TLC is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by the owners of Discovery Channel earlier in the decade, the network began to pivot towards reality television programming—predominantly focusing on programming involving lifestyles and personal stories—to the point that the previous name with "The Learning Channel" spelled out was phased out in favor of its initialism.
MythBusters is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internationally by many television networks and other Discovery channels worldwide. The show's original hosts, special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, used elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, movie scenes, adages, Internet videos, and news stories.
James Franklin Hyneman is an American special effects expert who was co-host of the television series MythBusters alongside Adam Savage, where he became known for his distinctive beret and walrus moustache. He is also the owner of M5 Industries, the special effects workshop where MythBusters was filmed.
Survivorman is a Canadian-produced television program, broadcast in Canada on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), and internationally on Discovery Channel and Science Channel. The title refers to the host of the show, Canadian filmmaker and survival expert Les Stroud, who uses survival skills and knowledge to survive alone for up to ten days, in remote locales where he brings with him little or no food, water, or equipment. Each location was scouted and planned extensively by Stroud and his team who consulted with survival specialists and natives of each area. The fact that Stroud films the episodes himself and endures the challenges of the wilderness, while dealing with the concomitant mental, emotional and physical stresses, is a major focus of the show.
Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls is a British former SAS trooper who is a survival expert, adventurer, and television presenter. He first drew attention after embarking on a number of notable adventures, including several world records in hostile environments, and then became widely known for his television series Man vs. Wild (2006–2011). He is also involved in a number of wilderness survival television series in the UK and US, such as Running Wild with Bear Grylls and The Island with Bear Grylls. In July 2009, Grylls was appointed as The Scout Association’s youngest-ever Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories at age 35, a post he has held for a second term since 2015.
Les Stroud is a Canadian survival expert, filmmaker and musician best known as the creator, writer, producer, director, cameraman and host of the television series Survivorman. Stroud was named Chief Scout by Scouts Canada on 22 November 2021. After a short career behind the scenes in the music industry, Stroud became a full-time wilderness guide, survival instructor and musician based in Huntsville, Ontario. Stroud has produced survival-themed programming for The Outdoor Life Network, The Discovery Channel, The Science Channel, and YTV. The survival skills imparted from watching Stroud's television programs have been cited by several people as the reason they lived through harrowing wilderness ordeals.
Digging for the Truth is a scripted History Channel television series documentary that ran from 2005 to 2007. The show had a total of 54 episodes over 4 seasons that were each an hour long. The first three seasons of the show focused on host Josh Bernstein, who journeyed on various explorations of historical icons and mysteries. Bernstein was the president and CEO of BOSS and has a degree in anthropology and psychology from Cornell University. The show aired Monday nights at 9:00 EST on the History Channel. The series premiered on 24 January 2005 and had a total of 13 episodes. At the time the show was the highest-rated series currently running on The History Channel. The second season premiered on 23 January 2006 and had a total of 13 episodes. The third season premiered on 22 January 2007 with a two-hour special episode on the quest for Atlantis and had a total of 20 episodes. The fourth season was the final season and premiered 8 September 2007 with a total of 8 episodes.
Hunter Ellis is an American military veteran and television personality.
Simcha Jacobovici is a Canadian-Israeli journalist, documentary filmmaker and New York Times best-selling author.
Man vs. Wild, also called Born Survivor: Bear Grylls, Ultimate Survival, Survival Game, or colloquially as simply Bear Grylls in the United Kingdom, is a survival television series hosted by Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel. In the United Kingdom, the series was originally shown on Channel 4, but the show's later seasons were broadcast on Discovery Channel U.K. The series was produced by British television production company Diverse Bristol. The show was premiered on November 10, 2006, after airing a pilot episode titled "The Rockies" on March 10, 2006.
Backpacker is an American lifestyle magazine publication that features information on wilderness hiking and adventure. It has been published since 1973. Backpacker magazine is currently published by Outside and is based in Boulder, Colorado.
Eric H. Cline is an American author, historian, archaeologist, and professor of ancient history and archaeology at The George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., where he is Professor of Classics and Anthropology and the former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, as well as Director of the GWU Capitol Archaeological Institute. He is also the advisor for the undergraduate archaeology majors, for which he was awarded the GWU Award for "Excellence in Undergraduate Departmental Advising" (2006). Cline served as co-editor of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research along with Christopher Rollston from 2014–2020.
The Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS) is a wilderness skills and survival school that has been teaching courses in southern Utah since 1968. BOSS has been based in the small town of Boulder, Utah since 1977. BOSS courses are known for being extremely challenging and for traveling through some of the most remote wilderness in the United States.
Josh Gates is an American television presenter and television producer who hosts and co-executive produces The Discovery Channel series Expedition: Unknown and also Legendary Locations. He is also the host of live specials for, and a guest investigator on, the television series Ghost Hunters and its spin-off Ghost Hunters International. He produces the related Ghost Nation series along with other paranormal television shows through his production company Ping Pong Productions. He was the host and co-executive producer of Destination Truth and Stranded on Syfy.
Out of the Wild is a Discovery Channel reality television series. The first and second seasons followed volunteers from urbanized backgrounds as they use survival skills in the back-country of Alaska during the fall and winter. The third season saw a relocation of the series to Venezuela, while keeping the same general format of season 2. The series was produced by Ricochet in the first season, and by Pilgrim Films in seasons 2 and 3.
Edward James Stafford is an English explorer and survivalist. He holds the Guinness World Record for being the first human ever to walk the length of the Amazon River. Stafford now hosts shows on the Discovery Channel and Channel Four.
William Weyman Stephens Jr., known professionally as Bill Stephens is an American network television host, commentator, and narrator specializing in automotive and motorsports presentations. He is a nationally published author of several motorsports books and a columnist for a number of automotive periodicals. He is a television producer and writer for various automotive television programs, a professional vehicle appraiser, and a communications consultant providing media training for motorsports personalities and vocal and listening skills training for business people at all levels of the corporate world.
Dual Survival is a United States reality television series that airs on the Discovery Channel. The show features a pair of survival experts in predetermined survival scenarios while in challenging environments.
Naked and Afraid is an American reality series that airs on the Discovery Channel. Each episode chronicles the lives of two survivalists who meet for the first time naked and are given the task of surviving a stay in the wilderness for 21 days. Each survivalist is allowed to bring one helpful item, such as a machete or a fire starter. After they meet in the assigned location, the partners must build a shelter and find water and food.
