Doomsday Preppers Is A Fun Way To “Bug Out”[VIDEO]

Welcome to February Sweeps! It's no surprise the Super Bowl, the Grammys, and this year's Oscars all air in February. It's also the time when networks roll out new shows, like NBC's Smash, to try to gain a consistent audience. However, I'm not the usual TV viewer and a new show on the National Geographic channel has reeled me in: Doomsday Preppers.

The show is exactly what you think it is, it's all about average citizens or "preppers" sharing their survival plans, skills, and stockpiles of food/water in case the world experiences anywhere to an "end of days" scenario to an electromagnetic pulse to an economic meltdown. What's funny is, the survivalist movement has been around since the days of the nuclear fallout shelter in the late 50s- early60s. My Dad, I'm sure all your parents and grandparents, told you about when the country was on the brink of nuclear war ("duck and cover") during the Cuban Missile Crisis and at the last minute, the Russians turned tail, well there were negotiations, and they sailed home.

Fast forward to 2012 and the preparation for the end of the world has gone to another, if not outrageous level. For example, in the first episode we meet Houston resident Megan Hurwitt (pictured above) who is prepping for a "global oil crisis" by stocking her 700 square foot apartment with as much food and water as she can, working out six days a week, learning how to use weapons and live off the land. One of Hurwitt's biggest concerns is finding an inconspicuous-looking bug-out bag. I must confess, I've heard the term "bug out" before, but I had not idea what it really meant. In short it means, GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE! But make sure you have a "bug-out location" once you retreat. Hurwitt decides to test her bug-out plan, which consists of: packing out her survival supplies on a 12-mile hike to get out of Houston to reach her bug-out vehicle. So she hikes along with her light on head, because there will be power, she has her knives and guns ready, and she basically is pooped beyond belief after six hours of hiking. Now every prepper is assessed by prepper experts and they basically let Megan know she doesn't have enough food, she should store extra fuel in her car or hide it along her escape route, and she should have alternative hiking routes out of the city. And we get to re-visit each prepper to see if he or she is better prepared and Megan decides to enlist in the military, not a bad plan.

But Megan has nothing on married couple and ex-soldiers Paul and Gloria. Here's their house:

It is entirely made out of shipping containers, like the ones you might see stacked up in a shipyard. They are preparing for a polar shift of the Earth, well why not? Their four-story high compound houses 50,000 pounds of food, which Gloria says should last them 20 years. What?!? They live off the land, so they are able to slaughter their animals and store several hundred pounds of meat as well as hydrating gallons of sweet corn. At one point the couple test the durability of their housing by firing at it with their .38 caliber rifles, okay. All is well, but the couple and their friends have a bug-out plan which involves transporting food, medical supplies, guns and ammo in a convoy of two school buses and two RVs out to "circle the wagons" like the pioneers used to do to protect themselves and their camp. The couples' assessment? They are set, they only need to store more food outside of their house.

One other prepper we meet is farmer's market owner Christopher Nyerges who is prepping for the big LA earthquake, here's his bug-out bag (Courtesy of nationalgeographic.com)

If you dare take a chance, and I highly recommend it for its sheer entertainment value, Doomsday Preppers airs Tuesday nights at 9E/8C on Nat Geo Channel.