Editor’s Note: This post contributed by Laura. If you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and possibly win a $300 Amazon Gift Card to purchase your own prepping supplies, enter the Prepper Writing Contest today.
We’ve pondered the question before, can preppers benefit from watching reality TV shows? Sure there’s a lot of editing involved, producers are on site in case things get really ugly and there’s a medevac on call in the event there’s a worst-case scenario. Despite all of the unnatural intervention, there are some reality shows that preppers can get more from than strictly entertainment. These reality shows can help you prep for a disaster.
If you choose DIRECTV or another reliable television service provider, you can use it as a resource while you still have it. There are a variety of shows that are designed to provide insight on living without modern-day luxuries and how to survive after a disaster. Here’s a list of current TV shows every prepper should watch along with a few past shows that are still on demand and streaming.
Doomsday Preppers
This is the show that originally drew us into reality show disaster prepping. So much so, frequent contributor Capt. William E. Simpson appeared on the second season of National Geographic’s Doomsday Preppers. The show walks the audience through one prepper’s setup and how they are preparing should a wide-scale disaster strike.
While the spin-offs are somewhat silly, Doomsday Preppers provides a lot of practical knowledge. It’s beneficial to get an up-close look at how other preppers have accounted for things like water and safety in various situations. Practical Preppers, LLC also gives a detailed score at the end to provide viewers with an objective rating for how the prepper would fare in an actual disaster.
The Wheel
The Wheel recently premiered on Discovery Channel. Now that there are a number of survivalist reality shows, each new one has to do something to set itself apart. The unique angle of The Wheel is that it takes place is six dramatically different locations across South America.
In this first season, four men and two women will each spend time alone in the six zones. They have no idea when the “wheel” will turn, picking them up and dropping them off in a new location. This show really pushes people to the extremes by exposing them to frozen tundra, dense rain-forests, and mountains in very short order.
Survivor
This was the first show to really put people in the middle of nothingness to see how they overcame the struggle of survival out in the wild. The formula obviously works since Survivor will soon be on its 34th season – although the earliest seasons are the best suited for survivalists.
Even though it’s more of a competition with obstacle courses and rewards you’d never get in a disaster-stricken area, there are some nuggets of gold. For one, you can see the psychological breakdown that comes with extreme stress and loss of resources. It’s also interesting to watch how leaders step up in a group and how others fall in line. It would be nice if they showed more of the players learning to make fire and fishing with spears and less social strategizing.
The Colony
The whole premise of this reality show is built around a group of strangers trying to survive a disaster situation in an urban setting. In other words, it’s every prepper’s worst nightmare. But in a real disaster, you could easily find yourself in this situation.
The Colony first aired in 2009 when prepping was starting to become a more mainstream concept. Over the course of three months, the group tries to rebuild a semblance of the reality they once knew. It really helps that among the group are usually at least a few people with mechanical and science backgrounds. Even though there were only two seasons, The Colony is worth watching since it’s among the few survivalist shows set in a city center.
Naked and Afraid
The interesting twist on the Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid is that people really start with nothing – not even clothes. A man and a woman are put into a rather extreme environment like a swampland where they must work together to survive for 21 days.
The show gets very, very real at times and is one of the best examples of how animals in the wild pose a real threat. Throughout the three weeks, the man and woman must find and make everything for themselves – food, water, shelter, and clothing.