Bear Grylls fired from the Discovery Channel

[terryr]

Weird.

Discovery Channel has terminated its relationship with Grylls, the British television personality and star of the network's "Man vs. Wild." Grylls, who joined the show when it launched launched in 2006, was fired by Discovery after he refused to participate in two unannounced projects he was contracted for, say sources. The sixth season of "Man Vs. Wild" wrapped in August.

This is not the first time Discovery has had a disagreement with its talent. In 2010, the network sued Deadliest Catch captains Jonathan and Andy Hillstrand for allegedly failing to complete work on the spinoff "Hillstranded." The $3 million lawsuit prompted the Hillstrands and captain Sig Hansen to quit, though a month later the dispute was settled, the suit was dropped and all three returned to work on the show.

Grylls, 37, has parlayed his fame as an extreme outdoorsman into an international media career. He's written nearly a dozen books, many of them survival guides. His memoir "Mud, Sweat and Tears" -- due to be published in the U.S. in May -- already is a best-seller in England and Australia. He's landed numerous endorsement deals including with Dockers and Degree deodorant. There's a "Man vs. Wild" video game, he has an iPhone app, and his clothing line is sold at REI and Walmart.

In other words, this guy isn't going to have to dig up live worms for dinner anytime soon.

His exploits on "Man Vs. Wild" (which averaged 1.1 million viewers on Discovery last season) have earned him numerous celebrity admirers. But the show was beset with early controversies when it was revealed that some of Grylls' escapades were enhanced or staged and that Grylls spent nights in local motels while he was purportedly left alone to fend for himself on a deserted island.

In 2007, the show was briefly taken off the air in the U.K. and Discovery began airing it with a disclaimer allowing that Grylls was not in fact left alone to survive in the wild. In subsequent episodes Grylls directly addresses the crew, and in the interest of transparency, each season featured a making-of episode.

Grylls' rugged public persona has also bellied his personal wealth. A former member of the British Army's Special Air Service, Grylls lives with his family on a private island in Wales (where there is no electricity). He also has a home in Malibu and a house barge on the Thames. In a recent New York Times profile, Grylls says he only hired a publicist last year and maintains that he's "still always the scruffiest person at any meeting."

Discovery had multiple additional projects in development with Grylls; though the exact nature of his contract dispute and subsequent firing was not known. Grylls has not commented on the matter.

Discovery seems to be shooting themselves in the foot. "if you won't make more stuff, we're gonna take off your hit show."

They better drink their own urine.

 

[Scareb]

Maybe they'll realize their mistake and beg to have him back. Otherwise I don't see why bear can't do a similar show at a different network.

 

[Nwerke]

He'll have a queue at his front door, likely.

He can be quite entertaining, but I did laugh out loud at the Youtube expose of his "walking on hot Hawaiian lava" fakery. Good lord, did they ever fake/amp up that segment.

 

[Jedifyfe]

I just like watching him climb stupid rocks and eat bugs.

 

[Nwerke]

Yeah, I agree. Dance, monkey! DANCE FOR MEEEE!!!!

 

[Contec]

 

[Solo4114]

Maybe he quit because he was tired of reality TV?

 

[BornKilr]

Maybe he can guest on "Man vs. Food" and they can see who can drink the most urine. Good riddance. I never liked that guy.

 

[sgtski]

I referred Les Stroud on Survivor Man. Not only was he really alone, he carried all of the film equipment himself as well. I know he had a safety crew not far away and a radio to call if it got too bad, but that shouldn't take away from the survival training he was demonstrating.

 

[ArtemiHo]

Well at least we have something to watch. There are a lot of great episodes of Man vs. Wild.
They captured a lot of wild places, this idea began to repeat itself.

 

[DoubleD]

I too prefer Less, but I like Bear as well. He's got a certain charisma that makes him fun to watch.

However, he gets out of situations that no normal human could ever hope to get out of. It's not so much of a survival show as a "look at me climb down this sheer cliff and jump into a freezing river".

 

[JoMamma_Smurf]

I referred Les Stroud on Survivor Man. Not only was he really alone, he carried all of the film equipment himself as well. I know he had a safety crew not far away and a radio to call if it got too bad, but that shouldn't take away from the survival training he was demonstrating.

EXACTLY!! Les is the man. I have all of his episodes of survivorman. He's just awesome and doesn't take ridiculous risks to get the job done.

 

[CelticRuins]

Yeah, I was about to come on here and go "LES!!!" Much better.

I'll say it about Bear: FINALLY. Guy's a moron.

 

[crabra comander]

Yeah at least Les would be like, "Hey this crap is not possible for a normal man to do, I quit."
Bear jumps off the face of a cliff covered in Camel entrails and says, "This is normal."

 

[Hecubus114]

Not only that - all the urine drinking, bug/feces eating, etc. on Man VS Wild was usually completely unnecessary, and a complete gimmick for shock value. Never liked the guy, and after hearing about all the staging, I completely tuned out. I might as well watch Operation Repo.

I agree - Les is the man and LOVED Survivorman.

 

[Solo4114]

Not only that - all the urine drinking, bug/feces eating, etc. on Man VS Wild was usually completely unnecessary, and a complete gimmick for shock value. Never liked the guy, and after hearing about all the staging, I completely tuned out. I might as well watch Operation Repo.

I never watched the show, but that sounds like "Fear Factor/******* Goes Camping" to me.

 

[asemblyrequired]

Les Stroud is the best..glad to see Bear go


-James

 

[Hecubus114]

I never watched the show, but that sounds like "Fear Factor/******* Goes Camping" to me.

I remember seeing him squeeze the water out of (I think it was horse) crap to drink it. This was out in an environment where there were plenty of other water sources, but he did it, I guess, to show it could be done if there was no other option... I guess...

And he did that all the time with bugs/animals. He was a big fan of biting the heads off of live creatures. When it's being done as PURE entertainment then that kind of rubs me the wrong way.

 

[blakeh1]

I always preferred Les and Survivorman over Bear and Man vs Wild. Survivorman was more of a realistic take while Man vs Wild always seemed to be about how much Bear could shock you

Bascially how to cook grubs and stuff to survive vs giving yourself an enema with seagull crap polluted water for shock value

 

[Sigma-LS]

+1

Les actually taught me useful things that I don't have to risk killing myself to capitalize on. And watching him get great shots and having to go all the way back to get the camera always gave me a laugh.

And it just showed up on Netflix. Guess I know what I'm watching after I wrap up Voyager.