Dual Survival

[Mang]

There's a new series of a programme called Dual Survival on The Discovery Channel at 10pm from Monday the Feb. It's basically two survival experts with differing approaches who are dropped into hostile environments to see whose approach is best.

The two guys are Cody Lundin (baseball cap, pigtails and wooly top), and Dave Canterbury (Mexican style tache, headband and combats). Might be worth a punt. Apparently, there's some of their stuff on Youtube...

[RobbC]

Ye Dave Canterbury is with the pathfinders survival school, theres a lot of videos by him on youtube, and many of them are very good indeed.

Robb

[Aaron Rushton]

i really enjoy daves youtube vids. i think its more entertainment as they have put to completely opossite styles of survival together, should be quite funny.

[Fletching]

I really like Dave Canterbury. His appearance suggests he's the archetypal 'gung-ho ex-marine' type, but he's got a really down to earth manner. He's done loads of really useful kit mods and makes a lot of use of 'ranger bands' (sections of bike inner tube) so each bit of kit is a self-contained survival tool in itself.

[CanadianMike]

It's actually season two that's starting, you can check out all previous season's episodes on youtube. Great show!

[Mouldsy]

watched it on you-tube it is an absolute cracking show well worth watching.

[CanadianMike]

Especially the humour (lots of hippie jokes, including from Cody, who IS a hippie).

[luresalive]

Have seen all these shows on you tube already but they are by far and away the best survival shows that have been produced in a long time bar none and that means even mears..all very american of course but very entertaining..just avoid man-woman-wild when it comes on!!!!!

[CanadianMike]

I actually enjoy that one too, mainly the approach to it (inexperienced woman who learns via research and the experience of her hubby)....... besides, she's easy on the eyes, who wouldn't watch the show just for that?

[Notredame11211]

I actually enjoy that one too, mainly the approach to it (inexperienced woman who learns via research and the experience of her hubby)....... besides, she's easy on the eyes, who wouldn't watch the show just for that?:D Now who doesn't like that.

[bushcraft.mcf]

thanks man ill look out for that what days just a monday?

[Krill]

I only just started watching this when I heard people talking about a second season coming around soon.

It's alot better than Man Vs Wild in my opinion. Infact, i'd go as far to say it's the best survival series i've seen so far. Very informative and not just an ex-Regiment bloke eating foul looking critters.

I really like the banter between the two aswell. Bush hippy lol.

[jbrown14]

Yeah, you can definitely learn some useful stuff from Dave and Cody. The combined different approaches that they have to survival, and the contrasting personalities keep the show fresh and interesting.

[kINGPIN]

I'm a big fan of this show. They both have very different but very good teaching styles. Check out dave canterburys youtube channel- hes a fantastic instructor.

[Nature Unleashed]

This is THE best survival show I have seen by far. I was hooked on Born Survivor for a while, but Dual Survival seems to blow this out of the water. Very informative, funny, and just a joy to watch. And the best part is, they dont seem to go to the extreme to do things like Bear Grylls sometimes does, no disrespect to Bear but I sometimes find his approach to far fetched for the modern man to do, like climbing up or down 100 foot vertical cliff faces etc, without climbing gear or years of climbing experince I cant see to many people doing this lol.

Dave Canterbury is a legend, his you tube videos are quality and you are bound to learn something from them. Cody Lundin is another legend in a different way, I just dont get the NO SHOES thing about him, its just no good in a survival scenario to me, although he does seem to cope very well, it also makes for some good parts to the show, especially when it gets on Daves back lol

[MikeWilkinson]

The thing that makes Dual Survival a great show is the two different approaches adopted. Dave's is very much similar to Bear in that it is the typical military expediant survival tactics - Cody takes a similar view to Mears and the uses of primitive skills and bushcraft skills for a longer term survival situation.

If you were to make this using UK presenters then that would be the closest you could get to it, Mears and Grylls paired up together in similar situations - don't think it would be as amusing as Cody and Daves relationship.

