"Doomsday Preppers" series as tool

[HKTackDriver]

Anyone catch the latest episode? Seems to me they're going more in more into the batshit crazy ones. I will say though the woman and husband who have $100k invested into food preps did catch my eye some. While 99% of us will not have that much into food preps she did have some good ideas on preserving foods besides canning as well as trying to cook "gourmet" foods. At this point it looks like this show is going to do more harm to the averages person of the "prepper". Like o yea I saw shit like that on that nat geo show once, you guys are all lunatics..... However I think for those of us that do prep can get a few good ideas here and there to add to our own preps.

Yeah, I felt the same way. This is definitely not an educational series in our sense - just to educate the public against us. And their idiotic reasons for prepping are simply getting worse. I think Nat Geo is behind making them choose one of their canned rationale. The "germs" lady was truly batshiat crazy, although a good community helper. But will those suits really make a difference with her kids around the house? Really? They aren't NBC rated, so they're useless, except for being out in the community, so why the rush to don them? She be watchin too many movies.

The trucker had my attention - it definitely followed a thread on this forum for long haul trucking. AND THEY BREACHED ZS FORUM RULES FOR TALKING ABOUT STEALING! OMG! Dude said he'd steal fuel if necessary - I suddenly felt like ZS's collective brain was imploding while realizing the dire circumstance which would lead someone to follow such a horrific path!

Oh wait, no I didn't. He's just talking honestly about what it'd take to survive. I also definitely appreciate his long haul tank BOV approach. His wife wasn't 100% on board, but she played along admirably. Their scenario was also an eye opener - DO NOT go into the path of danger to help people, unless you have the backup firepower to protect yourself and secure a location, your truck and loved ones. He didn't. He'd be dead.

[NamelessStain]

Oh wait, no I didn't. He's just talking honestly about what it'd take to survive. I also definitely appreciate his long haul tank BOV approach. His wife wasn't 100% on board, but she played along admirably. Their scenario was also an eye opener - DO NOT go into the path of danger to help people, unless you have the backup firepower to protect yourself and secure a location, your truck and loved ones. He didn't. He'd be dead.

I hope some people come to recognize a larger group is stronger than the lone wolf. Sure there are advantages of a lone wolf, but when guns are drawn (considering all other factors are equal) a group has a better chance.


Yes I intentionally made that font large and bold so I don't get 400 replies about training, semi vs bolt, blah blah blah.

[funkychicken]

I have watched all of the series so far and have taken usefull info (what little there was) into account. Granted most of it makes them all look a little crazy, but that is editing. YMMV is what I get from it. I found that most of the people on the series had something to contribute to the prepping collective. This is what I got out of it, in no special order:
1. Don't put your thumb in front of the barrel at anytime.
2. Mineral oil rubbed on eggs can make them last up to nine months.
3. cheese is shelf stable for AAAALLOONG time if you dip it in wax.
4. OPSEC is very important, never show us your secret room behind the peg board or your "pee shooter" in the # 10 can of peas.
5. Bio diesel doesn't look that hard to make.
6. You can grow more food on a 10th of an acre if you grow up(Skies The Limit)
7. Hand warmers work great for O2 absorbers(I knew that but forgot about it)
8. Mexico is not a good place to bug out to, niether is shooting your pets.
9. Your F***ed if you live in NYC and a super volcano erupts.
10. Canning is something I should get into. But make sure that the shelves can withstand an eathquake.
11. Living below sea level is not a good idea.
12. Poisoning marauders food or slitting their throats while they are asleep is a dumbass way to protect yourself and supplies. Oh and it's also murder!
13. 22 Long rifle rounds cannot penetrate a corner beam on a Conex box. Maybe I should build my bunker out of just the corner beams!
14. Never joke about suicide with my Dr. If I wanted to keep my firearms or just in general.
15. It takes a lot of camo netting to hide an 18 wheeler and it's trailer
16. Even the sales guy at Sportmans Warehouse has a B.O.B. and thinks shit's gonna hit the fan someday.
17. Six knives in an LA sewer still doesn't cut it (Sorry about the pun)
18. A military pack won't make me a target.
19. It's always good to have an extra pair of socks, but I should bug out in Short shorts.
20. Oxygen tanks run out so I should have more than one in case I need to get more supplies from my storage unit 4 blocks away. (Storage unit's get broken into all the time. If shtf it would be worse)
21. Leaving my bov on a public street unsecure is not wise.
That's all I have to say about that. For Now. We will see next tuesday.

