Article Assignment: Bear Grylls (Man vs Wild)

Bear Grylls Back In Risky Business

By: Amy Kaufman

Rating: ***

I chose to read an article about the Man vs Wild star Bear Grylls. The article discusses Bear bringing Jake Gyllenhal along with him on one of his worst-case-scenario survival shows.  

This article talks about Grylls and Jake Gyllenhal being dropped from a helicopter in the Icelandic Tundra under very harsh conditions.  The premise of the show is for Bear to teach people basic survival skills in some of the most remote locations in the world.  Although Bear and his team scout all their locations one week ahead of time to come up with the game plan for the show there is no way to prepare for everything that could happen on the show.  Many actors like Jake Gyllenhal have asked to be on the show because they want to experience the thrill of being in very dangerous situations.  Bear says that for actors this is a particularly new experience because it is so far removed from their lives as actors where everything is planned and stunt double are used to prevent actors from injuring themselves.. 

Bear talks about why he continues to do his show and the mental toughness that it takes to survive in the wild.  He credits his family for giving him the push he needs whenever he feels that he can not continue.  Bear says that he enjoys hearing that he has helped many people over the years and he still gets an adrenaline rush every time he goes to a new location and can teach people how to survive in the wilderness.  

This article helps me understand that people can survive on very little in the wild as long as they have some basic survival skills .  Without these skills people would in fact die because they don't know enough to look after their basic need for food and shelter.  They to have to survive with very limited supplies and it intrigues me. 

Although this article does not provide a great deal of information on how to survive in the wild it does prove that Bear can teach people what they need to know.  Finally it is clear that mental toughness plays a large part in being able to survive in the wilderness.  I would recommend this to my classmates because it shows anyone could do this and his show is really interesting. 

Amy Kaufman (July 17, 2011), Bear Grylls Back in Risky Business, Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/17/entertainment/la-ca-bear-grylls-20110717