Bear Grylls' Man vs. Wild went off the air in 2012 after a contractual dispute with the
Discovery Channel, but the survivalist's name is hotter than ever.
While he's taken on some of the toughest conditions imaginable, here's a rundown of how Bear Grylls
survived getting fired from Man vs. Wild.
Reports first surfaced that Grylls and the Discovery Channel were parting ways in 2012.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, after seven seasons and dozens of reality TV episodes,
the US channel announced,
"Due to a continuing contractual dispute with Bear Grylls, Discovery has terminated all
current productions with him."
While this dismissal marked the end of Man vs. Wild, it's possible that this disagreement
was over other unnamed productions.
Sources told the publication,
"The network has allegedly been unable to get Grylls to participate in two unannounced
projects he was contracted for."
As for the TV personality himself, his representative explained,
"Unfortunately, Bear and Discovery have not been able to come to mutual agreement on new
programming, and he disagrees with Discovery's decision to terminate current productions."
Apart from pointing out the obvious that Grylls wasn't let go for poor performance this news
not only indicated that Discovery hadn't tired of Grylls, but also that he may have been
let go for being too in-demand.
Ever since rising to fame with Man vs. Wild, Grylls has built himself a healthy following
all in spite of his lack of PR training.
In fact, he once told The New York Times in 2012 that he'd hired a publicist in order
to avoid doing any PR and was, quote, "still always the scruffiest person at any meeting."
However, it might just be this lack of polish that's made the TV star resonate with his
fans.
Grylls possesses an undeniable charm and charisma that other survivalists seem to lack.
He has fun on his televised adventures without taking the seriousness out of the situations.
A Men's Journal editor told The New York Times,
"He doesn't have that sort of dour, he-man thing to him.
He admits fear when he's fearful.
There was one episode where he was like, 'Wow, it's time for a courage pill.'
The guy is pretty upfront about that stuff, and it's just more real.
I think people relate to that, and not just dudes."
"Very precarious up here — way higher than I thought!"
As soon as Grylls and Discovery split, he kept his fans in mind, knowing that if he
managed to keep his fan base intact, he would continue to thrive in the future.
His rep stated to The Hollywood Reporter,
"Bear has loved the Man vs. Wild journey.
[He] looks forward to producing further cutting-edge content again soon for his loyal audience."
Grylls didn't rest on his laurels after leaving the Discovery Channel.
Instead, he quickly jumped over to NBC and launched his first major broadcast network
show, 2012's Get Out Alive, according to Entertainment Weekly.
By the following year, however, Grylls was back with Discovery.
The dispute that ended their previous collaboration obviously wasn't enough to bar them from working
together again, and this reunion kicked off with Escape From Hell.
In a statement, Grylls called the series "an exciting evolution" of Man vs. Wild.
The next six years would see the survivalist accumulate a number of other on-screen credits.
In 2014, Grylls hosted The Island with Bear Grylls, a UK survival competition that would
later be picked up Stateside by NBC, according to Variety.
He then kicked off the BBC's Bear Grylls: Breaking Point and two seasons of ITV's Bear
Grylls: Mission Survive in 2015.
While the latter was cancelled for low ratings, a spokesperson for the star told the Evening
Standard that Grylls had several irons in the fire with the network.
Grylls' longest-running gig, however, has been manning the reins on Running Wild with
Bear Grylls since 2014.
After four seasons with NBC, the popular show switched over to National Geographic in 2019,
according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Of course, Grylls was already familiar with the latter network, having signed on to narrate
Hostile Planet that same year.
He's certainly a busy guy!
Despite what some of his critics might say about him, Grylls isn't just a celebrity survivalist
for show.
While he once acknowledged to Green Global Travel that there will always be, quote, "better
survivalists" out there, the reality star lives the life he projects on television and
has quite a few remarkable accomplishments under his belt.
After passing the Special Air Service selection at 21 years of age, The Guardian notes that
he became "the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest" just two years later.
Grylls also designed and opened survival camp locations around the world.
It's not all for the camera, either.
Whenever he has down time, Grylls often travels to his family's privately owned island in
Wales, which he says has no water lines or electricity.
It doesn't seem that this is a pure relaxation spot, as Grylls runs training missions out
there some involving his own children.
The Telegraph reports that the dad of three stranded his then 11-year-old son, Jesse,
on, quote, "a rocky outcrop off the North Wales coast" as part of training exercise
in 2015.
Grylls had arranged for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to perform the rescue
mission.
In an age where celebrity icons seem to be falling like rain, Bear Grylls has remained
a very positive role model for kids and outdoors lovers alike.
And with his hit shows, Grylls has built a legion of fans in North America and the UK.
While he's become one of the most recognizable stars in the Western world, the Grylls name
has become synonymous with survival across the globe.
For example, his Mud, Sweat, Tears book was voted "the most influential book in China"
in 2012, according to the Financial Times.
