He admitted family and friends had been fooled along with a nation of television watchers
September 15, 2011 3:51 AM Subscribe
Norwegian 'wild man' faked famed blog while living in a Swedish hotel. Kristoffer Clausen is trying to survive for one year in the Norwegian wilderness. His only food will be what he can hunt, fish or collect from the nature. This is a video from his first sucesful hunt. (warning: successful hunt.) Here is his blog.
Norwegian Kristoffer Clausen would stay in the Norwegian wilderness, from 1 August 2009 and a year ahead. The idea was that he would only eat food that he had shot, fished or picked.
The following year, he has sold over 10,000 copies of the book "A wild man" and Norwegian TV2 has made a series (warning: more successful hunting) of time in the wild. This year was chosen for his "Best wilderness person" on a wild show in Norway. Now it turns out that the year was a scam.
Norwegian Kristoffer Clausen would stay in the Norwegian wilderness, from 1 August 2009 and a year ahead. The idea was that he would only eat food that he had shot, fished or picked.
The following year, he has sold over 10,000 copies of the book "A wild man" and Norwegian TV2 has made a series (warning: more successful hunting) of time in the wild. This year was chosen for his "Best wilderness person" on a wild show in Norway. Now it turns out that the year was a scam.
Really? That's hilarious, even more so because a (genuine) Norwegian outdoorsman, Lars Monsen, was lampooned in more or less this way.
I honestly don't know why I'm this gleeful.
posted by flippant at 4:05 AM on September 15, 2011
I honestly don't know why I'm this gleeful.
posted by flippant at 4:05 AM on September 15, 2011
Not only that, but he's really Chris Elliott. Dagbladet!
posted by pracowity at 4:06 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by pracowity at 4:06 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
you didnt drink that soda i left out did you flippant
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 4:06 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 4:06 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Bear Grylls used to get up to similar shenanigans (although the shows have a disclaimer IIRC)
posted by GallonOfAlan at 4:11 AM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 4:11 AM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
jäklars, three blind mice, you beat me to it. I find this to be pretty hilarious.
posted by dabitch at 4:22 AM on September 15, 2011
posted by dabitch at 4:22 AM on September 15, 2011
Bear Grylls used to get up to similar shenanigans (although the shows have a disclaimer IIRC)
I beat it's not even his own piss that he's constantly drinking.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:22 AM on September 15, 2011 [6 favorites]
I beat it's not even his own piss that he's constantly drinking.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:22 AM on September 15, 2011 [6 favorites]
Bear Grylls used to get up to similar shenanigans (although the shows have a disclaimer IIRC)
Really? Please I'd love to hear about that, got any examples, links? Am genuinely curious, and like flippant I also don't know why but I do find this hilarious. I'd be even more gleeful to hear Bear Grylls got up to this sort of tricks. I mean, he's hilarious in his own way, but that would make him even more entertaining in a way.
posted by bitteschoen at 4:28 AM on September 15, 2011
Really? Please I'd love to hear about that, got any examples, links? Am genuinely curious, and like flippant I also don't know why but I do find this hilarious. I'd be even more gleeful to hear Bear Grylls got up to this sort of tricks. I mean, he's hilarious in his own way, but that would make him even more entertaining in a way.
posted by bitteschoen at 4:28 AM on September 15, 2011
Kristoffer Clausen to Dagbladet, 2010:
"Now he wants more people to follow the Stone Age diet. (...) A diet similar to the ancient hunters and gatherers would have had a positive impact, says Clausen."
Does that include the breakfast buffet from his favorite hotel?
posted by iviken at 4:30 AM on September 15, 2011
"Now he wants more people to follow the Stone Age diet. (...) A diet similar to the ancient hunters and gatherers would have had a positive impact, says Clausen."
