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The Best Episodes of Man vs. Wild

Every episode of Man vs. Wild ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Man vs. Wild!

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Bear strands himself in popular wilderness destinations where tourists often find themselves lost or in danger.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Man vs. Wild Season 1 Episode 9 - Deserted Island
    8.5/10(119 votes)

    #1 - Deserted Island

    S1:E9

    Grylls is kicked out by helicopter into the water near a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean. He demonstrates long distance swimming, shelter building and coconut harvesting. Grylls builds a bamboo raft to look for ships, and is surrounded by tiger sharks. He fishes off his raft using a fish bone hook, and shows how to signal a ship using the reflection produced by his polished knife.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Man vs. Wild Season 7 Episode 1 - Men vs. Wild with Jake Gyllenhaal
    8.5/10(208 votes)

    #2 - Men vs. Wild with Jake Gyllenhaal

    S7:E1

    Bear brings along a companion, actor Jake Gyllenhaal, to test how he measures up to unpredictable and unforgiving Mother Nature.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Man vs. Wild Season 3 Episode 10 - Romania
    8.4/10(81 votes)

    #3 - Romania

    S3:E10

    Grylls heads to Romania where he takes on a bear and dangerous water channels.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Man vs. Wild Season 4 Episode 10 - Urban Survivor
    8.3/10(68 votes)

    #4 - Urban Survivor

    S4:E10

    Grylls is in a post-disaster urban city scenario and he must survive. His thirst to live and survival techniques modified for a city environment keep him alive in a concrete wasteland in Gdynia, Poland.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Man vs. Wild Season 2 Episode 1 - Sahara
    8.2/10(116 votes)

    #5 - Sahara

    S2:E1

    In the sun-scorched Sahara Desert, Grylls uses survival tactics of the indigenous people, including eating a scorpion and a sandfish. He also explains how to escape from quicksand.

    Director:Tony Lee
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Man vs. Wild Season 1 Episode 7 - African Savanna – Kenya
    8.1/10(128 votes)

    #6 - African Savanna – Kenya

    S1:E7

    Grylls parachutes into the Sierra Nevadas, simulating the situation of the hundreds of hikers who become stranded there each year. Equipped with a knife and a canteen, Grylls travels through the alpine, woodland and chaparral areas of the mountains. He unsuccessfully tries to tame a wild horse, and eats a live snake. Using techniques gleaned from the Mono Indians, he brushes his teeth with a manzanita leaf. Most of the ground he covers is traversed by river, using a raft held together by grape vine.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Man vs. Wild

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  8. Man vs. Wild Season 1 Episode 14 - Ecuador
    8.1/10(113 votes)

    #7 - Ecuador

    S1:E14

    Grylls paraglides onto the edge of the Andes and follows rivers into the Ecuadorian jungle, is attacked by huge colonies of spear-nosed bats[disambiguation needed], and observes giant weevil grubs and piranhas. He builds a bamboo bridge and a bow and arrow to successfully catch fish, but it doesn't always go his way and he's forced to ride the rapids of the Amazon on a single tree trunk.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Man vs. Wild Season 1 Episode 15 - Scotland
    8.1/10(109 votes)

    #8 - Scotland

    S1:E15

    Grylls shows how to navigate the Cairngorms region in extreme weather using ice formations and moss growth, and how to test snow slopes for avalanche potential. He uses moss to purify water and skins a red deer for shelter. For food, he traps a rabbit and cooks it to demonstrate how to prepare it. Grylls also crosses deep marshes and uses fallen trees to cross ravines.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Man vs. Wild Season 2 Episode 3 - Panama (1)
    8.1/10(98 votes)

    #9 - Panama (1)

    S2:E3

    Grylls travels to Panama, where he travels in the equatorial heat through mangrove swamps and rain forest, and endures more than 100 mosquito bites and one painful snake bite.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Man vs. Wild Season 2 Episode 10 - Jungle Swamp (1)
    8.1/10(86 votes)

    #10 - Jungle Swamp (1)

    S2:E10

    Grylls battles the fierce swamps in Sumatra, Indonesia. As he struggles to keep dry and avoid trench foot, he runs into several types of wildlife, including lizards and the deadly mangrove snake.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Man vs. Wild Season 4 Episode 8 - Big Sky Country
    8.1/10(65 votes)

    #11 - Big Sky Country

    S4:E8

    Grylls takes on Big Sky Country. He paraglides above the Rockies, traverses vast gullies, and makes the most of abandoned debris before making his great escape on a moving train.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Man vs. Wild Season 7 Episode 2 - New Zealand: South Island
    8.1/10(65 votes)

    #12 - New Zealand: South Island

    S7:E2

    This week Bear braves the remote wilderness of New Zealand's South Island, crossing the country's tallest mountains and attempting to start a fire with wood that is soaking wet.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Man vs. Wild Season 1 Episode 10 - Everglades
    8.0/10(128 votes)

