Bear Grylls' survival expertise and media empire are examined in the context of austerity Britain. Survivalism and prepping have proliferated in mainstream culture as economic and environmental anxieties have increased. However, true survival in austerity Britain, as depicted in a satirical article about Bear Grylls attempting to survive on an average salary in London, may be nearly impossible due to high poverty, unemployment, housing costs and income inequality exacerbated by government austerity measures.

1. What Bear Grylls Can’t Do
Survivalist Mediascapes
in Austerity Britain
Dr. Aaron Winter (University of East London)
Dr. Alexandra Kokoli (Middlesex University)

2. Survivalism
Mainstreamed
Since the economic crisis of 2008, there has been a proliferation of survivalist
and prepper phenomena both in the margins and more significantly in the
mainstream.
‘In hard times, some flirt with survivalism: Economic Angst has some
Americans stockpiling “beans, bullets and Band-Aids” citing a growth in sites
such as Mutuallyassuredsurvival.com and quoting Jim Rawles, author of
Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse: “Survivalist business is a
business that flourishes when others are failing!”’ (MSNBC, 2008)
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27244465/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/t/hard-times-have-some-flirting-
survivalism/#.VlFbofnhDIU
Although driven by the economic crisis, the proliferation and popularity of
survivalism and prepping also reflects other social, political and
environmental fears and uncertainties, such as terrorism and climate change.
‘When the apocalypse comes, preppers will be ready. But you won't’ (at the National Preppers and Survivalists
Expo): http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/20/apocalypse-preppers-expo-florida
RIGHT: Survivor Jane, What could possibly go wrong?
http://survivorjane.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=400:new-survivor-janes-book-
qwhat-could-possibly-go-wrong-how-to-go-from-completely-clueless-to-totally-preparedq&catid=66:survival

3. Survivalism
Mediatised
A virtual explosion across media and genres
• Reality TV: Ray Mears' Bushcraft; Ray Mears'
World of Survival; Extreme Survival; Survival with
Ray Mears; Doomsday Preppers; Armageddon
Outfitters; I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse;
Hunted
• TV Drama: Survivors; The Walking Dead; Fear the
Walking Dead; Terra Nova; Falling Skies;
Revolution; The Last Ship; The Leftovers; Z Nation.
• TV Comedy: The Last Man on Earth; You, Me and
the Apocalypse.
• Films: 2012; The Book of Eli; Cloverfield, After
Earth; The Grey; Take Shelter; The Hunger Games
(series); Maze Runner (series); World War Z;
Zombieland; At Worlds End, The is the End; Left
Behind; Mad Max: Fury Road; Z for Zachariah.
• Video games: The Last of Us; Dying Light.
• Books: The Survivalist (series); The Hunger Games
(series)’ World War Z; The Zombie Survival Guide;
Survival: Prepper’s Guide; Living Off the Grid;
Bushcraft Survival.
http://tvschedule.zap2it.com/tv/doomsday-
preppers/EP01517869?aid=tvschedule

4. Zombie Experience Events:
From threat to business opportunity
In the context of cuts and austerity, would the
UK Government have our backs if there were a
zombie apocalypse?
http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-
network/2015/oct/30/zombie-apocalypse-
government-cobra-councils
‘The idea of making good use out of otherwise
empty buildings has been backed by business
groups. The proportion of shops in Britain lying
empty hit a new record of 14.6% in February,
according to figures compiled by the Local Data
Company.’
‘“Zombies” move into disused Reading shopping
centre’: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
england-berkshire-17461708
Zombie Boot Camp location hire
http://www.zombiebootcamp.co.uk/location-hire/

5. The BEAR GRYLLS
survivalist media
machine
Books, ‘survivalist’ clothing, extreme
sports equipment, and numerous TV
series including:
• Escape to the Legion
• Born Survivor/Man vs. Wild
• Worst Case Scenario
• Bear's Wild Weekend
• Get Out Alive
• Escape From Hell
• The Island
• Running Wild with Bear Grylls
• Mission Survive
• Bear Grylls' Survival School
• Survivor Games
http://www.beargrylls.com/worst-case-scenario/