Does that include the breakfast buffet from his favorite hotel?
posted by iviken at 4:30 AM on September 15, 2011
From somone who's had many successful hunts, that "first successful hunt" video was terribly staged.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:36 AM on September 15, 2011
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:36 AM on September 15, 2011
Oh look, an asshole.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:38 AM on September 15, 2011
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:38 AM on September 15, 2011
A diet similar to the ancient hunters and gatherers would have had a positive impact...on population pressure
posted by DU at 4:59 AM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by DU at 4:59 AM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
I'd be even more gleeful to hear Bear Grylls got up to this sort of tricks.
He apparently slept in hotels and had his crew build rafts for him, as well as tamed 'wild' horses which were "brought in by trailer from a nearby trekking station".
posted by Pyry at 5:14 AM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
He apparently slept in hotels and had his crew build rafts for him, as well as tamed 'wild' horses which were "brought in by trailer from a nearby trekking station".
posted by Pyry at 5:14 AM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
Oh, and sometimes cast members would dress up as bears to spice up the program:
"A colleague dressed up in a wild bear costume for a scene meant to show a narrow escape from a grizzly bear. In Man Vs Wild, which was broadcast on the Discovery channel, a dark black shape is seen in the camp a few feet from Grylls. The channel admitted at the weekend that the bear outfit was hired and worn by a fellow crew member as a 'prank'." [source]
posted by Pyry at 5:22 AM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
"A colleague dressed up in a wild bear costume for a scene meant to show a narrow escape from a grizzly bear. In Man Vs Wild, which was broadcast on the Discovery channel, a dark black shape is seen in the camp a few feet from Grylls. The channel admitted at the weekend that the bear outfit was hired and worn by a fellow crew member as a 'prank'." [source]
posted by Pyry at 5:22 AM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
I saw a youtube clip of Bear Grylls the other day where he climbed onto an old train bridge (like 200 feet high) and then walked the track for a while. He goes into a tunnel and then when he's halfway through a train starts coming. So of course he runs. He makes it out of the tunnel in the nick of time. Except for some reason his camera man decided to risk getting run over by a train in order to 'get the shot' by running in front of him, or whatever.
And if you look on google maps you can see the train bridge is only about 1500ft long, so he could have just walked up onto it if he'd wanted too.
posted by delmoi at 5:28 AM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
And if you look on google maps you can see the train bridge is only about 1500ft long, so he could have just walked up onto it if he'd wanted too.
posted by delmoi at 5:28 AM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh man, so fake. If the insurance people won't let the Mythbusters use a real jet engine to blow a car over, they aren't going to let a man climb a tower with a rusty chain, run down a tunnel in front of a train and then leap onto it.
posted by DU at 5:42 AM on September 15, 2011
posted by DU at 5:42 AM on September 15, 2011
Here's yet another example of Bear Grylls creating survival drama where there is none.
posted by saladin at 6:04 AM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by saladin at 6:04 AM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
Survivorman is real though, right?
posted by smackfu at 6:26 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by smackfu at 6:26 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
I also feel glee, even though I don't watch shows of this genre, because there's so much hurf-durf real men-don't-need-no-civilization around the whole concept.
posted by emjaybee at 7:05 AM on September 15, 2011
posted by emjaybee at 7:05 AM on September 15, 2011
A third expedition would have put Knowles in the Adirondacks with a naked woman, but this fizzled when Dawn Woman, as she was called, quit after realizing she would have to endure cold weather and kill wild animals.
Wow.
posted by DU at 7:26 AM on September 15, 2011
Wow.
posted by DU at 7:26 AM on September 15, 2011
A third expedition would have put Knowles in the Adirondacks with a naked woman, but this fizzled when Dawn Woman, as she was called, quit after realizing she would have to endure cold weather and kill wild animals.
