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''Man vs. Wild'', also called ''Born Survivor: Bear Grylls'', ''Ultimate Survival'', ''Survival Game'', or colloquially as simply ''Bear Grylls'' in the United Kingdom, is a survival television series hosted by Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel. In the United Kingdom, the series was originally shown on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
, but the show's later seasons were broadcast on Discovery Channel U.K. The series was produced by British television production company Diverse Bristol. The show was premiered on November 10, 2006, after airing a pilot episode titled "The Rockies" on March 10, 2006. Grylls also said he has been approached about doing a ''Man vs. Wild'' urban disaster 3D feature film, which he said he would "really like to do". He signed on to showcase urban survival techniques in a Discovery show called ''
Worst-Case Scenario A worst-case scenario is a concept in risk management wherein the planner, in planning for potential disasters, considers the most severe possible outcome that can reasonably be projected to occur in a given situation. Conceiving of worst-case s ...
'', which premiered on May 5, 2010, on the network. The Discovery Channel terminated its legal relationship with Grylls in 2012 due to contract disputes, effectively canceling the series. In April 2019,
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
brought Grylls back to the wilderness in the interactive series ''
You vs. Wild ''You vs. Wild'' is a 2019 interactive American adventure reality television series on Netflix. The premise revolves around making key decisions to help Bear Grylls navigate in harsh, scary environments to survive and complete missions. Grylls sp ...
'', which includes eight episodes running approximately 20 minutes each.


Background

The general format of each episode is the premise that Grylls is left stranded in a region with his film crew. The episode documents his efforts to survive and find a way back to civilization, usually requiring an overnight shelter of some kind. There are mostly wild terrains – jungles, forests, or similar non-urban areas. But in special episodes, like that in Shipyard Gdynia, there are industry areas located in cities. Grylls also tells about successful and failed survivals in the particular area which he is in. Each episode takes about 7–10 days to shoot. Before each show the crew does about a week of reconnaissance, followed by Grylls doing a flyover of the terrain. Grylls then undergoes two days of intensive survival briefings, followed by a cameraman and a sound engineer. The directors oversee location filming and the final edit of each program. Grylls is specifically credited as "Presenter" to highlight his role in presenting survival techniques to the viewer. According to Grylls, the show's format is "how to deal with difficulties presented to you":
I to bear in mind that this is a worst-case scenario show, and therefore, of course things have to be planned. Otherwise, it would just be me in the wild and nothing happening, you know, 'cause textbook survival says you land, you get yourself comfortable, you wait for rescue, you don't do anything. It would be a very boring show. The show is how to deal if you fall into quick sand, if you get attacked by an alligator, if you have to make a raft. I get a really good briefing before we go. I know there's a big river there, there's gonna be a great cliff climb there, there's loads of snakes in those rocks, watch out for an alligator. So I do have a good idea of 80 percent of what's gonna happen.
Contrary to onscreen presentation, his movements are rarely from Point A to Point B: "We plan it, if we're doing different locations, sometimes we'll have to do a whole crew move and get a helicopter. Again, we're talking huge distances sometimes. So we'll use helis when we have to."Bear Grylls wants to take Jennifer Lopez and Tom Hanks into the wild
Entertainment Weekly, 2009-06-24
In April 2008, Grylls and Discovery released a book that includes survival tips from the TV show. In a special first aired on June 2, 2009,
Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...
joined Grylls on a survival trip to Northern Sweden. This season 4 premiere episode was called ''Men vs. Wild''. In July 2011, Grylls had a special co-host, actor
Jake Gyllenhaal Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal (; ; born December 19, 1980) is an American actor. Born into the Gyllenhaal family, he is the son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and his older sister is actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He ...
in the season 7 premiere of the show on the Discovery Channel, in which they travelled through Iceland. In the U.K., this episode was aired as a special in 2014, under the Bear's Wild Weekend banner. In March 2012, Discovery Channel terminated its contract with Grylls due to contract disputes. "Due to a continuing contractual dispute with Bear Grylls, Discovery has terminated all current productions with him," a network spokesperson told ''The Hollywood Reporter''.


Episodes


Special India episodes

In August 2019, Bear Grylls appeared with Indian Prime Minister,
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...
in a special episode filmed in the India's
Jim Corbett National Park Jim Corbett National Park is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state. The first national park in India, it was established in 1936 during the British Raj and named ''Hailey National Park'' after Willia ...
,
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
. The episode was showcased in more than 180 countries across the world on the
Discovery, Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channel ...
network. His second episode, retitled ''Into the Wild'' with actor Rajinikanth, was filmed in January 2020, with an air date on March 23, 2020. His third episode with actor
Akshay Kumar Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...
, was showcased on 14 September 2020. In 2021, Ajay Devgan and
Vicky Kaushal Vicky Kaushal (; born 16 May 1988) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films. Kaushal is the recipient of numerous accolades including a National Film Award and two Filmfare Awards, and has appeared in '' Forbes India'' Celebrit ...
and in 2022
Ranveer Singh Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including five Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in ''Forbes India''s ...
participated with Bear in separate episodes.


