Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

Film-maker is airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation

It promised to stretch reality television to the limit: one man pitting his wits against the Yukon wilderness with just a camera for company.

But hopes for an epic three-month contest between man and nature were dashed when adventurer Ed Wardle failed to go the distance.

Seven weeks after striding out into the rugged forests of western Canada armed with a rifle and a fishing rod, Mr Wardle had to be airlifted back to civilisation suffering from starvation.

He sent out a distress call five weeks before he was due to finish filming his one-man survival programme Alone In The Wild for Channel 4.

Last night the broadcaster faced criticism for allowing him to attempt the expedition unaided and apparently unprepared, to entertain viewers.

During his adventure, Mr Wardle, 34, was permitted to send out a daily posting on the Twitter website and transmit a single electronic signal confirming he was still alive.

Channel 4 handlers tracked his progress through the 500,000 square mile wilderness using a GPS satellite tracking device.

To make the survival challenge as authentic as possible he avoided all human contact and left video tapes at drop-off points to be picked up by collection teams in a helicopter.

Mr Wardle lived off berries and any animals he could catch while trekking between hand-built shelters made out of fallen trees.

At first he appeared to be weathering the challenge, despite his lack of survival training.

He had been confident of finding regular food, telling the Daily Mail prior to setting off: 'I imagine I have a long future of fish-eating in front of me. It's going to be trout and grayling for 12 weeks.

'But meat's a relatively easy thing to get your hands on too. There are hares, squirrels and gophers. They're good to eat because they're fatty.

'The porcupines are easy to catch because they don't move very fast. As long as you're careful with the spines, they're a good source of food. You hit it with a big stick, roll it over, slice it open and peel the skin back, the same as you would any mammal.'

However, friends following his progress on Twitter - including long-term girlfriend Amanda Murray who lives with him in Islington, North London - became increasingly concerned when he appeared to start losing his grip on reality, hallucinating and talking to insects as starvation set in.

Two weeks ago he tweeted about losing weight rapidly, saying his muscles were 'disappearing'. Most alarming of all, he counted his heartbeat at just 32 beats-per-minute. A healthy range is between 60 and 100 beats per minute.

His condition eventually deteriorated so much that he used his emergency satellite telephone to call for help. He was airlifted out after 50 days, and arrived back in London on Monday. He is now being treated at home.

John Beyer, Director of Media Watch, said last night: 'This is a pretty foolish enterprise. If Channel 4 are going to send people on this kind of expedition, they really must make sure they are up to it and have the skills necessary to survive.

'If they first of all did not check that Ed Wardle was competent, then that is the height of irresponsibility on the part of Channel 4, to do that merely to provide entertainment for us all back home to watch this man steadily deteriorate.'

Mr Wardle was chosen for the project because of his abilitiy as a cameraman and producer, and his experience of filming in the North Pole and on the summit of Everest.

He has worked on shows for Channel 4, ITV, BBC and Discovery.
But he had no specific training for living alone in the remote territory, 80 per cent of which is pristene wilderness.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...tarvation.html

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

From reality show to reality check.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

Pretty funny stuff, I think. I've said for years a "real" sportsman is one you drop into the Alaskan wilderness buck naked, armed only with what nature gave him as a start, same as the critters he hunts, and if he walks out a few months later still alive, he's a true "sport", and he won.

This guy had the advantage of at least some equipment and still lost the game.

Sitting in a heated deer stand waiting on a critter to wander by that you blow away with a 30.06 is not "sport" any more than me knocking a cow in the head with a sledge hammer, slitting it's throat to bleed out and processing the carcass into steaks is sport....it's meat on the table. I haven't got a single dead deer or cow or pig head on my walls.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

He should have been educated about fasting.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

He was.... the old fashioned way.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

It sounds like his diet was primarily protein and fat. You need a sustainable source of carbs for long term survival. Notice that he did all right at first, plenty of meat. I wonder if there were cattails available there? The roots are a good source for carbs.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

7 weeks isn't that bad for someone with no training.
I know some people that would be gonners after 2 weeks.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

Blaming the Television channel is silly. This grown man made his own decision.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

You don't need carbs!!!! Stop spreading misinformation.

There are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids there are no essential carbs. Your liver can make carbs from protein.

The Eskimo's survived quite handily with no carbs.

He was likely deficient in essential fats. Most wild game is very lean. If you are ever in this situation, especially if you are eating rabbits you have to eat all the organs including the brain which is mostly fats to make sure you are getting proper nutrition.

Odds are this guy just had no skills. There is tons of wild game in the Yukon and the rivers and lakes are loaded with fish. What good is a gun if you can't hit your target? Or if you are thrashing around scaring all the game away? What good is fishing equipment if you aren't skilled? Don't know how to read the water and select proper lures or bait rigs for the fish you are after?

If I had a rifle, fishing rod and good knife I would have no trouble surviving in the Yukon in the summer. Winter could be a challenge though.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

Even though he only lasted 7 weeks, it'd still make for an entertaining show, what with him talking to bugs and all. lol.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

Here's the thing as I see it.