[jeepinbandtrider]

Watched em. Eh. I keep it on cause it still beats the crap out of most stuff like Jersery Shore or something like that. My immediate family knows I'm a "prepper" with a daily carry bag and some supplies at home to keep me fed and watered if something goes down here in the metromess, but they don't compare me to folks like this. I do think this will get folks to at least look at their preps so to speak but I think they will also think some of these folks are insane. Like the flu prepper lady.

[Crow]

Things I learned from this show:

1. If I have to live in my semi truck with my wife, I need to have a minimum of 2 dogs
2. 2 guard dogs can actively defend 100+ acres in Tenn. hills/mountains
3. I should automatically feel safe in a homemade underground bunker built by a guy who successfully did a Bugs Bunny finger to a gun barrel.
4. Dress like a ho while walking through unsavory parts of town to get to my BOV, because the BMW convertible I drive does not go fast enough
4.5 The only thing that I will say is in my B.O.B is 136 condoms. Goes hand in hand with #4
5. Glass windows in a 40' shipping container are bullet proof as long as I don't aim at it. Also the thinnest part of the walls are bullet proof as long as everyone shoots the thick corner posts
6. Methane and/or other liquids do not build up pressure or back flow up the ground level sewage pipe
7. With an EMP attack the electronic do-dads, I use to make electricity with off the grid, will survive with no protection
8. I can be a first responder Firefighter and say to hell with everyone and use the city's firefighter supplies as my own, when SHTF.
8.5 Having an unsecured box of broken glass within reach of 2 babies is quite fine to have in NY
9. NatGeo can blur out a firefighters shirt logo to hide his unit number but the big logo on the fire house door is too large to blur........
10. It is alright to open my house to outside germs as long as I do not have a HEPA air filtration system and I don't wear an N95 mask. Paper gown FTW!! Its only sat in a Chinese warehouse for 5 years
11. My secret room is NOT out in the barn where my wife told me to go get supplies from, and it is definitely NOT behind that pegboard

I watched this show because of some of the posts here. I will keep watching because 1 out of the 20 crazies may have an excellent idea.

Can you really go out in the middle of the desert and just build without owning the land??

[doc66]

I take something away from each show, good and bad. The 1/10 of an acre people I actually had read about just before the show--they have a cool set up. In the first episode, the family who where using the pool/backyard as their sustainable garden, I want.

I laugh at some of them... I have fun watching it.

[Tangent123123]

If you take one new idea from an episode, then it was well worth watching IMO.

The major breaches in OPSEC are a bit distrurbing sometimes and the fact that NatGeo thinks the chances of anything bad happening are .00001% are kinda silly. Lets make a show about people being prepared then tell everyone nothing bad is going to happen, ever.

I find the filming to be a bit rough sometimes. How they cut the scenes and cut to commercials so abrumply it is sloppy and amaturish.

The germ lady was a bit over the top. i think she's a legitimate germaphobe and uses the doomsday thing as an excuse to be as crazy as she is. Her sister-in-law being late seemed like a poor excuse to lock her in the living room behind the plastic while everyone else ate dinner. That probably wouldn't fly if I was visiting a family member.

My wife has watched the shows and are finding them interesting. it's making her think more and more about prepping, which is good.

[Rob Salem]

My wife has watched the shows and are finding them interesting. it's making her think more and more about prepping, which is good.

This.

My wife has been reasonably tolerant of my interest to begin seriously prepping over the last few months, with what I would consider a feigned interest for my sake. But watching this show seems to have really picqued her interest and got her asking serious questions about our current level of preparation, what we should be preparing for, what we have on hand, what we don't have but need, and more. Our last couple trips to the grocery store have been different. I've always been the type to buy storable ingredients (like canned or dried goods like rice, beans, etc), while she's the frozen dinner kinda shopper. She's been fairly insistent on making sure we pick up a little extra of stockable/shelvable/storable food stuffs and food that we can put in bug out bags. So, even for some of the 'weirdo' stuff on the show, it's been a prepping win in my household. My kids have been watching too, and now, when we all get in the SUV to go to town, they're tossing a basic GHB in the back, without being told.

