How Fake Is ‘Dual Survival’? Alums Spill the Beans
When a reality show depicting a pair of seasoned survival veterans struggling off the beaten path broke continuity, the eagle-eyed fans were bound to call out the show for being fake.
The reality TV show under discussion here is, of course, Discovery Channel's Dual Survival.
The show has a fairly simple premise: two very different nature enthusiasts go into the wild in an attempt to let them do what they do best — survive.
But apart from the show's creators being called out by alums of the show for compiling the post-production footage to add that fist full of drama, the show has been called out for being fake on multiple occasions.
'Dual Survival' Broke Continuity on Multiple Counts
One of the most recognized blunders caught by the show's viewership must be the matchsticks switching color.
As a Reddit user duly noted, in an episode of Dual Survival featuring Matt Graham and Joe Teti, there was a box of matches that the survival experts supposedly stumbled upon.
"Matt showed them up close and they were red-tipped matches," the user noted. "Then a few minutes later when Joe was setting the fire, they were obviously green-tipped matches."
Desperate times call for desperate measures: squeeze water from fresh elephant droppings for a hydration boost #DualSurvival pic.twitter.com/P700f18cm1 — Dual Survival (@DualSurvival) October 13, 2016
That's not all. When Teti couldn't light the fire with the first three green match sticks, the camera panned out, and the survivor somehow was holding red matches again.
As if the drama was being manufactured, the fourth match worked.
However, that wasn't the only break in continuity that the user noticed.
Later on in the same episode, about 20 minutes later (one day later in onscreen time), the fire that they had lit died out.
But when Teti went to light the fire again, claiming he had one match leftover, it worked on the first try itself.
"I wasn't even trying to catch inconsistencies when I noticed the matches change color, it was just that obvious," the user noted.
Further along in their forum post, the user accused the show of being fake on the grounds of setting up the survivors' hunts.
'Dual Survival' cast members Grady Powell & EJ Snyder (Source: Twitter)
Recalling an episode from a couple of months before the aforementioned one, Graham supposedly hand-fished and caught a few trout fish before teaching his co-star how to do the same.
"The fish were so obviously near-death while in the water, it was pathetic," the user noted.
The Show's Cast Had Fake Credentials
But wait! There's more.
Turns out, the show's cast members might have also got themselves onto the show using fake resumés.
As per an article by Screenrant, one of the show's older cast members, Dave Canterbury, lied to be on the show.
He had previously claimed that he was extensively trained by the military as a sniper, but the claims turned out to be false. Even he admitted to lying over a YouTube video on a later date.
Tough luck for the show's casting producers because they fired Canterbury to hire Teti, who also lied on his resumé.
Teti, who claimed to have completed Special Forces Combat and Special Forces Sniper courses, was proven a liar and a fake by a number of veterans.
When retired Army Sergeant Major George Davenport fact-checked Teti's background, he found no records to support Teti’s assertions.