I have to say the show is very similar to Survivorman with Les Stroud, at least the scenerio's are, however I think Les's show was far more entertaining in terms of how extreme he went in his survival situations.

[Nature Unleashed]

They need to do a survivor scenario where they are filmed live just like big brother, from the moment they are dropped off to the moment they are picked up. It might be just me, but I always get the feeling with these types of show that its fixed, especially when it comes to being found etc!!!

[MikeWilkinson]

When Les filmed Survivor man his saftey crew only ever filmed his arrival and departure from the site of his 'survival situation'. It was the burden of setting up all his cameras and carrying the equipment that prompted Stroud to stop producing the series. In many of the episodes Les abandonned his equipment in carrying out his survival plans, with them being retrieved later by the safety crew. As a result some of the footage was lost.

Two episodes spring to mind where Les has abandoned a good deal of his equipment for safety reasons - one was in the south american rainforest where he was being stalked by Jaguar, returning to the local village with only two of his cameras, the other in Alaska, where the Stroud was fined for leaving his driftwood shelter and cameras behind in the national park. Stroud paid the fees himself in order to have his equipment and the associated footage returned.

One of my favourite Survivor/Bush programmes, second only to the great Bushtucker man.

[Krill]

I only ever watched survivor man once and didn't bother with the rest. Yes he might go at it alone, but eating snow for hydration is a big no no, the same as cooking and eating your food at your camp when there are bear tracks a stone throw away.
Alot of people will watch that and consider it as acceptable, which is a shame.

[MikeWilkinson]

Shame you didn't watch more there is a lot of worthwhile info in there.

In all of the Survival shows that I've watched there are hundreds of errors in things that they do, we however are fortunate to be sat in the warm with full bellies watching them and being able to look at the scenerio from the outside. That and certain things are staged - Take Dual Survival as an example, in one scenario Dave C has a disasterous attempt at the Bow drill to start a fire, while Cody uses a hand drill to achieve the same thing - In that scenario daves bow set is laughable, however here is a man that has made several videos on fire by friction and is very capable at the hand drill.

Being half starved and not having many choices completely changes your approach to doing things - clearly demonstrated in Survivorman. He does, when doing these things, point out that they are not always the best idea, but choices are limited. And you remembered them for being bad Ideas so that kind of means the show was successful.

The point about the bears is kind of unfair - Bears can smell food miles away, to get away from a bear trail you would need to be out of the country where bears live!

As for eating the Snow, Les does say that it is not the best thing to do, but at that time he is well fed, burning massive calories in being active and is in danger of sweating heavily - Which would risk him being soaked with no good way of drying or warming up, the eating of snow in this case is to cool himself down to prevent this, I believe later in the episode he goes on to melt snow when he gets the opportunity and is in no position to eat it - starved and no spare calories to keep warm.

Sorry, rant over, I hate seeing negative comments that would put people off of watching an entertaining and informative show and I'm having one of those days :p

[Ben Casey]

What always gets me is these guy could never starve to death in a few days they have so many pounds on them. The last one I watched the canoe they made sank they where that heavy. Now if it was me I would be crawling the floor with hunger and not even thinking about a canoe and the only thing I would have is a fire probably so big the emergency services would come out because they thought it was a forest fire :) But at least I would be rescued and any bears would stay away because of the flames :D

[Nature Unleashed]

I never saw any episodes of Survivor man so I cant comment on that show... I was referring to Bear Grylls, Born Survivor. Its a great show and pretty informative, he just seems to go to extreme lengths to do things and he always seems to just arrive at a spot where somebody seems to be passing, maybe its just co-incidental, but with the rumours going around that he wasnt staying in any of the shelters he made and was being airlifted to hotels etc before returning to camp to make out he had just got up makes it seem less likely.

