Someday you might find yourself in a situation that requires key survival skills. Check out these top-rated survival shows on Netflix and learn a few things about what it takes to persevere through any hardship.
Binging TV shows on Netflix is a guilty pleasure of mine. Sure, I enjoy the occasional sitcom and documentary. On any given weekend, you can also find my rewatching my favorite series like Stranger Things and Orange is the New Black. However, no matter how much TV I watch I always come back to survivor movies and shows.
Who doesn’t love watching strangers try to navigate their way through dense jungles or compete against one another to survive on a desert island? While some of these shows are based loosely on reality, they still give the average Joe a more in-depth look into what survival looks like from an outside point-of-view.
Netflix has no shortage of amazing survival shows, many filmed in remote locations with commentary from some of the top survivalists in the world. Be sure to add some of the following Netflix survival shows to your list of binge-worthy TV. These skills may come in handy when you least expect.
1. Doomsday Preppers
Do you think you’re prepared for any emergency situation? Take a cue from some of the most extreme survivalists in the country. Doomsday Preppers is a reality television show that aired from 2011 to 2014 on the National Geographic Channel.
The American TV series focuses on a number of preppers who are prepared to survive any event that could lead to the end of civilization. From economic collapse to electromagnetic pulse, these preppers go above and beyond to prepare their families for worst-case scenarios.
Each episode in the four-season series explore the lives of ordinary Americans, profiling their lives over a 45-minute episode. The families portrayed in the shows discuss their unique skills and ways of living life in preparation for the downfall of society.
Sometimes this includes tamer activities like growing their own food or stockpiling canned goods. Other times, the activities of these preppers are more outrageous, such as the man who turned an underground missile silo into a bunker.
Whether or not you agree with the antics of these doomsday preppers, you can’t deny that they would probably outlive us all in an apocalypse.
2. Man vs. Wild
Featuring show host and Bollywood star Sunny Leone, Man vs. Wild follows survivalist and seasoned adventurer Bear Grylls as he struggles to survive the great outdoors. In each episode, Grylls takes on a new remote location.
From the Rockies and Moab Desert to the Costa Rican Rainforest and the Chugach Mountains of Alaska, each 45-minute episode is filled with adventure, excitement, and breathtaking views of the untouched wilderness in locations around the globe.
Produced by British television production company Diverse Bristol, the ultimate survival show aired from March 2006 to November 2011, lasting a total of seven seasons. While Grylls may ‘strand’ himself in remote locations, he doesn’t do so without extensive knowledge of all-things survival.
The former SAS serviceman is an experienced survival instructor, honorary lieutenant-colonel, and adventurer, achieving his childhood dream of climbing to the summit of Mount Everest at the mere age of 23.
Watch Grylls as he hikes, climbs cliffs, runs through forest fires, and parachutes from helicopters in his world-traveling survival series.
3. Great Wild North
Ever think about what it would be like to have to live in one of the coldest places on earth? Surviving day-in and day-out is a challenge on its own when you’re constantly exposed to temperatures as low as -50 degrees Fahrenheit. In the realty series Great Wild North on Netflix, this is exactly what you’ll see.
For the winter trappers that reside in the frozen wilderness on the border of the Yukon and Alaska, daily life means exposure to subzero temperatures, dangerous predators, and inhospitable terrain.
The television documentary series aired for just one season in 2015. While the show is relatively short with a total of just eight episodes, it provides an insider view of what it’s really like for the men and women of the fur trade.
Winter is the only time of year that trapping is legally sanctioned in this part of Alaska, but surviving winters in such a treacherous climate is no easy feat.
Follow this group of laborers as they brave the icy tundra of Alaska and Yukon, and learn the daily escapades of a trapper’s life.
4. Colony
Just because a TV show is in the science fiction genre doesn’t mean it can’t teach us something about survival. Set in the future, Colony centers on a family in Los Angeles that must make a series of difficult decisions in order to stay together and survive following an invasion of outside forces. The show spans over three seasons, first airing in January of 2016.
While the TV series was actually an adaptation of the popular Purge film franchise, it had its own unique twists and turns that kept viewers at the edge of their seats.
The series explored the idea of mysterious and technologically-advanced aliens invading earth and essentially taking over. In the show, the outsiders created walled-off colonies while extracting the world’s most valuable resources, including manual human labor.
While we were sad to see the series end, we’re happy to have the chance to re-watch every gripping detail on Netflix.
5. Jericho
Set in the 1870s in the Yorkshire Dales, the town of Jericho, Kansas finds themselves rebuilding and learning how to survive without essential resources after a nuclear attack on 23 cities in the U.S.
The post-apocalyptic TV series brings viewers a combination of action and drama as the residents of the small-town encounter mayhem time and time again. Whether battling in turf wars with nearby towns or working together and stepping up as heroes, the cast of Jericho really pull on your heartstrings at times.
The TV show aired from September 2006 to March 2008, lasting just two short seasons. However, there was no shortage of love for the series. In fact, there was recently a movement to bring the show back or create a continuation of some sorts. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the works as of yet.
Like what you see after watching Jericho on Netflix? Be sure to check out the comic-book series in which the storyline of the show was based on.
6. MeatEater
What would you do if all the supermarkets closed down and the food in your pantry ran out? Knowing how to catch your own food could certainly come in handy. In the top-rated television series MeatEater, viewers learn new and interesting ways to hunt prey in all types of outdoor conditions.
The show follows outdoorsman, TV personality, and author Steven Rinella as he adventures through the wilderness of New Mexico, British Columbia, and other destinations around the globe.
The non-fiction series first premiered in 2012 and is still running strong after seven seasons. Each 30-minute episode focuses on hunting a new type of animal in a fresh location, starting with the Blacktail deer in episode one of season one.
From hunting and fishing to cooking wild game, Rinella does it all and shows viewers how they can follow in his footsteps to put food on their own tables.
Even if you’re not necessarily into hunting shows, you’ll love the thrill ride that the host brings you on in every episode.
7. The Walking Dead
While a zombie apocalypse isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, you can learn a thing or two from watching The Walking Dead on Netflix. Currently in its ninth season, the long-running horror television series has seen great success, even getting its only spin-off in 2015, Fear the Walking Dead.
There is also a third spin-off coming. Based on the comic book series by Robert Kirkman, the series follow former police officer Rick Grimes and a group of survivors as they try to survive each day.
With flesh-eating zombies everywhere, the survivors must search for shelter, food, and safety when there are few resources to be found. In addition to battling the undead, the cast must also deal with the near-constant threat of deadly attacks from living survivors who have formed communities of their own.
Each episode is a new adventure that will keep you coming back for more.
There’s a reason why this show has been renewed for more and more seasons. It’s a binge-watching series for sure.
Grab Your Popcorn
If you’re a survivor show TV junkie like me, you may have already seen one or more of these amazing TV series. Survival shows are quickly becoming their very own genre of reality television and Netflix has delivered countless options to get us started on our journey to self-sufficiency.
If you’re ready to see some of the most entertaining survival shows ever created, grab a bowl of popcorn and get cozy on the couch as you binge some of these top survival shows that are currently available to stream on Netflix.