Man, Woman, Wild-My Take

I'm a survivor-flick addict, I admit. Survivorman, Man VS. Wild, I Shouldn't Be Alive, Locked Up Abroad. I watch them all.

This new series Discovery is showing, though, has me baffled. We have this really good looking couple out surviving for several days at a time. She has a British accent and he is a calm and collected American. With a huge bowie knife he can accomplish all sorts of things. Its obvious he has skills and I've seen some stuff I want to try.
Like boiling water as a purification process in a plastic water bottle above a camp fire.
Like using steel wool and 9 volt battery to start a fire. I tried the Grade 3 Steel wool, it didn't work, even with a new battery. I'm thinking I need the fine 000 grade. Not like this is something I would normally have on me, but any survival skill is worth knowing.
I'd like to also practice with the fire bundle: carrying a live coal in a dry but rotted log, pampering the coal during the journey for the evening fire in a new location.

But what gets me is how clean they stay, not a smudge on them after making campfires, trudging around in the desert or swamp, hunting, killing and gutting creatures. She wears a white jacket and her nails are never dirty. Yet they'll say "we've been out here three days". Seriously folks, if you want some credibility, make it a little more believable. Get dirty. Wake up from the parachute hammock with your hair messed up. Let me see a smudge on your face and your nails with dirt under them. Lose a button, or get a small tear in your pants.

Even car campers get dirty and there's no way a white shirt or jacket is going to look that good after one night, let alone 3 days in the boonies surviving the elements with no soap and water.

Its a series with potential however, so I'm going to watch it and learn by trying some of the skills in my wilderness adventures. I'll post here what happens, the good, bad, and the ugly.