In ‘SOS: How to Survive’ on The Weather Channel, Eagle Scout shares camp hacks that could save your life
It started with the Wilderness Survival merit badge, earned at Maumee Scout Reservation in Indiana.
Then there was the 2-inch ad in the back of Boys’ Life magazine promising “amazing hidden secrets about rugged wilderness survival” to anyone who sent $1 for postage and handling.
Beginning Sunday, Eagle Scout Creek Stewart’s quest to become the ultimate survivalist takes him back to prime-time television.
In SOS: How to Survive on The Weather Channel, Creek recaps real-life survival situations and gives his take on what the individuals did right or wrong when fighting for their lives.
Some of his coolest tips include ways to repurpose everyday objects — using a camera lens to start a fire, for example — when survival is at stake.
“There’s so much to learn, not only from what they went through but also, maybe, what they could’ve done,” Creek says in a promo for the show.
Set your DVR now because SOS: How to Survive premieres at 8 p.m. ET Sunday on The Weather Channel.
Creek is back
Fans of Creek (or this blog) know that SOS: How to Survive isn’t Creek’s first foray into television.
In 2014 and 2015, Creek hosted Fat Guys in the Woods, also on The Weather Channel.
Each week on Fat Guys in the Woods, Creek joined three average Joes on a trip into the wilderness with limited supplies. Creek helped them work through challenges and learn the art and science of outdoor survival while battling the threats of Mother Nature.
SOS: How to Survive takes the stakes even higher. This time, the survival scenarios are completely real. Creek, with the benefit of hindsight, tells what the potential victims could’ve done better.
In the premiere, a young couple leaves the trail for a photo and can’t find their way back. This begins a three-day attempt to hike down extreme mountainous terrain that leads them into a dead-end canyon.
I got a sneak peek at the premiere, and I’m in. In the hourlong episode, Creek offers actual tips that may save your life. He even discusses the mental survival skills needed to keep your head right when the going gets tough.
Future episodes will deal with surviving extreme cold, extreme heat, injuries in the wilderness and hurricanes.
A true friend of Scouting
Creek, a recipient of the NESA Outstanding Eagle Scout Award, has been a supporter of Scouting all his life.
He addressed 15,000 Arrowmen at the 2015 National Order of the Arrow Conference and more than twice that many Boy Scouts, Venturers and adults at the 2017 National Jamboree.
His message to Jamboree participants: Do what you love — even if it doesn’t pay the most money.
Creek’s ad in Boys’ Life
Creek’s survival prowess has only grown since the ad below appeared in the February 1998 issue of Boys’ Life.
