How adventurer Bear Grylls took American TV, and Barack Obama, by storm -nice read

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/sep/06/bear-grylls-barack-obama-alaska-hiking
<snip>
A wildlife spot in Dillingham, Alaska, where Barack Obama touched down as part of a stopover visit intended to highlight the damaging effects of climate change, has been renamed the Bearack Viewing Area in his honour.

The bear in question is of the four-legged variety. But it is another unlikely alliance between Bear and Barack that has more vividly captured the public attention. Obama also used his trip to Alaska to trek through the wilderness and be taught survival techniques by Bear Grylls, the British television presenter and survival expert. The encounter will form part of a new series, Running Wild With Bear Grylls, and will be aired later this year on the NBC network.

It marks an extraordinary coup for Grylls, 41, an Old Etonian father of three, who lives on a remote Welsh island and is known for combining a profound love of risk with a streak of distinctly British eccentricity. A former SAS reservist and the son of a Conservative MP, Grylls is one of the youngest men to climb Mount Everest. He also once circumnavigated the British Isles on a jet-ski and rowed naked in a bathtub along the Thames to raise funds for charity.


All of which means Grylls is not the most likely export to make it big in America, and yet the country has taken him to its collective heart. “We like survival-type shows, whether it’s Batman fighting a villain or Bear fighting nature,” says Marc Berman, editor-in-chief of the TV Media Insights website and a member of the American Television Critics Association. “He’s a young guy, he’s personable, there’s something very appealing about him. Hell, I wish I was him. I don’t want to be myself, sat in an office. I want to be 35, jumping off a cliff! He’s a hero and over here we like heroic tales.”

[msongs]

1. and his lovely wife, Barbeque nt

[skamaria]

2. You went there! LoLx10

N/T

[Little Star]

3. lol

[malaise]

4. Hahahahha

[lancer78]

5. I still like

Les Stroud (Survivorman) better. Bear does too much crazy stuff that might kill you. Les is much more cautious and methodical with his survival approach.