    #13 - Everglades

    S1:E10

    Grylls drops into the swamps of Florida's Everglades, where at least 60 tourists need to be rescued each year. He trudges through the swamp and shows how to construct shelter, deal with razor-sharp sawgrass, get out of a muddy sinkhole and avoid alligators and rattlesnakes. He eats frogs and cooks a turtle Seminole-style.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Man vs. Wild Season 1 Episode 11 - Iceland
    8.0/10(119 votes)

    #14 - Iceland

    S1:E11

    Grylls parachutes into the extreme landscape of Iceland, the site of vicious blizzard, 50 mph (80 km/h) winds, icy glacial waters, boiling hot mud and volcanic springs. He demonstrates how to make a snow cave, find water in volcanic underground tunnels and avoid frostbite. To find food in this subarctic environment, Grylls scavenges a sheep for its eyeballs and mutton fat, and catches a ptarmigan. He demonstrates with his shoelaces the boiling of the eyeballs and mutton in the geysers, to save digestion energy and disinfect the scavenged food.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Man vs. Wild Season 2 Episode 11 - Castaway (2)
    8.0/10(85 votes)

    #15 - Castaway (2)

    S2:E11

    Bear Grylls spends a week showing how to survive the challenges of the Pacific Ring of Fire. He is dropped into petrified swamps devastated by the 2004 Tsunami and has to navigate his way out.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Man vs. Wild Season 2 Episode 12 - Siberia (1)
    8.0/10(90 votes)

    #16 - Siberia (1)

    S2:E12

    With temperatures dipping to -50°C, Grylls has to keep warm before hypothermia sets in. He uses snares to catch his food, and a fire to keep warm. He puts up a scenario for the great dangers to walk over a frozen lake, and how to survive without drowning and/or before hypothermia sets in.

    Director:Tony Lee
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Man vs. Wild Season 3 Episode 9 - Turkey
    8.0/10(69 votes)

    #17 - Turkey

    S3:E9

    Grylls heads to Turkey where he deals with dangerous animals and he also takes to the water.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Man vs. Wild Season 4 Episode 3 - Vietnam
    8.0/10(58 votes)

    #18 - Vietnam

    S4:E3

    Grylls demonstrates what it was like for soldiers who had to survive in the jungles of Vietnam, during the Vietnam War.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Man vs. Wild Season 5 Episode 1 - Western Pacific
    8.0/10(67 votes)

    #19 - Western Pacific

    S5:E1

    Grylls is on a desert island, south of Papua New Guinea. He wades across a shark-infested tidal channel, climbs crumbling volcanic cliffs, leaps over a 100-foot death drop, and constructs a bamboo windsurfer to make his escape.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Man vs. Wild Season 1 Episode 1 - The Rockies
    7.9/10(173 votes)

    #20 - The Rockies

    S1:E1

    Host Bear Grylls parachutes alone into a remote area of the Rocky Mountains equipped with only the clothes on his back.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Man vs. Wild Season 1 Episode 4 - Alaskan Mountain Range
    7.9/10(140 votes)

    #21 - Alaskan Mountain Range

    S1:E4

    Grylls is dropped in the Chugach Mountains in Alaska, with skis and his usual gear. He demonstrates Glissading as he traverses snow and glaciers, and climbs down a 200ft (61m) waterfall. He catches a salmon, which he eats raw, and finds a skiff from an abandoned lodge. The skiff sinks, but he reaches the shore and is spotted by a ship.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Man vs. Wild Season 2 Episode 2 - Desert Survivor
    7.9/10(96 votes)

    #22 - Desert Survivor

    S2:E2

    In the desert, Grylls offers tips on skinning and disemboweling a dead camel for water.

    Director:Tony Lee
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Man vs. Wild Season 3 Episode 1 - Baja Desert
    7.9/10(97 votes)

    #23 - Baja Desert

    S3:E1

    Grylls must cross blistering desert and barren salt plains in Mexico's Baja peninsula. While collecting honey Grylls is stung by a bee and his face becomes severely swollen, nearly blinding him.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Man vs. Wild Season 3 Episode 2 - The Deep South
    7.9/10(72 votes)

    #24 - The Deep South

    S3:E2

    Grylls enters the swamps of Louisiana where he kills an alligator with a knife, and catches a catfish with his bare hands

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  26. Man vs. Wild Season 3 Episode 3 - Ireland
    7.9/10(80 votes)

    #25 - Ireland

    S3:E3

    Grylls jumps from a boat a kilometre off the west coast of Ireland. He travels down the coast before turning inland to cross the bogs. Here he retrieves a sheep carcass from a bog whose skin he uses as a sleeping bag (sheeping bag), a waterproof sack, and a flotation device.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Deserted Island" is the best rated episode of "Man vs. Wild". It scored 8.5/10 based on 119 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/29/2006. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Men vs. Wild with Jake Gyllenhaal".