We all would like to think we could survive on our wits if left to fend for ourselves in the wilderness. But any of our ancestors, going back to the stone age, wouldn't intentionally put themselves in such a situation. For even a short journey they would carefully prepare for the trip. It is the wilderness.

Trappers of the 18th and 19th centuries, "mountain men" if you like, took plenty of precautions and made preparations prior to heading into the wild. Food, blankets, guns, powder - basically they brought their camp with them. And they set it up along the way. This doesn't mean that some of them weren't attacked by animals or natives and let to survive with nothing. Those things happened. And plenty of times those guys died.

But this idea that anyone can survive in the wild for any length of time if they know a few survival tricks is crap. The best you do is avoid such situations.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

HAHA... if it was me, I'd put it up as a "What not to do in the wild" show...

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

You are exactly right. That is why I haven't boasted about being able to survive with only a knife or through a Yukon winter. Maybe I could but I wouldn't want to try and find out.

It should be pointed out that on shows like this the people involved usually have no clue. Not sure why they wouldn't test someone who actually has the proper skill set? Or is it only foolish city slickers that think it would be a walk in the park?

This Alaska Experiment was another show that I thought was funny. Haven't watched it but from the short intro you can tell the people involved are a bunch of clowns who have no busines trying to survive in the wild.

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/alaska-week-2009/

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

"Dying of starvation" after 7 weeks would mean to me that this guy , armed with rifle and fishing rod, managed to "hunt, trap and fish" pretty close to zero. In other words, never mind survivalism, my guess is he probably had no experience in either hunting or fishing at all, and certainly not in the location he chose for this stunt..

And I bet this overconfident dingbat had never actually done any of those things before in his life.
Wouldn't surprise me to learn that the only fish he ever caught in his life were off party boats, and he tipped the deckhands to clean them for him on the trip back in.
Never mind caught, killed (with a 'big stick' no less), field-dressed , cooked and eaten a porcupine.

It took a lot of stupidity, but still , he had some balls too.
be interesting to see the footage, but I'm betting Mr Wardle probably won't want people to (unless of course, the money is right).

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

This guy was givin the chance to see if he
wanted to go the distance.

He was givin a little survival training and let loose
for a week with the same equipment he was going to have
for the three months.

He said yes to the three months and went back for more
indepth training in wild edibles, shelter, first-aid, navigation, ect.

I do not pity the guy....he knew what he was in for.

He wasnt starving if he was TALKING to the insects.

If he really was starving he should be EATING them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

Hitting a porcupine with a stick is an idea he was lucky he did not try. Yikes! Maybe he could eat it fine after shooting it. but getting quilled would be no fun at all.

He mentions no fish, but trekking from shelter to shelter. If he found anywhere good to fish that would have been his best bet. But it sounds like he agreed to keep moving. Hunting at waterside can be good too.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

Surviving in the wild with a gun and fishing tackle would not be that hard provided you were well versed in the means to do so
This guy was to busy making a film and not doing what was neccesary to Survive perhaps if they used a camera & sound man his odds would have been better ..
they would not intervine just film and produce the saga ..
And he could devote his focus on the task at hand
I did not watch any of the footage but this just makes sense ......or more sense

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

good point ......

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

[QUOTE=AMforPM;1888757]Hitting a porcupine with a stick is an idea he was lucky he did not try. Yikes! Maybe he could eat it fine after shooting it. but getting quilled would be no fun at all.
[QUOTE]

Hi all! i have been lurking on this site for about a year and though I am a newbie, I do take issue with this statement on porcupines.

Dick Proenneke used to club them outside his cabin when he caught them eating the edges of his log cabin, intialy he would give them a chance and chase them off, but if they came back he would club them and he would eat them, he said they were good eats.

I have always envied the way he lived the last part of his life! :36_1_32v:

Here is a link to google on him http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&rl...roenneke&meta=

Anyhow I really enjoy this site and have learned much! :ok:

Leaf

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

I read a book of some of his journals


Was a fantastic read, this man built his log cabin by himself and the wooden hinges and detail are unreal! He has long since passed but they made his cabin a national treasure on Upper Twin Lake Alaska.

Leaf

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

Lots of the areas of Alaska I've seen had very very very little small game, about the only animals that lived there were the moose and beaver that could survive the winters. The few waters deep enough to have fish, contained grayling that taste like mushy sucker if you were able to catch them.

This fellow probabally thought he could live on rabbit and squirrels and catch fat trout out of every water he came across hahahahahahahahahaha. If he got in there before the berrys were ripe, he would be in trouble.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

i agree that his progressive failure would make a good show. I wouldn't take a rod, though. A net and line would've been better; reel fishing uses too many calories.

Re: Airlifted from wilderness dying of starvation
 

I never hit a porcupine with a stick, but I did smack one several times with a flannel shirt... in order to collect some quills for my wife's beadwork projects.
I was able to collect quite a few quills that way.

You might be surprised how filthy porcupine quills are. They definitely don't lick themselves clean like a cat does. :bear_cry: