Running Wild with Bear Grylls is a survival skills reality television series starring Bear Grylls. In each episode, Grylls brings a different celebrity along on his adventures.[1] The crew consists of host Bear Grylls, a story producer, two camera cinematographers, two field recordists, and a mountain guide.[2] Celebrities such as Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, and Ben Stiller made appearances on the first season of the show. In season 2, Kate Winslet, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Hudson, Michelle Rodriguez, James Marsden, and then sitting President Obama appeared.[3] The series' fourth season premiered on May 7, 2018.[4] Grylls announced on October 27, 2018, that they will begin filming for a fifth season.[5] In February 2019, it was announced that the show would be moving to National Geographic for its fifth season which premiered on November 5, 2019.[6][7] The show was rebranded as Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge starting with Season 7.
Description
The show is based on the same survivalist concept as the rest of Grylls shows, such as Man vs. Wild, but with a celebrity joining him for the journey. The journeys include skydiving into the Catskill Mountains and climbing the cliffs in Utah.[8]
Season one began July 28, 2014 and ended September 8, 2014, receiving generally good reviews that improved week by week.[9] For three weeks it was the highest rated unscripted new show of the summer.[citation needed] A second season was announced on March 26, 2015, and began airing in July 2015.[10]
On August 31, 2015, NBC and the White House announced that President Barack Obama will appear as a guest, hike through Exit Glacier and discuss conservation as well as the impact of climate change on the Alaska wilderness.[11][12]
Zac Efron joined Bear Grylls on a journey into the Northeast Appalachian wilderness. This journey began as the two of them parachute into the woods, with Grylls executing a front flip. Grylls and Efron proceeded by climbing down a slippery hill with a rope, with Grylls assisting Efron throughout. Efron also discovered a rabbit carcass, which he and Grylls cut open to smell. The two of them collected worms before heading to a cave – their shelter for the night. They then cooked a meal for themselves – worms and eggs, while holding a conversation about their backgrounds and the trip. On the next day, Efron and Grylls ventured out into a canyon, again with the help of a rope, and rappelled down a steep cliff. The two dove into a body of water and swam to the shore, ending the episode.[13]
Ben Stiller joined Bear Grylls on his journey into the Isle of Skye of Northern Scotland. The two of them began by climbing down a slippery terrain, using ropes and surrounding rocks. Grylls made sure to move at Stiller’s pace, while asking questions about Stiller’s background and career. They then gathered food at a seashore and sheltered themselves inside a cave, where they found clean water to drink. The next day, Stiller struggled to wake up energized, but he still managed to follow Grylls to the edge of a cliff. Similarly to Efron’s trip, the two of them dove into the water and swam to the plane.
In the UK, this episode was aired as a special in 2014, under the Bear's Wild Weekend banner.[15]
Channing Tatum accompanied Bear Grylls on a 48-hour expedition in Yosemite National Park, where they hiked, explored, climbed, and rappelled off cliffs. Tatum and Grylls began their journey in a helicopter ride, later jumping out and doing backflips into the water. After reaching land, they traveled 40 miles through a dense forest to reach their destination. While in the forest, Tatum and Grylls encountered both a scorpion and a rattlesnake, both of which they killed and ate. After finally reaching their destination point, they slept on top of a cliff. The episode concludes as the two rappel down the cliff.[17]
In the fourth episode, Bear Grylls is joined by Tom Arnold on an adventure through the mountains of Oregon. This adventure began with a helicopter ride to an isolated forest, followed by a long hike throughout the woodland. The two reached their first cliff and rappelled down it, and they proceeded to slide down a hill of mud. Now near a river, Grylls and Arnold caught and killed a trout, and then crossed the river with the aid of a log. At the end of the first day, they constructed their own shelter, built a campfire, and cooked the caught trout. The next day, they crossed another river, and the episode was concluded by rappelling down a steep cliff into the water.[19]
Tamron Hall, an anchor on The Today Show, explored the wild Utah desert with Bear. Their adventure began by rappelling from a helicopter, followed by rappelling down a cliff. While walking in the desert, Bear found a dead squirrel, proceeded to gut it, and placed it in Tamron's backpack. Later, the two set up camp, cooked the squirrel, and settled for the night. On the second day of their journey, they rappelled down a second, much larger canyon and rode off scene in a motorcycle.[21]
Deion Sanders, a retired NFL all-star, joined Bear in the southern Utah desert in the season finale. Deion's kids prompted him to participate in the episode because they said he was becoming "soft." Their journey mainly consisted of hiking through the Utah desert, later rappelling from a tree. Sanders' fear of snakes was an obstacle through the journey, especially with an encounter with a wild snake, which Bear later cooked for their meal. After rappelling down a cliff with remarkable ease, Deion and Bear concluded the episode by climbing up a mesa.[23]
Oscar-nominated actress Kate Hudson goes on a journey with Bear Grylls that involves a treacherous mountain range in Italy; Kate Hudson shares details of her unique upbringing.
Terry Crews joins Bear Grylls for a journey in the Icelandic highlands, where survival is the name of the game, from jagged scree mountains to freezing floodwaters.
A French version of Running Wild with Bear Grylls titled À l'état sauvage airs in the French on M6. It is hosted by Mike Horn and premiered on the network on June 28, 2016.
After the six episodes of "À L'État Sauvage", Horn starts his own format of the show: "Cap Horn". So far, only two episodes have aired, featuring celebrities Arnaud Ducret and Bernard de La Villardière, whom he embarked on adventures with in the Philippines.
