Surviving Disaster

Surviving Disaster is a new^[when?] "survival show" on Spike TV. Cade Courtley, US Navy SEAL, teaches the audience how to survive various disasters that could plausibly happen on any day to nearly anyone: airliner hijacking, skyscraper inferno, hurricane, avalanche, mall terrorist attack etc. Notable in its highly dramatized presentation meant to draw the viewer into the disaster scenario and complete lack of consideration for a Fourth Wall.

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Tropes used in Surviving Disaster include:

• Breaking the Bonds: In the "Home Invasion" episode, Courtley shows you how to get out of zipties.
• Deadly Gas: The first part of the "Pandemic" episode has Courtley escaping a subway that's been hit with a gas attack.
• Did Not Do the Research: Surprisingly (for a show on Spike), for the most part, subverted. A lot of what Courtley has to say on the subject is useful and accurate. Still, the show does have a few moments where doing what he advises would get you killed in Real Life.
• Everything's Worse with Bears: The avalanche disaster scenario features a bear attack. Really.
• Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: There is also a shark attack featured in the "lost at sea" disaster scenario.
• Follow the Leader: The show bears more than a passing similarity to Man vs. Wild
• Hide Your Children: For obvious reasons, no children are depicted during any of the disasters, though it's certain that some would have been killed during the large-scale disasters (especially the nuclear attack and pandemic).
• Life or Limb Decision: In the "Hurricane" episode, it's implied that a guy will lose his arm when Courtley wraps a tourniquet around it to stop a gushing wound.
• Man On Fire: In the "Fire" episode, obviously.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Only once in the series does a character take Courtley's advice and end up dead: in the "Home Invasion" episode, they try to escape from their kidnappers, but end up captured again, and the kidnappers shoot one of them to show they are serious.
• No Fourth Wall
• No One Gets Left Behind: Subverted in the "Fire" episode; once a man gets severely burned, Courtley quickly apply some first aid and then leaves him in a room with a fire-resistant door because trying to take him with the rest of the group would slow them down. They do tell fire rescue about the man once they're safe, though.
• A Nuclear Error: Subverted, though the nuclear attack scenario could have been a lot more informative.
• This Way to Certain Death: In the fire scenario, a group of people take the elevator to escape. It doesn't work.
• Time for Plan B: Tends to happen a lot.
• Too Dumb to Live: In most episodes, the characters listen to Cade Courtley and thus make it out alive, but there are a few exceptions:
  • The elevator scenario, mentioned above.
  • In the "Earthquake" episode, the quake causes power lines to fall on Courtley's car while he's in it. A bystander approaches to help and doesn't listen when Courtley warns him not to touch the car.
  • The kidnappers in the "Home Invasion" episode qualify. They bind their victims' hands together in front of them, not behind them - twice. They also let them go to the bathroom, stand outside while they're doing it, and let them close the door behind them, so that Courtley can slip out of his restraints without them seeing.
• We Need a Distraction: "Home Invasion" - the guy sets off the alarm on his car parked in the driveway. The kidnappers take the bait and they all run out of the house to see what's happened.