Bear Grills is such a bummer. He's actually extremely talented, smart and some of his adventure accomplishments are truly impressive. However, he cloaks all of those achievements with far too much theatrics on his "survival show." With regard to his legit accomplishments, did anyone see his show about flying the powered paraglider OVER mount Everest? That was ballsy.
Regarding snow bollards, I've rapped off many a bollard. As has been said, the snow conditions determine the size of the bollard required. You can also judge the fear factor of a fellow climber by the size of the bollard they cut. A few years ago in Alaska I was cutting a bollard and my partner said, "we're going to need more rope just to get around that thing!" I'm known for cutting a pretty massive bollard.
I've also seen a pair of long underwear used as a deadman during my American Mountain Guide cert program. It was crazy. It took a snowmobile to pull it free.