I do like the episode where they nearly get killed by a train though...am I right in saying he mentions just before that happens that its an old un-used railway?

[Ben Casey]

I know what you mean I think a lot is put on for the TV shame it is not proper reality :(

[survivalgirl]

I like dave canterberry on youtube great videos but couldn't get into duel survival

[Paracordist]

All these shows still beat watching game shows or reality tv garbage

[survivalgirl]

well thats true

[sam_acw]

I've just finished watching all of these, excellent programmes and they're making a third series.
I think the two of them work well together although it's clear that Dave is pushed into doing some daft stuff for entertainment.
I'd actually be happy to watch an episode where they just stayed put and didn't walk out.

[JEEP]

Just watched the first four episodes of season one; quite entertaining - though not as informative as I would prefer really.

My initial thought was something along; "Oh no, one of these "two total opposites forced to work together" shows". But, truth be told; both Dave and Cody are a lot more nuanced than that.

I find it funny, though, how Dave is apparently trying to act a lot more gung ho and hard headed than he really is (based on his YouTube videos) - in order to contrast Cody. Threre is definitely a lot of "playing the ol' stereotypes" going on, but fortunally not too much.

I'll most likely watch the rest of the series - eagerly awaiting the new episodes of Survivorman.

[Amazed]

For those of you interested in Dual Survivor and specially Dave Canterbury, you might want to catch his Survival Adventure Network on you tube. Dave takes video applications from You tubers and then chooses several to participate in a 72 hour survival challenge filmed at his school in Ohio. You get to bring your choice of knives and the clothes on your back, thats all. THe school provides any other materials and kit you will need. Participants are strictkly volunteer with many levels of skills and experiance, no experts involved.
there have been 4 scenarios filmed since the begiining of the year. I was lucky enough to have been chosen for an Altiods tin Challenge. THe survival tin based on the SAS concept is filled from a table of various kit copmponents and the participant chooses what they wish to carry in theirs. All were given an emergancy blanket and a 2mil rain poncho, the rest of the kit was up to them, it just had to fit in the tin. It was quite an experiance for all of us. I learned a great deal about my true skills and Dave was very helpful in refining those skills during the shoot. Well worth the effort and an unforegettable experiance! Todd

[JEEP]

Sounds like some experience T^

[luresalive]

I watched that last week, very good videos indeed..

[JEEP]

It has been known for a while that Dave Canterbury will not be in the third installment of Dual Survival - ir has not yet been revealed who is replacing him. There has been quite som speculation going on as to why Dave is no longer on the show. The other day Cody Lundin posted this on his official Facebook site:

"As has already been publicly confirmed, Dave Canterbury is no longer a part of Dual Survival. This fact has been true since September of 2011.

I have faced many questions regarding this change and much has been said on the internet as well. Any inquiries regarding this matter should be directed to Discovery Channel. However, since I have no doubt that the questions will continue, and I have an ethical and professional responsibility to do so, I am making the following statement.

The goal of the survival instructor is to keep people alive. To accomplish this goal, honesty, integrity, trust and competence must come first. These core values cannot be compromised or people’s lives are needlessly put at risk. In a profession where human lives are at stake, dishonesty about ones background and experience is an inexcusable breach of trust.

I have dedicated my life to this profession. It is my passion and livelihood and I have spent the past 23 years developing expertise in it. I hold the responsibility of being a survival skills instructor as sacred. It is incumbent upon all of us in this field to insist that the highest standards of honesty, integrity and honor are maintained at all times.

For all of the aforementioned reasons, I am proud to work with my new Dual Survival partner as we take the show to even greater levels. This is my final statement on the matter at this time. To my fans and to those who have offered support during this very challenging time, I offer my greatest gratitude and thanks.