I watch the show for entertainment value related to an interest of mine, because first and foremost that's all it is - entertainment. But in and of itself it has become a tool to open serious dialogue with my wife on the need for preparedness and get my kids started thinking about it. Hell, my husky 12-year old has started going out for a jog every night, because he wants to get in shape as part of his preparedness plan.

[Davo]

I finally caught two episodes last night.

Even the wackiest people have some good ideas, and it's nice to have Mrs.Davo recognizing issues with some of the plans.

[KnightoftheRoc]

I saw one episode before the series came out, and it showed a few different families and then judged them on how they prepped. I enjoyed it, but yes, there was the sense that it was just to point and laugh and not really educate... I will still watch it to see if it will be worthwhile or not.

I'd try sitting down to watch it with your family, and then critiquing it. Poke holes in things where you see the weak points, and encourage them to do the same. Make a bit of a game of it, and they'll be watching and absorbing information like a sponge before you know it.

I've watched it, a bit- had to catch it online due to my schedule. There's definitely a slant to the way the producers present it that caters to the "watch the train wreck" crowd. In fact, I wonder if Jerry Springer isn't somehow involved... On the other hand, once you set aside the motivations of whoever is being featured, watching the preps themselves can be educational, for both the fails and the wins. Just because I don't prep for alien invasion, and the person on TV does, doesn't mean they don't have something I can learn from.

[AnonEmous]

Unfortunately one of the aspects the show seems to miss is that if you prep for some of the crazier things the show highlights, then a hurricane, power outage, snow storm, or anything else that happens on a regular basis should be a breeze. So even if the continents do not shift, the people on the show should have the smaller natural disaster threats covered (trying hard not to judge the over-the-top preps, such as supplies estimated to be worth more than $100,000 and people spending 6-8 hours a day on their plans).

[KnightoftheRoc]

Yeah, I have to wonder at the people who seem to make prepping their full-time job. What are they going to do with all that free time when the mothership/continental shift/economic collapse/rabid teddybears DOES happen? for that matter, in the small amount I've been able to see so far, I've not seen anyone on the show described as doing such and such for a living. So, apparently, prepping is the ONLY full-time job for the people I've seen on the show.

For myself, prepping is a full time concern, but not a full time occupation. I think about it all the time, but actually DO the preps for maybe an hour or two per week, in total- it simply doesn't take me that long to handle what I've got. Then again, I'm not canning in the quantity they are, or buying stuff by the truckload, so my task level is lower.

Like any "reality" show, I'm sure that what we see on TV is not an accurate representation of the regular lives of the people shown. Certainly, if the producers were to show up at my house, wanting to put me on the show, they'd want to make some changes in my lifestyle for filming. Otherwise, it would be an electronic sleep aid, my life simply isn't that exciting.

[Captain_Obvious]

If nothing else it made my wife motivated about prepping. After we watched the show, she drug me to Walmart and bought about 20lbs of food and other preps. I was proud.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk

[Carrion Suitcase]

If you take one new idea from an episode, then it was well worth watching IMO. ...

... The germ lady was a bit over the top. i think she's a legitimate germaphobe and uses the doomsday thing as an excuse to be as crazy as she is. Her sister-in-law being late seemed like a poor excuse to lock her in the living room behind the plastic while everyone else ate dinner. That probably wouldn't fly if I was visiting a family member.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. There's a good chance a few of those family members visiting during this episode will come back a lot less (like the woman/child who were late). I also didn't like how she seemed to be scaring the living chicken skin out of those two elderly people with her "Contamination Kit" presentation. I'm not sure if she was donating/distributing them or selling them, but holy asscrackers, Batman.

16. Even the sales guy at Sportmans Warehouse has a B.O.B. and thinks shit's gonna hit the fan someday.

I didn't actually get much from this one, but it was my favorite...namely because it was probably one of the few times in my relationship where I was unarguably right (I mentioned that this Sportsman's was in ABQ and my girlfriend contested me, only to have the narrator confirm moments later).

But seriously, I think this show is a great tool if you can look beyond the copious amounts of occasional crazy to the individual utility of it. Hell, even if it doesn't make people rusing to make B.O.B.s, it's likely convincing people to make a...well, let's call it a "Common Sense Bag." Likely acceptable description under construction, pending head-gerbil consultation.

That being said, I'll likely be freezing my partly-Irish ass off this Saturday morning standing in line for the REI Scratch & Dent Sale.

[kickback]

What i learned.

