Man in a Fake Bear Suit

Okay I found out last night that Man vs. Wild is fake. Bear Grylls doesn't spend the night in the wild, he sleeps in hotels. I don't know if this means that Bear is fake. He's seems a pretty bad-ass guy. But apparently people have caught him using ropes, staying in hotels, "surviving" in places that are heavily populated... and as it turns out a lot of his more dramatic tips about surviving in the wild are surefire ways to get yourself injured and killed. Now... I knew that about some of the stuff. Like climbing up a waterfall, duh. Originally the show was supposed to be a less dramatic, more educational show, with a narrator survival expert pointing out the "what not to do". Discovery Channel edited to make better TV. They dumped the narrator... and Bear played along. 

So here's the interesting thing. I can't figure out of I'm bothered by this or not. On the one hand, I'm bothered that Discovery channel felt they had to lie to us. Second, while I'm savvy enough to realize that a lot of the crazy stuff he does should not be done in a survival situation, I'm bothered that apparently lots of his other advice is not great, or rather, very incomplete.  In a weird way though I feel better that Bear isn't as crazy as we thought. And I'm strangely proud, that in our internet culture of you tube and wikipedia that people noticed and didn't let them get away with it. But mainly I want to say... Discovery channel... why did you think you needed to do this? I think it's neat to see these wild places and be shown interesting things... I don't care if Bear wants to sleep in a hotel at the end of the day.