Right, I guess the important thing here is: The course while rigorous is still proctored to teach at the most basic / introductory level, with huge emphasis on safety. It does get more rugged and demanding as the weeks click on.
As I said before some of these guys have never been camping, and "squeamish" doesn't cover some of the antics I've come across, I actually had a troop who was afraid of the dark. I kid you not, totally afraid of the dark. So eating gross things would have been way outta his league. I remember we had to eat earthworm and scrambled eggs during a class, now I can say its not at all realistic to eat earthworm scramble, but it did help get over the initial repulsion at eating a worm. So later on when just worm was on the menue it was'nt sooooo bad.
Another thing I always have to keep in mind is the "Bear Grylls" effect. Yeah he sets up situations and wears a life vest under his shirt during river crossings (just like the student here will do…. It's TV and its training, so it can't be totally real. Learning to survive is not worth dying over.