Cody Lundin"

Now, I am not taking any sides - as I do not know the whole story (and really do not care to take any sides in something like this). But I will say this; Cody Lundin seems to be a very characterfull person - as well as having quite the temper; it seems that Cody has it out for most other bushcraft/survival instructors, be that on TV, YouTube, forums, IRL, etc. Perhaps rightly so(?) But if you read through Cody's website, especially this; http://www.codylundin.com/survive_tv.html and; http://www.codylundin.com/choosing.html - it seems that he is under the impression that more or less everyone but himself is a fraud.

As to what "dishonesty about ones background and experience" Cody is talking about, I found this; http://tomahawksadventuretravel.blogspot.dk/2010/10/survival-experts-or-bull-shit-artists.html - these are some pretty bold claims, without any actual proof.
Again; I take no sides - but it would certainly not be the first time for a survival/bushcraft instructor to (supposedly) exaggerate their military career ;)

My point is not whether Cody is after Dave's hide - or whether Dave has been dishonest about his military career and expereince. My point is, that all this bickering and bashing amongst survial/bushcraft instructors/celebrities is getting really really tiresome! I, personally, am loosing a great deal of respect for these individuals - every time I expereince one of them engage in the tribal denunciation of one of their colleagues.

[Ben Casey]

Hi Jeep
I read that with a lot of interest as in my opinion there are a lot of people out there bluffing there way through a lifestyle and they dont have the quals or the skills and take peoples money readily :( I served in the Army for over 17 years and in no way do I class myself as one who has the skills or knowledge to be able to teach people survival or bush craft. But I have heard of schools out there with people running them who where in the same Corps as me and I know that 99% of there time all they did was sit in a Wagon of some type doing radio checks it wouldnt be so bad but some of them only did a couple of years service and never got as far a doing a Army survival course let alone any other.

Anyway it is one of the reasons I like the forum I dont have to mix with such people I can ask peoples adcvice on here or if I have a clue to what they mean I can chip a bit in.

I think a lot of TV shows go to show you how many bluffers are in this world :( That doesnt mean that one of the dual survival guys is right and the other wrong. But because this is a Lifestyle where anyone can say they are an expert people can get taken in for a lot of money. It doesnt really bother me if Bear Grylls goes to a hotel every night or if Ray Mears does not do proper bushcraft. In my opinion all these people on TV are TV personallities and have never had or have lost the vision that I have and maybe others as to what this is all about.

Ben

[FishyFolk]

I would have is a fire probably so big the emergency services would come out because they thought it was a forest fire :) But at least I would be rescued and any bears would stay away because of the flames :D

Been to Norway lately?

[luresalive]

I have the utmost respect for Cody (and I do too for D.C.) if he feels there is a lot of nonsense out there he is probably right. I have witnessed first hand the P.P.P. of so called "Expert Instructors" and these are poor wanabees with no serious ability whatsoever, if I can see it at the low level I'm at then I feel Cody certainly has more qualifications to speak prudently about this issue, what he says in his scribings (see above) makes perfect sense,TV is all about the money regardless of ability and as I mentioned recently in a thread I started there are too many out there to warrant the demand,as a result we can only assume than there are more "chancers" than you would actually believe..A true instructor lives the life daily,has no other job but survival, travels widely to experience different environments and situations, constantly learns and seeks out new ways to survive and expand their own personal knowledge, is more concerened with the safety of their students than the money in their pocket andis not afraid to stand up and make himself a target as he has the self assuredness to know that no one can shoot him down and prove him wrong..If you don't meet all these criteria and more YOU ARE NOT A SURVIVAL/BUSHCRAFT INSTRUCTOR!!!!!! Cody has done all this and is still standing, he has the right to voice those opinions as he has lived and indeed still lives the life.....Party on!!

[Ben Casey]

Been to Norway lately?

