How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Making it real," Raven explained. "On Expedition Survival!, we're all about making it real. Derek considers that is sacred mission, a bond of trust with our viewers." (2.95)
Expedition Survival! is like many TV shows—they'll do whatever it takes to get high ratings. And there really is nothing wrong with being good at acting and entertaining people—the problem is saying something is real when it isn't.
Quote #2
Derek wore crisply pressed khaki shorts, a matching safari shirt and hiking boots splattered with wet oatmeal to look like mud.
"What a poser," Mickey said. (5.27-28)
A poser is someone who acts like something they aren't. Derek is no outdoorsman, and his show is so fake that they don't even use real mud to make it look like he's been hiking.
Quote #3
With a tissue she was dabbing makeup on his nose, undoubtedly to conceal the button-sized turtle bite. (6.15)
After Derek pokes at the snapping turtle and gets nicked on the nose, he says the video must be destroyed. The bite was real, but instead of displaying a real encounter with a real animal, they cover up the evidence of this encounter with makeup.
Quote #4
No matter how remote the jungle setting, his contract required sumptuous five-star menus: steak, lamb, lobster, sockeye salmon, homemade pasta, pheasant or venison, accompanied by fresh garden vegetables and of course an array of rich, artery clogging desserts. Naturally, these feasts were consumed off camera, so as not to spoil the illusion of hardship. (6.47)
Derek is supposed to look fit and trim since his persona on TV is a guy who roughs it out in the wilderness alone, where there isn't a ton of food available all the time. Part of the show's drama comes from wondering how he will eat. No one would care about an over-stuffed survivalist, so the show keeps secrets about Derek's real life in order to trick people.
Quote #5
Wahoo's dad reached over and snatched the dive knife from the sheath on Derek's leg. He pressed the point of the blade to the tip of his forefinger, and a crimson bubble appeared. Raven cleared her throat. Derek shrugged, turning away.
"Mickey wiggled the knife and arched his eyebrows. "That's some toy." (7.39, 40)
Derek lies to Mickey about the one real item he has with him, one that could seriously injure Mickey's animals. This is a lie that Mickey doesn't stand for and he tosses the knife into the pond.
Quote #6
"Shoot it! Shoot it!" she begged.
Mickey Cray removed the .45 from his belt and handed it to his son. Then he calmly kicked off his shoes and dove into the water, where he grabbed a fistful of oily, orange-tinted hair as Derek Badger bubbled past. […]
She plucked it from his hand and aimed the barrel at the portion of the turbulence that looked more reptile than human.
"No, don't!" Wahoo cried, yet she pulled the trigger anyway.
Click. Click. Click.
Raven gaped in disbelief at the pistol. It was empty, of course. (7.107-11)
In a rare moment of deceit, Mickey fakes out Raven by bringing a gun to the scene with Alice that isn't loaded. However, we think this moment of deceit is forgivable because it was in order to save Alice's life.
Quote #7
"What do you need me for?" his father said to Derek. "You're gonna fake the rest of it, same as you always do."
[…]
"In our line of work," Raven cut in, "it's known as 're-creating' events for the camera." (8.83-85)
Any way you say it, lying is lying. Even though Derek intends to make the show more real, he is still hiring a wrangler to catch the animals for him, which is most definitely fake.
Quote #8
"They're gonna cut me out of the gator scene. Make it look like an 'escape' instead of a rescue." (8.105)
What does this kind of lying do to the TV audience? Will they think it is okay to jump on an alligator for fun, like Derek did, hooting like a cowboy?
Quote #9
"And now we got them killer pythons from Asia. They grow thirty feet long and eat the tourists right off the boardwalk." This was utter nonsense, but Sickler laid it on thick. (10.97)
Deceit is what Sickler uses to make extra money from tourists and now from Derek's crew. He lies in order to trick ignorant people into thinking they are getting what they want, which sounds an awful like what Derek does.
Quote #10
Derek Badger stared curiously at the motionless reptile. It was a closely guarded secret that Expedition Survival! occasionally used taxidermied animals when the live ones were not cooperating. Still, he couldn't tell if the alligator was real or not. (11.27)
When a person lies all the time, it is hard to keep track for them of what is real and what isn't. Mickey, on the other hand, can tell right away that the alligator is dead because he spends his time around live gators… instead of just pretending to.