Don't Live in NYC and be a prepper.

Better for your short life to just be ignorant, and jump from a high building when the end comes.

[fun4wheelerguy]

I find it interesting that this show is very well promoted. I believe that they are taking advantage and seriously mock preppers passionate feelings of things to come. These preppers are just trying to share and help others be prepared and give great reasons for being prepared. Then at the end of the show they have an odds section and pretty much deny that anything like this is ever likely to happen. This just totally makes us Preppers look like we are some kind of extremists

Honestly I have shared with very few that I am a prepper. If anyone thinks that I am extreme I usually explain that we all should be prepared for 3 days for any natural or man made disaster according to FEMA and the government. Just because I am prepared for more and have provisions in several places for me and my family is really my business.

I also believe we are very smart for having this awesome forum of like minded people and we are the true survivors and will not ever depend upon the government. I also would never put myself on tv and let anyone know my skills and show where I am or what I am prepared for publicly.

[KnightoftheRoc]

Yeah, I think these people on the show decided that OPSEC had a price after all.

[Anianna]

I like this thread.

I like it because I don't have to suffer through the silly parts of the show anymore. I can just jump on here to find the good stuff y'all gleaned from it.

THANK YOU!!

[Mister Dark]

I got to meet a couple of the guys that were featured on the show, and I have to say after meeting them, that the show producers are doing a LOT in the editing process to make folks look a certain way. The guys I met were normal dudes, they were invited to "show off" some of their more extreme preps and hobbies, and that was taken out of context. Or perhaps I misread them completely. Who knows.

I got asked to audition for the show. Now THAT would have been interesting.

[Anianna]

I got to meet a couple of the guys that were featured on the show, and I have to say after meeting them, that the show producers are doing a LOT in the editing process to make folks look a certain way. The guys I met were normal dudes, they were invited to "show off" some of their more extreme preps and hobbies, and that was taken out of context. Or perhaps I misread them completely. Who knows.

I got asked to audition for the show. Now THAT would have been interesting.

I have no doubt most of these people are at least more "normal" than they appear on the show. Normal just doesn't make the ratings.

[funkychicken]

I thought that the three preppers in episode six where okay. The Guy with eleven thousand seeds needs a girlfriend. Although I do give him props for his situational awareness from the craigslist robbery attempt. I dig the underground fallout shelter made out of the water tank too. That is a kewl setup. The third one escapes me right now. Must not have soaked up any good pointers from that one.

[Carrion Suitcase]

I thought that the three preppers in episode six where okay. The Guy with eleven thousand seeds needs a girlfriend. Although I do give him props for his situational awareness from the craigslist robbery attempt. I dig the underground fallout shelter made out of the water tank too. That is a kewl setup. The third one escapes me right now. Must not have soaked up any good pointers from that one.

I...think it was the guy with metric shit-tons of food storage and 3-4 kids, but no alternative BOL and the German Shepard they wanted to train to be a guard dog.

It could just be all subjective/opinion, but it seems like this latest episode kinda toned down on the "over-the-top-batshit" feeling. I agree on the Fallout-like vault the Colorado guy made...damn cool stuff, especially with the whole "burn the hell out of intruders" part, heh.

Definitely curious to see what the "spider-hole" guy is gonna be all about though.

[funkychicken]

That's right. The german shepard people. They were okay too. I think that natgeo has toned down their editing to make people not look so batshit crazy. I dug the ex marine survivalist in the buck skins on episode 5 as well. Teaching his children situational awareness, self defense, and bushcraft is great. His middle son isnt quite on board with it, but he was coming around. The discovery channel has a new series called "Doomsday Bunkers". Along with showing off the bunkers that Deep Earth Construction is building they show the preppers who are buying them and why they think they need them. I thought that was a kewl show too.

[Carrion Suitcase]

I thought the Marine survivalist was a little over-the-top, but he looked to mean well. It was also kinda funny to see the little girl having more survival experience than the middle son, but even he pulled through in the end. Really, I think the two I was least amused/informed/entertained by so far, were the pandemic granny and the girl from TX, but those were already beaten to death so no sense in re-opening those cases.

On the flipside, one of the coolest ones was the guy who was making Vault-like luxury apartments out of a missile silo. Balls expensive, but the charm and comfort looked to be there. Through that, I might check out Doomsday Bunkers to see what kinda prepping concentration that brings.