I think I have seen the, ehem, movie that inspired this.
posted by CautionToTheWind at 7:31 AM on September 15, 2011
I think I have seen the, ehem, movie that inspired this.
posted by CautionToTheWind at 7:31 AM on September 15, 2011
Bear Grylls used to get up to similar shenanigans (although the shows have a disclaimer IIRC)
Really? Please I'd love to hear about that, got any examples, links? Am genuinely curious, and like flippant I also don't know why but I do find this hilarious. I'd be even more gleeful to hear Bear Grylls got up to this sort of tricks. I mean, he's hilarious in his own way, but that would make him even more entertaining in a way.
bitteschoen,
I totally agree that Bear is horribly hilarious (I wish I knew if he really believes in his own smarmy braggart pose - it seems impossible!). As an ex-pat here, it also pains me that anyone might think he was a representative Brit.
On one of his shows, he is seen doing the bare hand macho catfish grabbing thing - it was filmed in Louisiana, I think. It was the usual crap - this swamp looks devoid of food, right? But, hey presto! - if you know how to spot where catfish lurk, like Bear - you can stick your hand in a swamp and pull out dinner.
I was pretty sure the impressively fleshy creature Bear plucked from its hidey hole underwater was planted in advance -I thought I even spotted a fishing line coming and then going in the shot.
I think I knew that the producers of his show admitted he had "help" with some of his stuff - but I was so amazed & suspicious by the catfish stunt, I did some googling.
I can't remember the exact numbers, but the catfish Bear hauled from the swamp - he proudly mentioned how big it was - weighed more than twice the record for any Louisiana catfish found in the wild in living memory - and was at the upper end of farmed catfish (that you'd buy in a supermarket!).
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:49 AM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
Really? Please I'd love to hear about that, got any examples, links? Am genuinely curious, and like flippant I also don't know why but I do find this hilarious. I'd be even more gleeful to hear Bear Grylls got up to this sort of tricks. I mean, he's hilarious in his own way, but that would make him even more entertaining in a way.
bitteschoen,
I totally agree that Bear is horribly hilarious (I wish I knew if he really believes in his own smarmy braggart pose - it seems impossible!). As an ex-pat here, it also pains me that anyone might think he was a representative Brit.
On one of his shows, he is seen doing the bare hand macho catfish grabbing thing - it was filmed in Louisiana, I think. It was the usual crap - this swamp looks devoid of food, right? But, hey presto! - if you know how to spot where catfish lurk, like Bear - you can stick your hand in a swamp and pull out dinner.
I was pretty sure the impressively fleshy creature Bear plucked from its hidey hole underwater was planted in advance -I thought I even spotted a fishing line coming and then going in the shot.
I think I knew that the producers of his show admitted he had "help" with some of his stuff - but I was so amazed & suspicious by the catfish stunt, I did some googling.
I can't remember the exact numbers, but the catfish Bear hauled from the swamp - he proudly mentioned how big it was - weighed more than twice the record for any Louisiana catfish found in the wild in living memory - and was at the upper end of farmed catfish (that you'd buy in a supermarket!).
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:49 AM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
there's so much hurf-durf real men-don't-need-no-civilization
My problem is that these fakes promote unrealistic expectations in wilderness experiences. People think they can survive these conditions when it looks so easy on Man Vs. Wild, when really it would take months of preparation and training. People could die because of this stupid shit!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:51 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
My problem is that these fakes promote unrealistic expectations in wilderness experiences. People think they can survive these conditions when it looks so easy on Man Vs. Wild, when really it would take months of preparation and training. People could die because of this stupid shit!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:51 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Survivorman is less entertaining but perhaps more realistic than Bear. He goes out into the wilderness for a week and basically starves and is miserable and lonely.
posted by beau jackson at 9:12 AM on September 15, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by beau jackson at 9:12 AM on September 15, 2011 [9 favorites]
> People could die because of this stupid shit!
I used to have an acquaintance who was a rank amateur survival guy who died white water rafting leaving behind a wife, three small children, and very little money. So yeah, people do die because they do not know this shit is stupid.
posted by bukvich at 9:34 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
I used to have an acquaintance who was a rank amateur survival guy who died white water rafting leaving behind a wife, three small children, and very little money. So yeah, people do die because they do not know this shit is stupid.
posted by bukvich at 9:34 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
When I read the title of this post I thought it meant he actually lived in a Swedish hotel and filmed the show from the hotel using chroma key compositing or something.
posted by doomtop at 9:50 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by doomtop at 9:50 AM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Somewhat related: Bear Grylls did an Ask Me Anything post yesterday on Reddit. He answered the question that delmoi asked, though not in any great detail.
posted by Magnakai at 10:14 AM on September 15, 2011
posted by Magnakai at 10:14 AM on September 15, 2011
oooh Pyry, delmoi, saladin, thank you. Enjoying reading those links immensely. Wow, he stayed in a cottage with hot tubs *hee hee* che stronzo!
(A friend of mine is totally in love with Bear. She has a good sense of humour though, so, I will tell her and pass on the links.)
Of course, he still went to rough places and did rough things and may have even drank his own urine, but ah, he can't pass the opportunity of a luxury cottage and hot tubs, yay. I don't know if my reaction is more like schadenfreude, and maybe an indirect "haha" to those who do take his show seriously and yeah that stereotype of manly men in the wild, or more "good on him" because this sort of thing at least makes him more down to earth, normal, less insane in a way...
posted by bitteschoen at 10:25 AM on September 15, 2011
(A friend of mine is totally in love with Bear. She has a good sense of humour though, so, I will tell her and pass on the links.)
Of course, he still went to rough places and did rough things and may have even drank his own urine, but ah, he can't pass the opportunity of a luxury cottage and hot tubs, yay. I don't know if my reaction is more like schadenfreude, and maybe an indirect "haha" to those who do take his show seriously and yeah that stereotype of manly men in the wild, or more "good on him" because this sort of thing at least makes him more down to earth, normal, less insane in a way...
posted by bitteschoen at 10:25 AM on September 15, 2011
Jody Tresidder: I totally agree that Bear is horribly hilarious (I wish I knew if he really believes in his own smarmy braggart pose - it seems impossible!). As an ex-pat here, it also pains me that anyone might think he was a representative Brit.
Ha, well I don't see a big risk for that, personally, at least, I really don't see him as stereotypically Brit in any way. In fact when I heard about his show from a friend, I assumed he was Australian but only because previous shows I'd been told of involved Australian characters...
posted by bitteschoen at 10:35 AM on September 15, 2011
Ha, well I don't see a big risk for that, personally, at least, I really don't see him as stereotypically Brit in any way. In fact when I heard about his show from a friend, I assumed he was Australian but only because previous shows I'd been told of involved Australian characters...
posted by bitteschoen at 10:35 AM on September 15, 2011
I feel like the popularity of Man Vs. Wild relative to Survivorman is a commentary on the state of our culture as a whole.
(To be fair, I realize that Les Stroud basically got tired and gave up on it, which is why it's no longer being produced, but nonetheless, it never reached the same levels of cultural cachet. Maybe he should've drank more urine or something.)
posted by feloniousmonk at 2:34 PM on September 15, 2011
(To be fair, I realize that Les Stroud basically got tired and gave up on it, which is why it's no longer being produced, but nonetheless, it never reached the same levels of cultural cachet. Maybe he should've drank more urine or something.)
posted by feloniousmonk at 2:34 PM on September 15, 2011
Castle did and episode that had a similar situation. Season 2 episode 4 "fool me once..."
Premise from Wikipedia: ... the two investigate the murder of a con man posing as a Arctic explorer for school children.
posted by HMSSM at 12:13 AM on September 16, 2011
Premise from Wikipedia: ... the two investigate the murder of a con man posing as a Arctic explorer for school children.
posted by HMSSM at 12:13 AM on September 16, 2011
What an idiot!
posted by mischiefmaker75 at 6:37 AM on September 18, 2011
posted by mischiefmaker75 at 6:37 AM on September 18, 2011
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