I don't watch 'em either, but once when I was surfing, I ran across one called "Dual Survival", advertised as "Featuring a pair of survival experts in predetermined scenarios while in challenging environments."
The scenario I stumbled upon was a classic example of a "manufactured crisis". It was where they were on a small island and had to swim to a bigger nearby island. OK, I’ll accept the shark danger and that they were probably ferried to within a few yards of the shore, then dropped off to make it look like they swam the distance, but . . .
Strike One - These "experts" made a fire below the high tide mark, then faced a crisis as the tide came in, scrambling to keep the water away - by building a small rock and sand dam (???) instead of using a coconut shell to move it inland, as they did later on.
Strike Two - They made a big production of getting water - in an area where the average rainfall is measured in FEET per month - (a drown-the-frogs squall threatened to put the fire out at one point, where they saved the fire as above). Then they went through a convoluted procedure to turn scuba tanks into a still.
Strike Three "Click" - At the end of ONE DAY they are rescued by a passing fisherman (cough). No attempt to show techniques for catching fish, opening coconuts, etc.
As others have stated, these "reality" shows are scripted and made for entertainment. This episode wasn't even entertaining as it was so bogus. Perhaps some of the other segments are a bit more realistic, but based on this one, it wasn't worth the effort to follow through.
Most faked show is Mystery Diners.
No one in real life who is a restaurant employee would let themselves be fired by the boss on camera.
But its addictive enough it keeps being renewed. People like their trashy entertainment.
The smart choice would have been wait till night and in most places in that region you will see distant lights either from a house or vehicle. I would have stayed high where the chances of hitting a logging or mining road or seeing a distant home or road were likely rather than chance a homemade canoe ride on an unknown river.
In most Appalachian/Cumberland Mt chain locations if you keep your head you can walk out with 24-48 hours except for possibly Appalachian mountain back country where in that case if you are lost it is very wise and safer to simply stay put and use resources to signal for help. That is the best proven chance for rescue even if it takes a couple of weeks. This is due to very dense foliage and terrain issues.
Except for the Cumberland Plateau region the mountains and ridges generally run northeast by southwest. The mountains & ridges have been logged over several times over and that means old roads or abandoned roadbeds that go somewhere.
The always barefoot nonsense was also highly annoying. Dangerous, stupid, and a very unnecessary risk taken in any venue.