Oh, this is kind of spooky.

I think this cave is ready for an extreme makeover.

(adventurous music) (hands clapping) (eerie music) Right, one of the fire rocks just blew up on me.

Oh, it's gonna feel a little strange sleeping in here.

(fire crackling) (sawing) (grunting, sighing) Alright.

(birds chirping) Without water, in three days, you'll go unconscious.

(blowing) In seven days, you'll probably die.

(blowing) (blowing) (blowing) (adventurous jungle music) (crunching) Mm, Not salty, nice and fresh.

(whooshing) Hunger will make you do a lot of things.

Hunger will make you do a lot of things.

But you've gotta get over plate fright.

But you've gotta get over plate fright.

It's not about putting maggots in a blender and chugging them down.

It's about eating what you have to, to survive.

(dogs howling) Okay.

Ceremonial eating of the eyeball.

(dogs howling) Mmmm.

Looks like I got me dinner.

Pull off the head.

(whispering) Messy.

He's- ow!

Huh.

Make the pinch onto your tongue.

Well, what I'm not going to eat is the entrails.

The need for food.

This is where my filmmaking, and my actual survival, meet.

Sea lion.

(dogs howling) Do I just-?

(Indecipherable) - Open it.

- Cut it open?

- Yeah.

(dogs howling) Look at this big juicy guy.

(chewing) Just him.

Not gonna eat the head.

Don't ask me why.

Just don't wanna eat the head.

Just like chicken meat.

Looks to be the heart.

Nope, that's the liver.

(crunching) Mmm.

Mm, mm, mm.

(chewing) Ugh.

Can't believe I just did that.

(laughing) (dogs howling) - Eat it, boom.

Yeah.

- The whole thing?

- Suck inside first.

- Suck the inside out first?

- Yeah.

Now.

(dogs howling) - Mm.

Mm.

Oh.

(dogs howling) Wow.

That was pretty good.

Wow.

I'm full.

(whooshing) Take a couple of these wires.

That oughta work.

And some of that.

I've tried hard to walk a balance of survival methods.

Those that take ingenuity, turning something useless into something useful, and those that are based on ancient, primitive earth skills.

Both can be utilized for survival, and often, they work together.

There.

Not so bad.

I can see, anyway.

It won't, won't bother my eyes so much now.

See what I can use.

(intense electronic music) Ow.

Deep.

(bike falling over) Ooh.

That could come in handy.

I now have a very functional three-pronged spear.

(intense electronic music) All this wiring could make great cordage.

Just enough wire to make a bed.

I would grab it, grab the stick, come out in the jungle, and just starting to thinking about, like, sort of projectile.

Take the elastic band from Scooby-Doo.

Let's try this.

That could be a fish.

(upbeat country-style music) (under water bubbling sound) (funky skewed music) It has a neat trick that you can do, in case you need a needle and thread.

If you're really careful- ow!

Really careful, Uh!

(snapping noise) Ahh.

Uh.

(spits) You can actually pull yourself out a needle and thread.

A lot of archeology is based on what they find in terms of stone tools, rock tools, things that are chipped into other things, and the Paiute around here and the Anasazi were both terrific at what's called flint napping.

This is a piece of rock just from laying around in this area, and this is a hammer rock, which is an actual artifact from this area, just laying on the ground.

You can see the chipped in.

It was used for turning big pieces of rock into little pieces of rock into knife points, arrowheads and spear tips and those kinds of things.

That's really what flint knapping is, so, I'll see if I can use it.

(rocks tapping) (rock breaking open) Haha.

Success.

See that?

That little guy is very, very sharp.

This thing is so sharp, just cuts right through.

(whooshing) But the hardest part of being out here, it's not the cold, it's not survival, it's not existing without food in my belly.

It's running the cameras.

They are a pain.

To put it lightly.

Oh, well.

That's what I'm here for.

Damn it I didn't press record.

Perhaps more challenging than starting a fire from scratch, sheltering from the elements or catching wild food, is filming it all.

Setting up or tearing down all of my camera gear takes up about 65% of my time, making survival a lot harder than it actually should be.

