AP News, November 6th, 2007
Bear Grylls hopes his reputation as a blood-and-mud-covered adventurer hasn't been tarnished since it was revealed he wasn't totally roughing it during the previous season of his popular Discovery Channel survival series, "Man vs. Wild."
"I think the new shows will reassure them," Grylls says of the upcoming season. "Everything is strong and double-checked. Discovery is so cautious of everything. If I so much as break wind on these shows, it's acknowledged now."
Last July, British television network Channel 4, which airs the show in the United Kingdom as "Born Survivor," confirmed that Grylls had stayed indoors during some of his expeditions, although the show had depicted him spending the night in the wilderness.
Discovery Channel later issued a statement acknowledging that some elements of the show, which documents Grylls surviving in remote locations, weren't factual, and began airing re-edited episodes featuring a disclaimer and new narration by Grylls explaining what was staged during production.
"I think a lot of the controversy was fueled by people wanting to know more," Grylls, 33, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. "They wanted to know how we did stuff behind the scenes."
The former British Special Air Service soldier's flight above Mount Everest in a paramotor — a paraglider with a motor — will be documented in a one-hour special, "Bear's Mission Everest," premiering Friday (10 p.m. EST).
New episodes of "Man vs. Wild," premiering Friday (9 p.m. EST), will have more revelations about Grylls' survival tactics in desolate places such as the Sahara desert, the jungles of Panama and the Patagonian plains.
"I hope they go down well," Grylls says. "I think the irony is that people are going to enjoy seeing more behind the scenes. It's going to make the whole program better."
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The Discovery Channel is owned by Discovery Communications Inc.
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