Each of these famous survivalists were chosen because they have publicly influenced survivalism culture for the greater good. Many listed here have inspired others to get prepared and improve their chances of surviving an emergency situation.
There isn’t necessarily a specific order below as each of them are highly skilled and well-known in their own right. All of these survivalists have a sizable audience and influence on the survival/prepping community.
These 15 survivalists can teach you a ton of things as well as inspire you to improve your survival skills:
1. Bear Grylls
Bear Grylls has established himself as probably the most famous and top branded expert for survival & outdoor adventures on an international stage in the world. He is widely known for his television series Man vs. Wild as well as many other TV shows and special guest appearances.
He has multiple accolades to his name as well as several records, and legendary expeditions. His name is synonymous with survival for good reason. There are few, if any, people on the planet with more survivalism expertise than Bear Grylls.
His ultimate survival knife is also wildly popular throughout the prepping community, and has been positively reviewed by numerous survival experts!
2. John “Lofty” Wiseman
John Wiseman is the author of “The SAS Survival Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere.” It has been and remains one of the best books on survival available today. Lofty served in the Special Air Service Regiment for 26 years and saw active service worldwide. He was also an instructor at the Survival Training School for 22nd SAS, specializing in all aspects of survival training.
Today his survival methods and philosophy are applied at the Trueways Survival School where he uses his 60+ years of professional survival experience to train survival instructors, consultants and civilians.
3. Dave Canterbury
Dave Canterbury is co-host of the hit Discovery Channel show, “Dual Survival.” He has decades of combined military and civilian survival experience. Canterbury is a professional hunting guide and tracker. He teaches wilderness survival at Pathfinder Training School in Southeast Ohio.
He is also the author of several survival guides, including our #1 recommended on this entire site — Bushcraft 101 (and others).
Dave also posts survival-themed instructional videos on his YouTube Channel.
4. James Wesley Rawles
Author and editor of Survivalblog.com, James Wesley Rawles has become one of the most respected members of the online survivalist community. His in-depth guides cover survival topics ranging from Survival Logistics to Disaster Preparedness. He is a former U.S. Army intelligence officer with well over 20 years of experience as a journalist and technical writer. He is also the author of multiple books, including “Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse” which is a full length survivalist novel.
5. Les Stroud
A Canadian survival expert, Les Stroud is best known for his hit TV show “Survivorman” – one of the most popular and highest rated shows ever on the Discovery Channel in the United States. He has also been in several other TV series and has been credited with starting a new genre of television known as “Survival TV.” Additionally, Stroud is the author of more than one bestselling survival book.
6. Cody Lundin
An internationally known professional survival instructor with nearly 30 years teaching modern wilderness survival, primitive living methods, urban preparedness, and homesteading. He was also on the Discovery Channel show “Dual Survivor” alongside Dave Canterbury (see above).
Cody Lundin spent two years living in a brush shelter in the woods where he honed his outdoor preparedness skills with very little gear or assistance. He is also the bestselling author of two books on survival and preparedness: “98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive” and “When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes.”
As of writing, it is reported that he lives off-the-grid in a self-designed, passive solar earth home in the high-desert wilderness of northern Arizona. He allegedly collects rainwater, composts waste, and pays nothing for utilities.
7. Tom Brown Jr.
One of America’s most acclaimed outdoorsman, a renowned tracker, survivalist, teacher, and author. Tom Brown Jr spent ten years wandering the wilderness throughout the America’s — with no manufactured tools — perfecting the skills of tracking, wilderness survival and awareness.
He has earned a reputation as “The Tracker” by using his skills to find lost people and fugitives from the law. Now these skills can be learned firsthand at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School which is among the largest of its kind.
Tom has authored 18 books (to date) on tracking, awareness, nature observation, and survival.
8. Ray Mears
Over the past two decades, Ray Mears has become recognized throughout the world as an authority on the subjects of Bushcraft and Survivalism techniques.
His down-to-earth approach, passion for survival training and the empathy and respect he shows for indigenous peoples & their cultures has made him an influential survivalist. He has become a household name from his numerous television series including: Tracks, World of Survival, Extreme Survival, Bushcraft Survival, Wild Food, and others.
9. Mykel Hawke (+ Ruth England)
Mykel Hawke & Ruth England have greatly influenced the survival community with their TV shows, “Man, Woman, Wild” and “Lost Survivors.” (and others)
Together, they take on some of the most forbidding and remote locations around the world. They are dropped into each spot and they must survive as a team for four days and nights, with only a knife and the clothes on their backs.
Mykel Hawke is a former Special Forces Survival Expert with decades of combined military and survival experience. He has traveled the world learning how to operate and survive in unique situations. He is the author of Mykel Hawke’s Green Beret Survival Manual: Essential Strategies for Shelter and Water, Food and Fire, Tools and Medicine, Navigation and Signaling, Survival Psychology and Getting Out Alive!.
10. Tony Nester
Tony Nester is an instructor at Ancient Pathways; a wilderness skills company specializing in desert survival and primitive technology. He has decades of experience teaching outdoor survival and guiding wilderness trips.
Nester has been featured in numerous media outlets including on NBC News, Travel Channel, Maxim Magazine, New York Times, the Discovery Channel, and more. He is the author of multiple books on outdoor survival and a popular column for Outside Magazine.
11. Mors Kochanski
Though, he has recently passed away (R.I.P. Mors Kochanski), he was a Canadian bushcraft and wilderness survival instructor, naturalist, and author with an international following. His popular book “Bushcraft: Outdoor Skills & Wilderness Survival” teaches the practical knowledge that outdoor enthusiasts need to survive and even enjoy the wilderness.
Mors acquired an international following throughout years of survival teachings, and instructed for both military and civilians in Canada, US, UK, and Sweden. He was well known for saying, “the more you know, the less you carry.”
12. Jack Spirko
Jack Spirko is the founder of the Survivalist Podcast, an online audio show about self sufficiency and self reliance in the modern world. He gives survivalist advice based around a few basic guiding principles. These include minimizing debt, protecting the environment, alternative energy, and smart frugality. He constantly inspires his listeners to live life to the fullest and take control of their own destiny.
13. Rich Johnson
Rich Johnson is one of America’s best-known survival experts. While spending a year living in the wilderness, Rich honed his outdoor skills by building primitive shelters, making simple traps, testing ancient fire making techniques, and improvising primitive tools & equipment.
His book, “Rich Johnson’s Guide to Wilderness Survival” is filled with common-sense applications of field-tested methods to handle emergency situations in the wilderness in a calm, low-stress fashion. He has also published more than a thousand articles, and numerous other books.
14. M.D. Creekmore
M.D. Creekmore is a blogger that helps people prepare for an uncertain future on a budget. His blog is one of the largest and most popular preparedness sites on the web. By following his guidance, Creekmore believes that you can be practical, live efficiently within your means and take positive, incremental steps towards preparedness success – all with minimal finances. He is also an emergency preparedness consultant and author of at least 3 books.
15. Laurence Gonzales
Laurence Gonzales is the author of “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why” the first scientific book on survival. Gonzales’ exploration of what separates those who survive from those who die may be one of the most important survival texts, ever.
His book is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in the subject of survival, and highly recommended to anyone interested in why we do what we do as we go through life — meeting the daily challenges that are often only a hairs breadth away from disaster.
That concludes our list of the most influential survivalists. If you think we missed a top survival expert (as we surely did because there are so many great ones out there) let us know.