Just wanted to add my 2 pence worth to this thread.
First of all I wanted to say I am thoroughly enjoying the programme.
However I was quite surprised like other on here, that in the first week when he watched the squirrel chirpping away instead of shooting it but he did say it was because it was to cute to kill, not that he had a problem with killing animals.
I think he also said in yesterdays episode that he didn't kill it because it isn't the kind of thing you'd expecte to kill in the uk. I just think at that point he hadn't become attunded enough to his survival needs. Plus he had killed animals before, he mentioned he was brought up on a farm and he and his brother would go out snarring rabbits (which funnily i'd consider cute animals) and sell them to the local butcher.
C4's handling off the doc also quite mystifies me a bit.
Why did they not run the programme when he was actually there? The way the website has been set up and with his daily tweets and such, it would have made much more sense to do this. Maybe put it on a weeks delay at most but to wait until he's come back before airing it is just stupid, we already know the outcome plus we can watch the rushes up to his last week now if want (at present i've stopped myself from doing this).
Also there seems to be big holes in his knowledge and how C4 have prepped him, he admitted in one of the rushes videos that he had never paddled a canoe and had no idea how to steer the thing! He also was later looking at animal tracks and said he didn't have a clue what animal it was and even any information about them he then reeled off some names Lynx, Elk, Carribou, Timer Wolf. He should have been drilled in this before hand.
Lastly with regards the revelations thats theres a lodge on Tin Cup lake, C4 have actually revealed this info already on their website (actually all the info on the link is quite interesting as it details alot of things I think should have been explained in the first episode):
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/alone-in-the-wild/articles/the-faqs-how-the-programme-was-made
What happens if Ed disappears?
If Ed fails to send one of his routine OK messages or his tweet, the producers will alert an experienced local outdoorsman and a bush pilot who runs a seasonal fishing lodge on Tin Cup Lake, 10 miles within range of Ed's expected locations, who is on 24-hour call to help Ed in an emergency. He will overfly Ed's GPS position as determined by his satellite tracking device, and Ed will signal him with a chopper flag. If Ed holds the flag open and still it means 'I'm OK', if he waves the flag vigorously at the airplane it means 'Land as soon and as close as possible'. The pilot may also signal Ed to phone production.
If Ed fails to respond, the pilot will initiate search and rescue operations. He has a float plane available 24/7 to get him as near as possible to Ed’s location.
I think chances are C4 would have booked all the reservations at the lodge for editors, researchers and other production crew. Which would have prevented the the odd kid in an inflatable dingy ambling into Wardles isolation.