Never been but been to a lot of other countries :) Why? If you like send it on a PM so we dont get off topic as I get wrong for that :D

[JEEP]

I have the utmost respect for Cody (and I do too for D.C.) if he feels there is a lot of nonsense out there he is probably right. I have witnessed first hand the P.P.P. of so called "Expert Instructors" and these are poor wanabees with no serious ability whatsoever, if I can see it at the low level I'm at then I feel Cody certainly has more qualifications to speak prudently about this issue, what he says in his scribings (see above) makes perfect sense,TV is all about the money regardless of ability and as I mentioned recently in a thread I started there are too many out there to warrant the demand,as a result we can only assume than there are more "chancers" than you would actually believe..A true instructor lives the life daily,has no other job but survival, travels widely to experience different environments and situations, constantly learns and seeks out new ways to survive and expand their own personal knowledge, is more concerened with the safety of their students than the money in their pocket andis not afraid to stand up and make himself a target as he has the self assuredness to know that no one can shoot him down and prove him wrong..If you don't meet all these criteria and more YOU ARE NOT A SURVIVAL/BUSHCRAFT INSTRUCTOR!!!!!! Cody has done all this and is still standing, he has the right to voice those opinions as he has lived and indeed still lives the life.....Party on!!

While I can understand why a man like Cody Lundin is appallaed by the amout of unqualified survival instructors out here - he is still breaking one of the most important unspoken rules of doing trade; "Tell us what you can, not what your competitors can't". That is, imho, not brave - just somewhat unprofessional.

I do fully understand, when it comes to survival courses, the above mentioned rule only applies as long as no one is giving advice that is directly health- and/or life threatening. But still, Cody seems to go that extra lenght to denounce his competitors.

I have no doubt however that Cody is among the best out there. Though I can't help but to find his "not wearing footwear" -thing somewhat silly :)

When it comes to bushcraft (not survival) instructors, I find that your criteria are way too harsh. Basically, imho, anyone with more than average bushcraft experience could teach a lot of usefull skills to newcomers to the hobby, without any harm being done - as long as the person is honest about his qualifications and charges accodingly.
I have no near the qualifications you demand, but I would not feel bad one second about arranging a basic family orientated bushcraft course - and charge people for materials + other expenses.

[CanadianMike]

Overall, I hold ALL in high regard based upon what they teach us to do and not to do, and yes, even BG.

If Dave has totally falsified his military background, I don't care one iota, I've learned a lot from his videos and opinions, is all a matter if the individual's processing of the given info, does it make sense, or is it questionable enough to try to verify through a second or third source? Dave's approach and info I have found to be among the highest of quality and affordability amongst most of the 'survival instructors' out there. I mean, how many other of the same following will post a video series of cheap common sense below $50 survival kits and show how each component is chosen, used, and why.

DC is still higher in my books than BG by far, just because of his original videos and common sense available to all, where BG just kinda came onto the scene as a star in a survival TV show, and all of a sudden, a total line of Gerber made sub-quality survival tools bearing his name a few years later. I respect the fact others have pointed out that BG is highly involved with his local Scout groups, that's fine, but he provides a very fine sliver of his knowledge to a very select few, where DC has piles of useful common sense self reliance info available at a few strokes of a keyboard. Who cares about the military career (or lack there of, of which both seem to be more hype that fact), I go for the common sense guy and weigh his info as it comes.

[CanadianMike]

BTW, does this mean that Mountainous is busted now too? ;)

[JEEP]

No, nobody can touch him, he's a ninja... :p

[OakAshandThorn]

I have the utmost respect for Cody (and I do too for D.C.) if he feels there is a lot of nonsense out there he is probably right. I have witnessed first hand the P.P.P. of so called "Expert Instructors" and these are poor wanabees with no serious ability whatsoever, if I can see it at the low level I'm at then I feel Cody certainly has more qualifications to speak prudently about this issue, what he says in his scribings (see above) makes perfect sense,TV is all about the money regardless of ability and as I mentioned recently in a thread I started there are too many out there to warrant the demand,as a result we can only assume than there are more "chancers" than you would actually believe..A true instructor lives the life daily,has no other job but survival, travels widely to experience different environments and situations, constantly learns and seeks out new ways to survive and expand their own personal knowledge, is more concerened with the safety of their students than the money in their pocket andis not afraid to stand up and make himself a target as he has the self assuredness to know that no one can shoot him down and prove him wrong..If you don't meet all these criteria and more YOU ARE NOT A SURVIVAL/BUSHCRAFT INSTRUCTOR!!!!!! Cody has done all this and is still standing, he has the right to voice those opinions as he has lived and indeed still lives the life.....Party on!!
I couldn't agree more :). Well spoken :D T^