6. THE SPOOF
‘Bear Grylls attempting to survive London on average salary’
3 Nov 2015, The Daily Mash
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-entertainment/bear-grylls-attempting-to-survive-london-on-average-
salary-20151103103502
‘BEAR Grylls’ latest challenge is to live in
London while earning £12.50 an hour.
The survival expert is filming a new Channel
4 series in which he attempts to survive
equipped only with an average income and
a “studio flat” in Clapham.
Grylls said: […]
“Tomorrow I’ll set up some Polynesian bird
traps on Clapham Common, so at least I’ll
have some sparrows to put in my
sandwiches.
Grylls also revealed that his SAS “escape
and evasion” skills had allowed him to
outwit Tesco security staff while stealing
toilet rolls.’
A studio flat in Clapham, http://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-
rent/details/photos/38556901

7. It’s funny because it’s true
‘The capital has problems with child poverty,
young adult unemployment, low pay and high
housing costs, […]The study shows 28% of
people in London are in poverty, seven
percentage points higher than the rest of
England. […]
Of the 20 English local authorities with the
highest levels of child poverty, seven are in
London, the study shows.
The number of 16 to 24-year-olds living in
London has increased to one million but
unemployment for this age group has risen from
15% to 25% in the last 10 years […]
At the lower end of the housing market, rents in
London are twice as high as the England
average.
Average monthly rents are £475 in England
compared with £950 in outer London and £1,300
in inner London.
A quarter of all households in the capital rely on
housing benefit to meet their housing costs,
compared with a fifth in the whole of England.’
SOURCE: London ‘s Poverty Profile,
http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/, via
‘More than a quarter of Londoners “in poverty”’, 15
Oct 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-
london-24517391
PHOTO: Queue in front of Job Centre Plus,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-
24517391

8. ‘Recessions can hurt, but austerity kills’
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/15/recessions-hurt-but-austerity-kills
THE TRUE COST OF AUSTERITY AND
INEQUALITY UK Case Study, Oxfam, Sept.
2013
https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cs-
true-cost-austerity-inequality-uk-120913-en.pdf
‘I felt very ashamed having to go to a food
bank the first time. It was down to my
son’s school liaison officer coming round
to my house, because I hadn’t sent my son
into school for a couple of days as I
couldn’t afford a packed lunch for him and
I couldn’t afford to pay for a school dinner.
I couldn’t do what a mum should do for
them – look after them. I couldn’t even
feed them. That just makes you feel really
low as a parent.’ Lorna, school dinner lady
and mother of three, Tower Hamlets,
London
Eunice, food bank volunteer, Southwark
food bank
http://www.pecan.org.uk/what-we-
do/community-services/southwark-
foodbank/foodbank-300x199

9. ‘More than a quarter of Londoners “in poverty”*’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24517391
[Official definition of poverty = having a
household income that is less than 60% of
the national median income that year]
London has been found to have the worst
house price to income ratio of eight
European capitals
‘Much of the blame for Europe’s housing
problems can be put down to the fact that
housing across Europe, including the
former communist countries, has
increasingly been seen as consumer goods.’
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/19/damni
ng-report-exposes-europes-escalating-housing-crisis
Anti-homeless spikes, a ‘defensive’ architectural feature
used in new luxury residential developments.
Photograph: Guy Corbishley/Demotix/Corbis,
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/
23/anti-homeless-spikes-inhumane-defensive-
architecture#img-1

