The Island with Bear Grylls Season 2 Recap

The Island with Bear Grylls is a British television show about survival on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean. Season 1 was critcized by feminists for being sexist because it only featured men fighting for their survival, and women are just as capable of doing what men do. Bear Grylls responded to this criticism by promising that season 2 would feature two islands, one for the men and one for the women. Season 2 has wrapped up and the 13th and final episode was a recap of the entire experiment.

If you are interested in this series you can find links on YouTube, although I won't post any specific link because they change as they are locked down for copyright infringement. If you are not interested to watch the whole series you can check out the last episode where Bear Grylls recaps everything with the participants.

I have been addicted to this show for the past 2 weeks. Years ago I watched the American reality show "Survivor" which fascinated me because it revealed the true backstabbing nature of people who were competing to win US$1 million. But that show was more about "political" survival as the contestants were supplied with food and cooking utensils and regular "prizes" of food for winning various mental and physical challenges. The Island is much, much more about actual bodily survival. The two groups of 14 land with just 3 machetes and 3 knives, a very rudimentary medical kit, a SAT phone to radio for emergency medical help, a basic needle and bow fire making tool, and a handful of fishing hooks--just hooks. No food, no water. Six weeks.

Both the men and women survive to the end of the 6 weeks, very much emaciated and weak. In my opinion the men did a superior job at surviving, as should be expected of them, and I will point to a number of reasons why:

Technology - the men kept making useful things and maximizing their efficiency in ways the women just couldn't. Both camps struggled to obtain and boil water for drinking, but a crucial step in between those two things was filtration. The women devised a very simple single funnel filtration and filled it with a bra, some leaves, and sand to filter out the shit in the water before boiling it. The men actually built a long wooden shaft with multiple inlets to increase the rate and quality of their water filtration. The men mastered their water situation and never suffered the chronic water shortage the women did.

Another piece of tech the men created was a boat, built out of plastic bottles and wood. It allowed them to fish in deeper waters. The women never bothered to construct a boat, though late in the experiment they did happen upon a large floating piece of foam. They used it to transport water only.

Technology can provide a solution to a problem. For example, both the men and women got bit to shit by fleas on the beach. One of the men built himself a raised bed and got the BEST night of sleep. Within 24 hours all the other men consulted with him and built their own A-frame, single occupancy bed, shielding them from the pests. A good night's sleep is crucial. By contrast the women never invested the time or energy to build beds. It wasn't until very late in the game that they decided to build a raised communal bed. Wisely, they used plastic bottles for an "airy" cushion, and even Bear commented that it was more comfortable. However, they made this bed just days before the end, and remarked about how they wanted to "finish strong." They made the bed and cleaned up their camp more so to keep up the appearance of success and comfort, whereas the men encountered a problem (insects on the beach) and immediately responded with technological innovation. Even though one of the women was crying and moaning about her back, they simply did nothing to address the issue.

Risk - the men took greater risks that reaped bigger rewards. Not without pushback, of course. At one point they had been starving for several days and the one English man with posh accent wanted to work on a fishing net that was found tangled up on the beach. He spent hours untangling it, then setting it and checking it. It cost a lot of calories to keep swimming out and checking it. The other men were pissed at him for shirking his firewood duties to engage in what seemed like a fruitless endeavor, and then for wasting so much time and energy checking the net. But eventually it paid off and the dogged determination, in the face of other men's disapproval, netted dozens of fish and many thousands of calories. By contrast the women, who also found a net, merely cast it off from the shore. They did catch some fish, but no where near as much as the men.

Judgment - When starved of food the brain struggles to see reality for what it is and can fail to make correct decisions. That being said, some lapses of judgment were mind boggling. One of the women was boiling the water jug and unscrewed the cap when it was under full pressure. It blasted right into her from the power of the steam and burned her shoulder, sending her screaming into the ocean. To her credit she sucked it up and was actually the most hardcore person the ladies had, but seriously? They are all English so they know how a boiled kettle works. That mistake was just stupid and could have caused her permanent injury.

Another issue the women had was maintaining adequate water. After killing a pig they stored some of the meat in one of their two water containers. The next day the meat went rancid in the heat and, stupidly the women just threw the can away. Didn't bother to clean it or salvage it. They just dumped it in a swamp. This immediately halved their water production and they were already struggling. Within hours they are thirsty and can't make enough water. They suffer like this until their kidneys are on the verge of completely shutting down. They even have a doctor with them who is telling them they need more water. No matter how thirsty they become, no matter how poor their condition deteriorates, not a single woman suggests that they go back and grab the can out of the swamp, clean it out, and use it for making water again. They are on the SAT phone to the emergency response team and this scruffy looking man point blank tells them "The answer is to go back and get the gerry can." They needed a man to tell them they need to use the can to make more water. What do you know, the maggots ate all the pig bits out and the can is easily washed out and used for water again.

In fact, earlier in the series the women also failed to keep their fire going. They built an absolute crap shelter and just got soaked through and through. They actually needed Bear to bring them a new fire making kit so they could start a new one. So even early on it felt like the men had already lapped the women because they (the women) needed outside support.

Leadership - the men got on just fine. Again, when you are starving and flea bitten and not sleeping you will have some interpersonal problems. A few guys left early on, like within the first few days. But as the weeks wore on the men became a bit like family. They would bicker at each other now and again, but they had a system to resolve conflict. They had a morning meeting and aired any beefs publicly and discussed them as men, sans emotion. The men in season 2 never elected a leader as the men did in season 1. I'd say the spiritual leader of the group was Vic, as he caught tons of fish and just kind of bitched at guys to do their fair share. The men could have done even better if they had formalized a leadership position.

The women were going off into different directions very early on. They apparently had "island therapy" according to the recap episode, but I don't recall seeing that in any of the regular episodes. In theory this should have been a way for them to air grievances and discuss problems, but due to the nature of women they never really go after a problem straight on. The women might agree to something and then promptly go off and curse each other behind their backs. The one woman who was capable of leadership never stepped up and TOOK leadership of the group. There were numerous instances when the time was ripe for her to just seize control and get everyone on task to tend the fire and make water, etc. Even the most alpha female still relied on group approval and ultimately there was a duo leadership, two women took control. But it was very late in the game and they were mostly finished at that point.

Feeling - By the end of the experiment it felt like the men became a family. They said so themselves. They had genuine feelings for each other and one had the distinct feeling that they could have gone on living that way. Before leaving the island one of the men composed a poem about their time there, and sang it out while they stood around the bonfire. This was very similar to the ending of season 1, when the elected leader read, from memory, the poem Invictus. I didn't get the same feeling from the women. They were at each others' throats for almost the entire ride, and they couldn't wait to get away from each other. Their social signalling is so well rehearsed that they can deliver a line like "I love you girls, I will never forget you" and even elicit tears, but it just doesn't feel genuine. Just like their cleaning of camp and building of a bed to 'appear to be thriving', their sentimentality has the faint whiff of being just for show.

A related point is that some of the men spoke fondly of their families back home. Vic himself spoke with such tenderness of his wife that even the other men around the campfire felt that they could almost be in her presence. The men weren't talking about smashing pussy, they never even talked about sex at all from my recollection. On the other hand the women actually made a lot of penis and balls jokes. It seemed to be on their mind quite a bit. They didn't speak at all of boyfriends of husbands that they missed (except for Lauren). It was weird to watch it and feel disgusted by the women, their language was so coarse and filled with innuendo. So many expletives, so lacking in feminine poise. And utterly devoid of emotional attachment to any male relative back home.

It's possible that the show was edited in a way to present people unfairly. In fact, some aspects of The Island are downright false. Some water was provided, and the crocodiles were introduced to the island just to give the teams something to kill and eat. So, the very premise of the show is not entirely genuine. The editing can also make things look different than how they actually were. So one should view with at least and open mind.

Despite my criticisms of the women I still think they did a superb job. Because I am not a feminist I don't think women should be expected to be clones of men. That they didn't make technology or effectively lead doesn't matter to me. They aren't supposed to do those things anyway. Even though they needed outside help they struggled and suffered and survived. They get all the credit due them for that. Bear is overly generous with his compliments to the ladies in episode 13 to ward off feminist criticism. Even though he fawned over the women he was much more matter of fact toward the men, indicating that, on a certain level, to suffer and struggle is expected of men. It was a very interesting show and the initial reaction (posted on TRP) of the first episode when the women became lost in the jungle for days on end sparked my interest to watch the entire series. I highly recommend you give it a go if you are so inclined.