[Opal]

It's on now on Discovery, I'm taping it due to females taking over the telly. :(

[OakAshandThorn]

The new season? I can't wait to see that - I'm itching to see who will be Dave's replacement. :D

[sam_acw]

Season 3 has started now, the first episode in the Atacama desert.
I'm not a gif fan of the new guy - it's hard to tell if he's just playing a role or not but he doesn't add a lot to the show.

[AdrianRose]

Season 3 has started now, the first episode in the Atacama desert.
I'm not a gif fan of the new guy - it's hard to tell if he's just playing a role or not but he doesn't add a lot to the show.

I don't get (or want) satellite TV so can someone let me know who the new guy is please.

Thanks
Ade.

[Silverback]

Not to worry yet Ade, the new season (3) is still to hit UK screens.....the one on in the UK now is still with Cody and Dave, last episode was in the cloud forest in Peru (i think)

Joseph Teti is Daves replacement...a veteran of both US military and US government special operations units. He is a former Force Recon Marine, Army Special Forces “Green Beret”, and a former operator in a highly classified government counter-terrorist unit, according to his Discovery Ch bio

[Basha72]

Not to worry lads there will soon be a new series with a British lad in it, not sure when it will air but the pilot has been done, skill wise the lad is at the top of the tree, I'll leave it at that for now ;-)

Dave

[AdrianRose]

Not to worry lads there will soon be a new series with a British lad in it, not sure when it will air but the pilot has been done, skill wise the lad is at the top of the tree, I'll leave it at that for now ;-)

Dave

So we all know who it's isn't then (BG!!). Lol.

Ade.

[Basha72]

So we all know who it's isn't then (BG!!). Lol.

Ade.

Yep not him

[Silverback]

Not to worry lads there will soon be a new series with a British lad in it, not sure when it will air but the pilot has been done, skill wise the lad is at the top of the tree, I'll leave it at that for now ;-)

Dave


Does he wear 'special' sunglasses ;)

[OakAshandThorn]

Not to worry yet Ade, the new season (3) is still to hit UK screens.....the one on in the UK now is still with Cody and Dave, last episode was in the cloud forest in Peru (i think)

Joseph Teti is Daves replacement...a veteran of both US military and US government special operations units. He is a former Force Recon Marine, Army Special Forces “Green Beret”, and a former operator in a highly classified government counter-terrorist unit, according to his Discovery Ch bio
Aha! So now we know! :D

[luresalive]

It's Dave Granger isn't it

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_u486g7Z65g

[AdrianRose]

Have you all seen the new video that Dave C has put on YouTube about Dual Survival.

He is quite contrite and apologetic about "embellishing" his military record etc.

Not sure if I think he's being genuine or not, but hey ho, benefit if the doubt and all that. Everyone deserves a mistake.

Ade

[Opal]

As he sez, he who is without sin etc, he's always good to watch.

[luresalive]

I have a lot of respect for DC, we all know he is no longer with Dual Survival and we all know why, he didn't need to make an apology, the fact that he did speaks volumes.

[FishyFolk]

I subscribed to his YT channel for a while, but is style of presentation is so super-american intense that I get stressed from watching...so in the end I never watched and finally un-subscribed.
He is probably a very likable feller and it took guts to admit that he made a mistake. But his current YT vids are just not my cup of Aquavit.