10. The Real
Hunger Games?
‘The BBC has defended a new TV reality show pitting
unemployed and low-paid workers against each other for a
cash prize, which has been accused of echoing film the
Hunger Games, arguing it is a “serious social experiment”.
The show, called Britain’s Hardest Grafter, is seeking 25 of
Britain’s poorest workers with applications limited to those
who earn or receive benefits totalling less than £15,500 a
year.
The five-part BBC2 series will pit contestants against each
other in a series of jobs and tasks with the “least effective
workers” asked to leave until one is crowned champion. The
winner will receive a cash prize of about £15,500, the
minimum annual wage for workers outside London.’
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/may/28/bbc-defends-reality-show-
involving-poor-dubbed-hunger-games; emphasis added
See also Change.org petition
against the show:
https://www.change.org/p/the-
bbc-stop-the-bbc-s-hunger-
games-style-show

11. ‘Poverty Porn’
The other survivalist genre
BENEFITS STREET (Channel 4; 2014-)
‘Controversial Channel 4 documentary series,
made by Love Productions, which first aired in
January 2014 revealing the reality of life on one of
Britain's most deprived streets - James Turner
Street in Winson Green. The programme made
one of the residents, Dierdre Kelly (aka White
Dee), a national celebrity.’
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/all-
about/benefits-street
LEFT: Dot from Benefits Street
‘Dot is mixed race, her mother is Scottish and her
father Indian, so she was bemused by press
reports dubbing her “Orange Dot” and claiming
she used her benefits to fund an addiction to fake
tan and sun beds.’
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/benefits-
street/profiles/all/dot

12. The Scheme
(BBC1, 2011, 5 episodes)
‘What made me, and many others, uneasy was a
growing realisation that the participants in the
show were widely regarded, even by those
whose lives weren't too dissimilar to theirs, as
hilarious “bampots” whose value lay in their
idiocy and ability to provide catchphrases. There
wasn't much evidence of a growing open-
mindedness or empathy with the teenage mums
and benefits dependents of the Onthank estate.
The general feeling seemed to be that they were
pathetic losers, good for little more than a
mocking laugh and an ego-boost – we might be
struggling but we'll never sink to the depth of the
Schemies.’
Jane Graham, http://www.theguardian.com/tv-
and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/jun/22/bbc-the-
scheme-shameless-stereotypes
RIGHT: The Scheme: Marvin Baird and his dog
Bullet have become cult stars. Photograph: BBC

13. What’s wrong with ‘poverty porn’
• Exploitation
• Stigmatisation
• Ideological support for welfare cuts (on-going,
since at least 2010)
In an article published the day after the 2015
National Elections that brought a Conservative
government into power, Patrick Butler accurately
predicted:
‘There will be much emphasis on so-called
behavioural change policies, even though they will
deliver barely any savings (and may not work even
on their own terms). The benefit cap will continue,
and there will be the threat of benefit sanctions for
alcohol or drug addicted,​ mentally ill, or obese
claimants who refuse treatment programmes.’
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/08/to
ries-12bn-welfare-cuts-mythical-scroungers-conservatives
In “Thinking with 'White Dee':
The Gender Politics of
'Austerity Porn”, Kim Allen,
Imogen Tyler and Sara De
Benedictis ‘detail how Benefits
Street operates through forms
of classed and gendered
shaming to generate public
consent for the government's
welfare reform.’
Sociological Research Online, 19 (3),
2
<http://www.socresonline.org.uk/19
/3/2.html>
DOI: 10.5153/sro.3439

14. How does our conception of survivalism change once we place ‘poverty porn’ on the
survivalist media continuum?
How is ‘poverty porn’ inflected by its inclusion in survivalist media?
Could economic survival be a kind of survivalist media unconscious (which is what makes
struggling Londoner Bear Grylls funny)?

15. ‘I can’t afford to do
anything except stay in
and worry about
money, which is really
depressing when you’re
meant to be doing all
the stuff in Time Out.’
‘Bear Grylls’ according to The
Daily Mash
Time Out London, restaurant recommendations,
http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/dean-
street-townhouse