Discovery Channel presents

07/02/2009

Survivorman

Winter plane crash, mountain desolation, being lost at sea and living off the land — all these take on new meaning as Survivorman Les Stroud spends nine harrowing weeks alone in a variety of survival simulations. This July, join Les he takes on the wilderness with nothing but few basic tools and camera gear on Survivorman, premiering every Monday at 10 p.m., starting July 6. Encores air on Tuesday at 1 a.m., Wednesday at 10 a.m., Thursday at 8 a.m., Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 9 p.m.

Les’ idea of a nature outing is probably a little different from the average adventurer: He takes off alone and heads to a punishing corner in the back of beyond with nothing but some camera gear to document his usually miserable experiences. Although the main challenge of each episode is to search for food, water, and materials to make fire and shelter, staying out of harm’s way is near imperative as wild animals and nature’s wrath have little regard for the Survivorman. From the frozen Arctic pack ice to the fetid jungles of Central America, Survivorman is an extreme test of Les’ extraordinary self-reliance and survival skills.

In addition to surviving without supplies, Les must film everything himself which means dragging 50 pounds of camera gear and batteries along the way. Armed with a unique one-person camera rig and an abundance of wry humor, Les documents his struggles to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in climates as diverse as the Costa Rican rainforest, swamplands in Georgia, the high Sonoran desert and Arctic ice floes.

Octoman

Fifty-five-year-old Filipino Rudy Santos is a medical phenomenon; with four arms and three legs, he has one of the rarest conditions known to man — a parasitic twin. His twin also has an undeveloped head that protrudes out of Rudy’s torso. Known as “Octoman,” Rudy has lived his life with the inconvenience and pain of his additional appendages. He accepted his condition without question until a famous Filipino surgeon offered him the hope of being separated from his twin. Will Rudy be a suitable candidate for the surgery? Octoman premieres on Sunday, July 5 at 9 p.m. Encores air on Monday, July 6 at 12 a.m.; 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.; Tuesday, July 7 at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, July 12 at 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.

Rudy made a name for himself out of his condition by touring carnivals and freak shows during the 1970s and 1980s. But hard times forced him into seclusion where he has lived in poverty for over 10 years. However, in spite of his disappearance, he has remained a local legend on the carnival circuit. Now Rudy, the oldest parasitic twin in the world, is forced to confront his past and face his future for the sake of himself and his family. For the first time in his life, medical science has knocked on Rudy’s door. Cameras follow him on the emotional journey as he meets the Philippines’ foremost authority in conjoined twin separation, Dr. Vicente Gomez.

Can he say goodbye to his twin? Find out on Discovery Channel’s Octoman.

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