Q&A on Discovery Channel's Man, Woman, Wild

CEBU, Philippines - Surviving the wild can be hard enough but add to the mix a husband and wife who don’t always see eye to eye and you have Discovery Channel’s MAN, WOMAN, WILD. Meet Mykel Hawke, a former Special Forces survival expert and his television-journalist wife, Ruth and together, they take on some of the most forbidding and remote locations around the world. As they test their will and their marriage, the couple finds common ground standing up to nature as husband and wife in the wildest places on Earth. MAN, WOMAN, WILD premieres every Tuesday at 10 pm, beginning October 12. Encores Wednesdays at 10 am and Saturdays at 3 pm and 8 pm.

Question: So, Mykel, Ruth would you like to tell us a bit about yourselves before we move on the interview?

Ruth: My background is in journalism. I trained as a filmmaker and a photographer. I’ve worked as a TV journalist for about 10 to15 years. Because I’ve traveled to quite a lot of rural places I have always wanted to learn about survival. I have always looked for somebody to teach me survivals. 

Then, I end up meeting an American, Special Forces Captain—I’m British—and marrying him. We have a 4-year-old son.

I was hosting a TV show for FOX TV, an American Network. It was filmed in Jamaica and it was a very large production. It was a large crew of about 125 people living in one spot for four months. So they hired this strange solider to be head of security and to be the on-site medic and he kind of lurked around in the bushes and kept us all safe. That was Myke. We met and fell in love in Jamaica.

Mykel: Basically, I’ve been in the military for over 25 years. I’ve just recently retired. During that time, I’ve worked in about eight war zones and my main interest has always been survival, different countries, and learning from different cultures. So, it became such a passion that I started teaching it and I run a business doing that, sharing that with couples and families to teach them how to learn to survive in any situation.

I just came off of active duty after 9/11 and I was getting ready to go to Iraq. Some friends found out about it and offered me the job to go work in Jamaica and stay in a five-star hotel and have gourmet meals and baby sit a spoiled little TV show host. 

So, I took the job and then they told me I had to give her a physical—a medical check—for insurance. I gave her a little physical and she got a little bit saucy because she went out and got a suntan on her bum. I gave her a little swat and she didn’t smack me. Basically we became sweeties and next thing you know, I convinced her to be dumb enough to marry me and there you go.

Q: Were there any specific challenges during filming on location that brought you both closer together as husband and wife?

Mykel: Oh, my goodness. Yes, it’s the hardest thing in the world to do survival anyway and it’s really difficult to do it with someone you care about.  Not only because they see your weaknesses, you can’t be perfect. You see them suffer and it goes both ways for Ruth and I.  But, in that, we accept each others weaknesses and we work together with each other when we’re suffering. Basically every bit of it has made us stronger.

Ruth:   There were things like, Myke would go out and do the primary hunting because obviously he’s got the training in the background. He couldn’t have the film crew with him when this was happening because it would scare off any game. So he wore a special kind of helmet cam. For example, in the Amazon, he would just walk off into the Amazon by himself. I was just terrified that he would take the wrong turn, encounter snake, get lost, get injured, fall down, die.  So, whenever he showed up after that I was just hugely relieved.

Q: Did you have any arguments or difference while you were on these travels?

Mykel: Well, bottom line is I would say that we had a fight on every single one of them, every single day. Every single step of the way because I always believed a strong man needs a strong woman. Ruth is an amazingly strong woman and she’s got her opinions. 

Ruth: And he’s extremely bossy.

Mykel: At the end of the day when you’re out there, you try things and if they don’t work then you’re forced to try the other person’s way. If it works than you’re forced to accept that, hey, that was the better idea. So, I would say there was a lot of give and take and we both contributed most of the time.

Ruth: Myke, obviously, has the background in it so he was the primary leader. That’s one of the things of him being a man is because this is his area of expertise, but even experts are fallible. So, I came up with some good ideas and pointed him in the right direction a few times as well.

Mykel: As she’s smiling.

Q: What did you discover from each other after going through such trials or the adventure you had?

Ruth: I’ve discovered that I’ve married a caveman. I understand him so much better now. I believe I’ve found out more about the man I married.

Mykel: For me, I’ve found that as beautiful as Ruth is and as girly as she can be that she can also be very tough and just a wonderful partner out in the bush.

Q: In terms of living in the wild, what values or skills does your husband or wife offer or bring to the table that you don’t have?

Ruth: Well, he’s got 25 years of survival experience, which I don’t have.

Mykel: Well, for me, what Ruth brought to the table was a different perspective. So there were things that I would have never thought of that she tried that actually worked great and save us.  For me, survival is really about creative problem solving. So, honestly, it’s 10% knowledge and skill and 90% will.

Ruth: Yes, I really feel as a woman, the problem solving and the natural thinking is vital because Mykel, can sort of lugging his way through like a caveman, whereas I don’t have the physical muscle mass to do that. So, I have to rely on my wits a lot more.

Q: What you would say is your most memorable surprise for both of you guys?

Mykel: I would say, for me, the most pleasant surprise was Dominica because it had so much food around that we almost didn’t have to hunt anything we could just find food in the trees.

Ruth: The most unpleasant surprise was in Alaska and we were caught in a very weird time of year. It was spring and so at night it was hideously cold, hyperthermia death. That extreme. But during the day, the sun was hot and what we learned afterwards is we were there during the time of spring break-up and each couldn’t walk because the crust on the snow was melting and you would sink down. Snow is five feet deep and that was just the most physically difficult one to film both for the camera crews and for us. In the end, we had to be rescued.

Q: How hard was it for you to leave your son when you go on your adventures?

Mykel: Oh, man, that’s the best question because that is the hardest thing about it all is leaving the little man. 

Ruth: In many ways, he is the motivation to doing the show because I want to know that if my kid is not around and some disaster strikes I can look after our little boy and that’s the only thing that has kept me going. It’s the worst thing in the world, as a mother, I cannot bear it. It makes my eyes tear up now thinking about leaving him. Fortunately we have a very supportive and loving family and he stays with them.

Q: Would you advise couples to go on their own adventure in the wild?

Mykel: I believe that is the best way for people to learn about each other and bond and grow strong.  So the short answer is heck yes.

Ruth: Definitely, but I second that by saying that people should never take undue risks. They should always tell people when and where they are going and when they are due to return. If you’re not use to being out in the wild make sure you take a basic survival kit and a first aid kit.

Q: What’s the first thing you did after coming back from the wild?

Mykel: Shower.

Ruth: Wash and wash again. Sometimes it takes about five days before you’re clean.

Mykel: Then you eat a lot in between.

Ruth: You eat. Well actually your stomach has shrunken. So it’s quite difficult to eat on the first day. (THE FREEMAN)