MAN VS. WILD Critics Demand Bear Facts
My new favorite TV show -- and TV personality -- have come under attack.
Discovery Channel's MAN VS. WILD, the survival-travel-adventure show hosted by ex-SAS man Bear Grylls takes viewers on a thrilling, vicarious trip to parts unknown and unpleasant. Host Bear Grylls, a sturdy/geeky looking ex-SAS man who's alway announcing how uncomfortable and scared he is, parachutes into faraway places (Australia, Iceland, the Alps, the Everglades), braves the elements, and lives on whatever he finds there: snakes, bugs and worse.
Though MAN VS. WILD (and Bear in his to-camera narration) indicates that he and his camera person are alone in the wild, the credits indicate a "Fixer" -- presumably an expert in local climate and wildlife. Some sequences, such as the host jumping from the top of a cliff and then being seen landing at the bottom, indicate a two-man camera crew. Or at least two cameras.
Now he's been accused of living it up in luxury spas and lodges while claiming to be roughing it in the WILD. New York Times blogger Mike Nizza has a report here. The Hollywood Reporter has more.
What do you think? Is a little fakery okay in the service of educational and entertaining TV?
From the Hollywood Reporter, July 28.