I'll see you on the bottom.

This shot, which was simply to illustrate where I had to go to get off of a mountaintop, meant setting up the camera, giving my message, and heading off out of sight.

That meant, of course, eventually coming all the way back, back to pick up the camera and head down the same direction all over again.

This time for real.

(heavy breathing) Shots like these may come across your screen taking only seconds, but they can actually take hours to execute.

And all the while I'm thinking, "I've got to get making my shelter."

Wow.

For this shot, I elected to climb through the bush and walk back towards the camera on an untrampled trail.

I want you to get the actual look and feel of what I was going through.

Now I've just edited out about five minutes of bush scrambling in four feet of soft snow.

I think it's worth it, but it's a lot of work.

Whenever out there, my filming goal is to bring you there with me to make you feel like you're part of it all.

So what has been dubbed my 'body mount', enables me to travel along, talk to the camera, and show the surroundings all at the same time.

And it doesn't have the same shaky handheld feel often associated with a small camera.

(birds chirping) To get the good shots, you've just gotta put in the effort.

Check out some of these moments.

(rattling guitar music) (under water bubbling sound) (footsteps crunching) (board scraping across snow) (leaves rustling) (water trickling) (camera rustling) (blowing air) (snow crunching) (water lapping) (splashing) Testing.

Test one, two.

Test.

I can't tell.

I wasn't expecting this in the swamp.

(snow crunching) Alright, well that's how it looks when I get it right, but you gotta remember, I'm all alone out there, so only my editor and I get to share in some of my more colorful moments.

Oh, of course.

The iris was all wrong.

(camera rustling) Oops.

Let's try that again.

Damn it.

Crap.

(beep) This is what happens when I hurry.

If I keep my eyes focused.

Ah (beep) It's very faint.

But what I'm- Ah!

Old snowmobile trails.

Old snowmobile tracks.

Come on!

Try that again, shall we?

Which is a welcome for me.

Welcome.

Ah (beep) Try it again.

Almost everything moving wants to bite- Ah!

Try it again.

Bone chilling.

Ah!

(coughing) Oh, let me try that again.

(coughing) I'm getting water locked.

Whoa.

(beep) (beep) The- (beep) (beep) (bleep) Let's try it again.

Well, thanks for taking a look at how Survivorman has made the challenges and the ordeals that made this season a success.

Where do I head next?

Well keep watching.

Ow, ow, ow.

Ah.

Gee!

Ai, ai, ai.

Ow.

Ow.

Ow.

Ow!

Oh, that hurt.

Ow.

Ah.

I'm so scared.

And the response has been nothing short of a car driving up the hill.

This seas- (laughs) - [Person off camera] Okay.

Back it up.

- [Les] Back it up.

(laughing) Constantly dreaming up more challenging and- (vocalizes blunder) It's one sentence.

(laughing) The production team is constantly dreaming up more challenging and exciting.

- [Person Off Camera] You're such a loser.

- I know.

(laughing) I get dropped in a secluded wilderness area and forget my lines.

To the shifting Arctic of a- (laughs) From the- (laughs) From the muddy swamps of Georgia, to the shifting Arctic v- (beep) "Arcticava", "Arcticava" From- to the shifting Arctic ice.

Shift- she sells she sells by the seashores.

From the Muddy Swamps of Georgia.

(laughs) Feel like I'm stripping for you.

- [Producer] Muddy swamps it.

(both laughing) - You- We haven't even had beer yet.

(harmonica playing) That's my happy song because the sun's out.

Off to bed.

Ow.

Ow.

Ow.

Ow.

Oh, that hurt.

Ow.

Uh!

(adventurous country guitar music) Directly inspired by his own survival expeditions, journeys and challenges.

World renowned survival instructor Les Stroud brings you survive, essential skills and tactics to get you out of anywhere alive.

Available for 19.99.

In addition, the book will to live Dispatches from the Edge of Survival is available, featuring Les Stroud's own top ten survival stories of all time.

21.99.

To order, please go to lesstroud.ca, and click on shop