Regional variations

The show is called ''Man vs. Wild'' in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, and Malaysia. The show does, however, go by different names in other parts of the world. In the United Kingdom, where the show originates, it is called ''Born Survivor: Bear Grylls'' and is broadcast on the Discovery Channel. It is also known as ''Ultimate Survival'' in other countries. Grylls' books have also been published under the ''Born Survivor'' name in the U.K. These variations run basically the same format as ''Man vs. Wild'', although there are some differences between them. For example, during the opening sequence, Grylls introduces the show with "Hello and welcome to ''Born Survivor'', I'm Bear Grylls, and I'm in England—where I'm going to show you what it takes to get out alive." There are also a few differences in what he does during the shows; however, the names of the episodes are generally the same. The release date of new episodes also varies slightly, since they cannot normally be arranged to show at exactly the same time due to schedule and time zone's differences.


Criticism and response


Criticism

In 2006, a ''Man vs. Wild'' crew member admitted that some scenes in episodes were misleading, indicating to viewers that Grylls was stranded in the wild alone when he was not. The issue of scenes being manipulated was also raised by Mark Weinert, a U.S. survival consultant. One example he gave was of a raft allegedly being put together by team members before being taken apart, so Grylls could be filmed building it. Other scenes that have been criticized include: * A scene in the episode "Mount Kilauea" where Grylls was purported to have escaped from an active volcano by leaping across the lava, avoiding poisonous sulfur dioxide gas, was actually enhanced with special effects, using hot coal and smoke machines. * The "Deserted Island" episode gave viewers the impression that Grylls "was a 'real life
Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
' stuck on a desert island," while in reality he was on an outlying part of the
Hawaiian archipelago The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
and retired to a motel at night.


Show's response to criticism with changes

In response to these early criticisms, Discovery and Channel 4 aired re-edited versions of some episodes, removing elements that were too planned, with a fresh voice-over and a preceding announcement pointing out that some situations are "presented to Bear to show the viewer how to survive". However, five of the most controversial episodes in Season 1 were never re-released after editing and are no longer available on DVD from Discovery. These are ''The Rockies'', ''Moab Desert'', ''Costa Rican Rain Forest'', ''Mount Kilauea'' and ''Desert Island''. Following criticism in the media in July 2007 about elements of the show's first season, Channel 4 temporarily suspended the show's second season for a few weeks, promising clarification and transparency in the production and editing of the show. The channel issued a statement saying that:
The programme explicitly does not claim that presenter Bear Grylls' experience is one of unaided solo survival. For example, he often directly addresses the production team, including the cameraman, making it clear he is receiving an element of back-up.Survival show faces 'fake' claim
BBC News Online, Monday, 23 July 2007
The Discovery Channel also responded to the criticism by announcing that future airings would be edited so as not to imply to viewers that Grylls was left alone to survive during the production of the show. Due to this change, episodes in later airings, on DVDs and digital distribution contain a notice at the beginning of each episode stating that Grylls will receive help from the camera crew on occasion, that he will in certain circumstances use provided safety equipment to minimize risks, and that he will sometimes deliberately put himself in dangerous situations to demonstrate survival techniques. Grylls has also stated on camera when he has received assistance to demonstrate survival tactics or when he is exiting the setting for a while due to safety concerns. On August 3, 2007, Grylls posted on his blog that the "press accusations of motels and stagings in the show that have been doing the rounds, all I can say is they don't always tell the full story, but that's life and part of being in the public eye I guess." In response to allegations of spending nights in local hotels as opposed to staying in the shelters built during filming, Grylls clarifies in an article in the December 3 issue of ''
People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
'' magazine: "The night stuff hown on camerais all done for real. But when I’m not filming I stay with the crew in some sort of base camp." Additionally, the Discovery Channel started releasing "making-of" episodes from Season 4. In the behind-the-scenes footage, Grylls tells how the film crew sometimes assists him in filming certain sequences. In addition, while setting up a scene, each production crew member is introduced and their role is briefly explained, including a safety consultant who served in the Royal Marines. Grylls also tells how each crew members' role ensures his safety while he explains survival tactics. The footage includes open discussion over safety and other precautions. The Discovery Channel in the U.K. has also edited out certain scenes of Grylls killing animals that he has captured for food.


See also

* ''
Extreme Survival ''Extreme Survival'' is a survival television series hosted by Ray Mears. The series was produced for the BBC. In the series Mears demonstrates his wilderness skills and presents tales of survival from some of the world's most difficult environ ...
'', a British survival-themed series hosted by
Ray Mears Raymond Paul Mears (born 7 February 1964) is a British woodsman, instructor, businessman, author and TV presenter. His TV appearances cover bushcraft and survival techniques. He is best known for the TV series '' Ray Mears' Bushcraft'', '' Ra ...
. * '' Survivorman'', a Canadian survival-themed series hosted by
Les Stroud Les Stroud (born October 20, 1961) is a Canadian survival expert, filmmaker and musician best known as the creator, writer, producer, director, cameraman and host of the television series ''Survivorman''. Stroud was named Chief Scout by Sc ...
. * ''
Dual Survival ''Dual Survival'' is a United States reality television series that airs on the Discovery Channel. The show features a pair of survival experts in predetermined survival scenarios while in challenging environments. For the first two seasons, th ...
'', an American survival-themed series in which two people go into the wild and survive together


References


External links


''Man vs. Wild'' Discovery Channel official site
*
Historical record Man vs Wild fans remarks.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man Vs. Wild Discovery Channel original programming Works about survival skills Entertainment scandals Nature educational television series 2006 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings 2000s American reality television series 2010s American reality television series