His somewhat surprising popularity in China even led to the creation of his own survival
competition show there called Survivor Games in 2015, according to Real Screen.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Grylls also invited a few Chinese celebrities to join
him on Running Wild with Bear Grylls.
Grylls' impact has been felt in the United Arab Emirates, as well.
According to Arabian Business, the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority agreed
to open a Bear Grylls Survival Academy on the nation's highest mountain in 2020.
When Grylls isn't surviving on television, he's surviving in print … or at least his
characters are.
For over a decade, this multi-hyphenate has been putting his survival skills to ink through
his children's book series, Mission Survival.
These fictional novels offer survival-based tips to readers, which are integrated in creative,
memorable ways.
"They're about Beck Granger and his adventures into some of the world's most inhospitable
places facing unknown dangers and massive quests of survival."
As of May 2019, Grylls has published eight of these books, while also creating a spin-off
collection called A Beck Granger Adventure.
In 2017, Grylls started another children's book series, Bear Grylls Adventures, which
focuses on more exciting adventures set in different locations.
In total, the prolific author has written more than 40 books, many of them for children
and designed to kindle their adventurous spirits and he's making bank, as well.
According to The Guardian, the Orion Publishing Group paid Grylls, quote, "a healthy seven-figure
sum" to translate his skills into an adult adventure series.
These Indiana Jones-like books in Grylls' Will Jaegar collection offer fictional stories
that are partly inspired by his grandfather's belongings and involvement in World War II.
"My grandfather died when I was 19, but I'd like to think that he'd be proud of the inspiration
that his forgotten trunk provided."
Grylls certainly isn't without his own faults or controversies.
However, he's been quite effective in how he's dealt with these blemishes.
When Born Survivor the British title for Man vs. Wild was criticized for allegedly being
"faked," Grylls took the heat.
According to BBC News, he apologized for the show's misleading presentation, while the
Channel 4 network vowed that future episodes would make clear that some scenes were dramatized.
When The Island similarly caught fire for alleged fakery, Grylls again jumped to the
forefront to discuss the show's methods, while defending the choices that were made in favor
of entertainment, according to the Mirror.
The TV host has also faced controversy in his personal life.
After Grylls stranded his oldest son age 11 at the time on a rocky Welsh coast as a small
training mission, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution blasted the survivalist, stating
to the Daily Post,
"We did not appreciate that the exercise would involve him putting his son on 'Half Tide
Rocks.'"
However, this proud dad didn't take this criticism lying down, even after a since-deleted photo
of the moment received backlash on Twitter.
He fired back unapologetically in a piece written for The Times, saying,
"I remain defiantly determined to provide my own children with opportunities to discover
the world, as well as their own natural talents.
I am determined to stand beside them on that journey.
And yes, it can be dangerous."
Following the release of Netflix's Black Mirror film, Bandersnatch, in late 2018, the streaming
network decided to capitalize on its success through more interactive TV.
According to Variety, Vice President of Product Todd Yellin said at the time,
"It's a huge hit here in India, it's a huge hit around the world.
We realized, wow, interactive storytelling is something we want to bet more on."
This led to the creation of You vs. Wild, an interactive show in which the viewers make
survival decisions for Grylls.
The survivalist expressed his excitement about the series in a statement to the publication,
saying,
"I'm so proud to deliver this first-of-its-kind live-action interactive series, really giving
viewers an all access pass to explore the world and its landscapes in my boots.
The stakes are high in this one!"
Landing this cutting-edge opportunity may have seemed like an unheralded success for
Grylls, but the global superstar might just be the perfect frontman for an interactive
and international show like this.
Despite the fact that much of the discussion surrounding You vs. Wild has taken a satirical
yet somewhat morbid turn about Grylls' lack of death options in the survival show, it
appears to be creating quite the buzz.
Ever since he began his television career, Bear Grylls has survived or demonstrated how
we can survive some of the world's harshest terrains.
He's been around the globe and back again, and has left no climate or environment on
Earth untouched by the soles of his ranger boots.
Perhaps this is why he was apparently looking for more difficult challenges to test out
his survival skills … in space?
According to The Sun, Grylls was set to select a team of five lucky Scouts through a series
of tests and trials to join him for a camping trip at the International Space Station in
2021.
Naturally, the mission would be filmed as the Scouts spent at least two weeks at the
station, where they would head out onto the outer shell and camp in, quote, "specially
developed tents and sealed sleeping bags pumped with oxygen" for 12 hours.
Grylls reportedly told the media outlet,
"The Explorer Scouts will need to show the true spirit of Scouting resilience, teamwork
and resourcefulness if they are to pass the intensive selection process.
But by reaching for the stars, we hope to prove that Scouts truly can do anything."
While camping in space sounds, well, out of this world, this news came out on April 1st,
2019 … so there's a good chance it was just a case of April Fools.
Still we can't wait to see what Bear Grylls does next!
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