Les Stroud facts for kids

Les Stroud (born October 20, 1961) is a Canadian survival expert, filmmaker, and musician. He is most famous for creating and hosting the TV show Survivorman. On this show, Les films himself surviving alone in the wilderness with very little gear.

In 2021, Scouts Canada named Stroud their Chief Scout. Before becoming a survival expert, he worked in the music industry. Later, he became a full-time wilderness guide, survival instructor, and musician in Huntsville, Ontario. Stroud has made many survival-themed shows for channels like The Discovery Channel and YTV. People have even said that the survival tips from his shows helped them survive dangerous situations in the wild!

About Les Stroud

Les Stroud was born in Mimico, a part of Toronto. He went to Mimico High School and later studied music at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. For several years, Stroud worked at MuchMusic, a music video channel in Toronto. He also wrote songs for the band New Regime.

A canoe trip to Temagami changed his career path. Around this time, he also worked as a garbage collector for the City of Toronto.

In 1990, Stroud became a guide for Black Feather Wilderness Adventures. He led canoe trips into the wild areas of Northern Ontario. During a survival course, he met Sue Jamison, who would become his wife. They married in 1994.

After getting married, they spent a year living in the remote Wabakimi area of Ontario. This experience became the basis for their documentary called Snowshoes and Solitude. Later, the couple moved to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. There, Stroud taught outdoor skills to young people with special needs.

Stroud and Jamison then settled in Huntsville, Ontario. They had two children and started two companies: Wilderness Voice, for outdoor instruction, and Wilderness Spirit Productions, for media.

Inspired by the popular TV show Survivor, Stroud suggested a more realistic version of the show to The Discovery Channel Canada. In 2001, Stroud made two specials called One Week in the Wilderness and Winter in the Wilderness for @discovery.ca. These shows were very popular, which led to the creation of Survivorman. This show followed a similar idea: Stroud would be left alone in the wilderness with minimal gear and film his own survival journey.

Les Stroud's TV Shows and Films

After Les Stroud married Sue Jamison in 1994, they spent a year living in the Canadian wilderness. They tried to live like people did in ancient times. They traveled to Goldsborough Lake, deep in the Wabakimi area. First, they built a tipi and then an attached A-frame shelter. They used no metal, plastic, or factory-made tools for this.

For the first six months, they brought traditional foods like wild rice, squash, beaver and moose meat, bear fat, and maple sugar. Later, friends brought them more food and firewood for the winter. Stroud and Jamison built a winter cabin using an axe, a modern bow saw, and a metal pot and wood stove left by their friends.

They had to leave the wilderness three times for family and medical reasons. Stroud filmed their experience, and it became a 50-minute documentary called Snowshoes and Solitude. This film won "Best Documentary" at the Muskoka Film Festival and "Best Film" at the Waterwalker Film Festival.

In 2001, Stroud made two one-hour specials for the science news show @discovery.ca. These shows were like Survivorman, with Stroud filming his own survival in the wilderness. They were first shown as daily segments over a week but were later put together as two specials called Stranded. These popular pilot shows led to the creation of Survivorman. Stroud made 23 episodes of Survivorman, which started airing in 2004. He also wrote and performed the show's theme music.

In 2006, Stroud made a 90-minute special about his family building an off-the-grid home. This show, Off the Grid with Les Stroud, showed how they bought land and updated an old farmhouse. They added solar and wind power, a raincatcher, and a well. The show also covered how the Stroud family adjusted to this new way of living.

Stroud has appeared on many TV shows, including The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The View, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Larry King Live.

He also hosted an episode of the Discovery Channel show I Shouldn't Be Alive called Lost In The Snow. He hosted the TV program Surviving Urban Disasters on the Science Channel and appeared during Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

In 2010, Stroud hosted and produced the kids' TV series Survive This and Survive This 2 for YTV and Cartoon Network. These shows took teenagers into the wilderness to teach them survival skills through challenges. Stroud's next show after Survivorman was called Beyond Survival with Les Stroud, which started in 2010.

On April 27, 2018, National Geographic aired Stroud's show Alaska's Grizzly Gauntlet on their NGW channel. In four episodes, Stroud explored how Kodiak brown bears survive and how they live together. Since 2020, Stroud has worked with chef Paul Rogalski on their PBS series Wild Harvest. In this show, Stroud finds wild ingredients, and Rogalski uses them to create different dishes in each episode.

Les Stroud's Music Career

Besides making films and teaching survival, Les Stroud is also a professional musician. After college, he worked as a producer for the music channel MuchMusic. He was also a production manager for music videos by bands like Rush and Corey Hart.

During this time, Stroud played in a David Bowie cover band called Diamond Dogs. He also played lead guitar and wrote music for his own band, New Regime. This band signed with RCA Records shortly after Stroud left.

As you might see in his show Survivorman, Stroud is a very good blues harmonica player. The harmonica is a big part of his first CD, which is called Les Stroud. This album has been described as "a collection of diverse roots/blues and traditional folk, acoustic music that reflects the uniquely northern spirit of freedom and adventure." You can download some songs from this album on his official website. Stroud has performed in the Muskoka area, at the Orillia Blues Festival, and the Toronto Beaches International Jazz Festival.

Stroud and the band The Northern Pikes have also worked together on music. They formed a group called Les Stroud and the Pikes. They performed live several times in 2005 and 2006. An EP (a shorter album) from this collaboration, called Long Walk Home, was released in the spring of 2007.

Awards and Recognition

Les Stroud has won several awards for his music. He won "Best Acoustic/Folk Act," "Best Blues Act," and "Best Overall" awards at the Spirit of the North music festival in New Liskeard, Ontario.

His documentary Snowshoes and Solitude was named "Best Documentary" at the Muskoka Film Festival and "Best Film" at the Waterwalker Film Festival.

Stroud was nominated for six Gemini Awards for his work on Survivorman. In 2010, Stroud and his production team were nominated for "Best Children's or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series" for Survive This.

Personal Life

Stroud has a lot of experience with survival and primitive living skills. He learned from experts like David Arama and John "Prairie Wolf" McPherson.

Stroud has also taken part in adventure racing and competed in the Canadian championships.

In late 2008, Stroud and his wife, Sue Jamison, separated.