Mantracker

Relaxing show, fake or not, not important, time flies when watching, so it must be pretty good.

How anyone can give this more than one star is beyond me. I have subtitled a few episodes and all I can think of is "how did anyone ever think this was a good idea for a show?" Absolutely nothing happens, there is nothing at stake (bragging rights? Come on), every episode is the exact same. Run through the woods, almost get caught, spent the night outdoors, wake up, almost get caught, rinse, repeat. The suspense is as artificial as any episode of The Kardashians, and there just is no point to the proceedings. None whatsoever. Why would anyone care if some random folks make it to a random intersection in some random wilderness before they get caught by this guy, when there's not even anything on the line? In every episode the "prey" at some point talks about how "scary" it was then they were being chased by Mantracker and how it felt like they were "fighting for their lives." Why would anything in this show make you feel like that? If you get caught, you get caught and go home. There's no humiliation, you don't lose anything, cause there was never anything at stake in the first place. I really don't get it. I love Canadians, but they make horrible TV.

I only came across this show a few weeks ago.

In the genre 'chasing/tracking' it's the absolute best. No other show can vie with this one for the No 1 position, not even close.

What I like is that it's back to basics. No CCTV, drones, mobile phones etc. Just good ole tracking, common sense, eyes & ears and sometimes binoculars.

What some don't seem to understand is why prey want to be prey when there's no prize. People don't need the reward of a prize. It's a built-in drive to win, to get to the finish, to be the best, to beat someone else. If we didn't have that drive no one would get out of bed on Saturday morning to play football every week. No prize then either.

What makes it such a thrill is that they're dumped in the wilderness, don't know the area, it's physically tough, they could bump into a bear or cougar. On top of that they're being chased.

Not by a man on foot, which certainly for a woman is scary enough, but one on a horse. A galloping horse makes a lot of noise which is scary as hell, as well as the sheer mass and height of it. Then -whenever there's a close encounter- you get the death-stare of the man on top of said horse.

Enough to scare the bejesus out of anyone.

And as many say, he's everywhere, he's always there. He's relentless.

All that taps into the primal fear of being chased and captured. That stuff is wired into our brains and is triggered by the whole thing. Even men freak out but for women this is an even bigger thing. Hundreds of years of fear of being chased, captured, having things done to you no woman wants to have done. Unfortunately we women still have to live with this fear today.

Your fight flight freeze gets triggered big time and there's no way of knowing upfront how bad it's going to be or how you're going to react.

In one episode you see a woman having a severe reaction.

I do wonder if people needed therapy afterwards.

It's not something to underestimate.

Watching it at home, you get a taste of all that, even though you're not the one been chased.

It's a shame there aren't more seasons to enjoy. I loved them all except for season 7. Biggest mistake the production comp made was to let Terry Grant go and replace him with someone who didn't even come close to being as good as him. And not attractive either.

You can't give us a steaming hot Alpha male and then fob us off with someone... well, you catch my drift. (trying to stay polite) In a way I feel sorry for the guy, but he could've known that the shoes he had to fill were way too big for him.

Clearly Bonterra thought their show was the golden goose. Then they found out it was Terry Grant.

I genuinely hope they cussed themselves for their mistake. They had something really good then shot themselves in the foot.

What I didn't like was some prey being really rude towards Terry. Nothing wrong with being a git, taunting a bit maybe, but too many came up with very unpleasant personal insults. There's no need for that and it crosses a line.

Same for the ones that used tripwire and bear bangers. These people should've been removed on the spot, taken away by police. Both tracker and his sidekick could've gotten (seriously) injured, as well as the horses.

That's a line the production team should not have allowed to be crossed.

All in all a great show. Crying shame there are only 6 seasons. (7th one isn't worth your while)

The first episode, which generally sets the stage for a series, pits a professional tracker against everyday people who just want to test themselves. In contrast to other wilderness series' that engage professionals on both sides of a challenge, this makes the show less entertaining than it could be with someone who sincerely offers a challenge. I was disappointed to see one of the prey was an out of shape person who clearly had not only failed to test his physical limits beforehand but was so lacking in basic knowledge to have left behind his jacket. He ruined the chances of the more fit co-prey who I would have preferred to see on his own.

I watched a few more because the venue and videography is good, and the tracking is interesting when they bother to explain what's being looked at. But Mantracker either isn't being displayed correctly or he's a little boring compared to other trackers that I've seen.

While episode two is a little more interesting because the two gals seem to have some fitness and some experience, and I think one had been in the army, episode 3 was even a little bit better with two young men who really did everything right. But episode 4 was where I really stopped and said to myself, this has to be staged; no one is that stupid. The woman never stops talking and is so overly dramatic that you just want to turn it off. You can hardly believe that somebody would really act like that. In particular, they stay overnight in a cabin in the middle of a clearing. So that's why I think that some of this is staged.

I also feel like the man tracker and his guide - because he needs a guide each time he goes into a new area - are not in good communication all the time. And the producers seem to think that it's more entertaining to just show the horses get stuck in the mud rather than see anybody get off their horse and check out broken sticks or false leads, etc.

Also would have preferred to hear the rules beforehand because the tracker was within feet of the prey numerous times with eyes on but they weren't considered captured; yet during the actual capture there wasn't any clear differences, in my opinion.

Still a solid 5 for first few episodes.

Obviously the previous reviewer is not a lover of the outdoors, beautiful scenery, horses and horseback riding etc. This show is a lot of fun and the various locations are simply breathtaking. It's entertaining to hear people brag beforehand and then either get their comeuppance or in some cases actually come out victorious.

The thrill is in pitting contestants' skills against a seasoned, veteran tracker who is an excellent horseman to boot. Not every contest has to end in a "prize". This has the thrill of the chase. People interested in horses and riding can also appreciate the skill of both horse and man as they navigate some of the roughest possible terrain.

To me this show is like looking back in time. Shades of the old time bounty hunters! I always look forward to new episodes or re-watching some of my favorites.