hhhmpf. man vs. wild is dead to me. dead i said.
By Andrew Wallenstein
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - First there was Santa Claus. Then came the Tooth Fairy. And just when you thought no one could fool you into believing in mythical figures again, along comes Bear Grylls.
Grylls is the star of "Man vs. Wild," an increasingly popular series on Discovery Channel that recently concluded its second season. Each episode he parachutes into a different uninhabited territory without a map or much else in the way of camping equipment and spends several days trying to find his way back to civilization.
But this British adventurer is now the subject of an investigation by U.K.'s Channel 4, which already has confirmed that Grylls checked into motels on a few occasions when he was depicted on TV having slept under the stars. Other allegations have been made suggesting that the crew that records Grylls in action isn't as hands-off as it might appear to viewers.
Knowing what we now know, it will be a challenge to watch "Wild" with the same zeal again. Naive as it now seems, viewers bought the notion that Grylls really was roughing it. If he cut corners here or there, what's to stop fans from doubting every facet of the show?
Discovery has made vague allusions to moving forward with the series, but repackaged with greater "transparency." What exactly that means will be an interesting question for the network, which hasn't had a headache like this since Steve Irwin decided to dangle his own infant child within the reach of a hungry crocodile.
If Grylls thought the barren landscape of the Outback was a challenge, wait until he faces the ultimate endurance contest: celebrity notoriety. With a handsome face and endearing accent that makes him a dead ringer for Christian Bale, Grylls has more than star quality; he exudes integrity. There was an effortlessness to his appeal, he was charming without being a charmer.
Perhaps the appeal of this series has always been that its verite style reverses a subtle untold effect of shows such as "Survivor" and "Lost." The way they depict average Joes living off the land with relative ease has made the specter of being stranded in the wilderness not as scary as it once was. Heck, even Gilligan managed to subsist on coconuts and bamboo.
But "Wild" restored a sense of realism to being marooned and sold us on the fantasy that we could learn the actual skills for survival.
Continued...
http://www.reuters.com/article/telev...34925920070730
