New National Geographic Fakery

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I had barely put up the post on the latest Fakery from Animal Planet when I got a post from someone asking me if I had seen the new National Geographic show entitled "The Legend of Mick Dodge".

Actually I had not, but a quick consult with the TV found it was actually on (lucky me!), and I sat through 10 minutes of it until I was thoroughly  convinced it was complete hogwash.

Here's what National Geographic tells us:

25 years ago, Mick Dodge walked away from the modern world, leaving civilization behind to live alongside nature's wonders in the Olympic Peninsula. Following a primal instinct present throughout generations of his family, Mick ventured deep into the Hoh Rainforest, making his home in the trees and hidden in the moss. Experience the wild life of Mick Dodge, a quirky character whose unique brand of Zen comes from living by his own code – off the land and off the grid.

Fascinating, but almost none of it is true. Exotic Hikes sets the record straight:

• Mick Dodge lives in a house.  He winters with his girlfriend, and he spends most nights at a cabin he has free use of.  His driver's license says he lives at 2374 Rain Forest Road in Forks, Washington which has a fire place, an attached garage, and baseboard heat.
• Mick Dodge is part of a business called Olympic Mountain Earth Wisdom Circle, which runs retreats and teaches courses in the US, Russia, China and Guatemala. That's how National Geographic found him. You are not "off the grid" if you have a web site and baseboard heat.
• Mick Doge mostly wears shoes.  In fact, in an interview he gave with the Peninsula Daily News he notes that: “Out here, you really learn the value of rubber boots.  I almost lost my damn toes in the mountains one time when I got too cocky about it. Never make that mistake again.”
• The entire show is scripted, which is something I figured out pretty quickly when Mick was shown cowering from hunters (only vaguely seen in orange) who appeared to be aimlessly blasting away in the middle of summer (which is not hunting season) in what is supposed to be a National Park where hunting is not allowed.

Am I the only one who remembers when "The Learning Channel" was about learning, not "Honey Boo Boo", and The History Channel was about history, and not space aliens and pawn shops?  

And now even National Geographic has joined the slalom run that is "race to the basement" reality TV?

Pathetic.
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