Bear Grylls gets fired from "Man vs. Wild"

[Randy]

Discovery Channel has terminated its relationship with Bear Grylls, the British television personality and star of the network’s Man vs. Wild. The severing of the relationship, which began back in 2006 when Man vs. Wild launched on Discovery, comes after the network has allegedly been unable to get Grylls to participate in two unannounced projects he was contracted for, say sources. The sixth season of Man vs. Wild wrapped in August.
“Due to a continuing contractual dispute with Bear Grylls, Discovery has terminated all current productions with him,” a network spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter.
A representative for Grylls confirmed that the Man Vs. Wild star has parted ways with Discovery.
"Bear's goal has always been to make life-empowering shows for his many fans around the globe, and he has taken great risks to bring Discovery such award-winning programming over seven seasons," said Heather Krug in a statement to THR. "Unfortunately, Bear and Discovery have not been able to come to mutual agreement on new programming, and he disagrees with Discovery's decision to terminate current productions. Bear has loved the Man vs. Wild journey and looks forward to producing further cutting-edge content again soon for his loyal audience."

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.
VIDEO: Jake Gyllenhaal Guests on 'Man Vs. Wild'
Grylls’ exploits on Man vs. Wild (which averaged 1.1 million viewers on Discovery last season) have earned him numerous celebrity admirers. Jake Gyllenhaal, Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller have tagged along on some of Grylls’ adventures. But the show, which also airs in the U.K. on Channel 4, was beset with early controversies when it was revealed that several of Grylls’ escapades of derring-do were enhanced or staged and that Grylls spent nights in 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.
But Grylls’ rugged public persona has increasingly 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.”
Grylls headlined an urban-disaster-preparedness show for Discovery called Worst Case Scenario, which bowed in 2010. He’s also done multiple specials for Discovery including 2007’s Bear’s Mission Everest, which had Grylls attempting to fly a powered paraglider higher than the famed mountain range.
The network had multiple additional projects in development with Grylls, though he was not part of Discovery’s upfront presentation to ad buyers in April in New York. Nevertheless he has been a marquee personality for the network domestically and internationally. In October, he addressed media buyers (via video message) at a Discovery Networks upfront presentation in South Africa.

Discovery Terminates Relationship With 'Man vs. Wild' Star Bear Grylls (Exclusive) - Yahoo! TV

[TRENCHLORD]

Damned shame. I'll miss that show.
Considering what he puts himself through, maybe they should've given him a break on the extra promotional stuff.

[MaxOfMetal]

Les Stroud > Bear Grylls

That being said, I did really enjoy Man Vs. Wild for the first few seasons, kinda lost interest after that. Anyone who thought he was out there in real danger.....with a full camera crew, filming at multiple angles, prerecorded and edited, being aired on Discovery Channel.... was clueless. I always thought that huge backlash was just completely over the top.

[synrgy]

With sincerest apologies, I'm juvenile and just couldn't resist.



Anyway, just so I can contribute something of merit, I humbly suggest those interested in survival TV may want to check out Out of the Wild: Venezuela. My lady and I started watching it on a Friday night between work and dinner, watched more when we came back home from dinner, and by Saturday night we'd powered through all 8 episodes because it was just too compelling to stay away. Out of the Wild Venezuela : Discovery Channel

[Electric Wizard]

Originally Posted by MaxOfMetal

Les Stroud > Bear Grylls

Thank you. Not only is he a good host, but also a good musician.

Man Vs Wild was no Survivorman, but it's the only other survival show I could be bothered to watch. Kind of a shame for Discovery because now all they're left with is the gimmicky survival shows.

[Xaios]

Originally Posted by MaxOfMetal

Les Stroud > Bear Grylls

This. The thing about Survivorman was that, even though Les Stroud does the "multiple camera angle" thing, he's actually working all those cameras himself. He has to place all the cameras and set up all his own shots, in addition to surviving out in the middle of nowhere for at least seven days without help. And then he has to haul all those cameras around with him as he tries to get out too. In one episode he had to ditch almost all his equipment because he thought he was being stalked by a jaguar.

Dude is a pretty wicked harmonica player too.

[matt397]

That really sucks, quite enjoyed that show. On a lighter note survivorman is supposed to return.

[AngstRiddenDreams]

Survivor Man is way cooler than Man Vs. Wild IMO, they are both pretty bad ass guys though.

[AxeHappy]

Survivor Man is actually a graduate of the same college program I am! Music Industry Arts at Fanshawe College.

Fanshawe College put him in the, "People who've graduated from this program and are successful," section of their program.

My response:
But...that's not music?


Anyways:
All these survivor/trackers/whatever shows are fake as hell.

[MaxOfMetal]

Originally Posted by AxeHappy

But...that's not music?

Before Survivor Man Les was busy producing Rush videos, and other for popular acts, and he currently has a handful of album credits to his name. Most folks might not know about that, or think of music when they see or hear his name, but music got him where he is today, a household name.

[AxeHappy]

I know he did some music stuff, but I really don't think it got him to be a household name.

I'd hazard a guess that most people don't even know his name and just know him as, "Survivor Man."


Also:
The stupid program catalogue didn't advertise any of that stuff. Just that he was the star of Survivor man. Which is ....ing ridiculous, seeing as one of our teachers had worked with Rush and was good friend with them. You would have though they would have played that up...

[MaxOfMetal]

His contacts and work in the music industry lead to his entrance into the TV industry. He details it pretty well in one of his specials. I think it was the one after Survivor Man where he tries to live off the grid.

[Xaios]

Originally Posted by MaxOfMetal

His contacts and work in the music industry lead to his entrance into the TV industry. He details it pretty well in one of his specials. I think it was the one after Survivor Man where he tries to live off the grid.

I remember that, although that wasn't technically an episode of Survivorman. It was a 90 minute documentary simply called "Off the Grid with Les Stroud."

[Alberto7]

Meh, quite a shame, I always liked Bear. He seems like a very passionate and humble person. Although owning a private island and several luxury residences kind of takes away from the whole sort of "mystique" that surrounds him... But whatever, it's his money. Plus, he's a family man. What he did was still extremely dangerous, despite having all the safety measures they did. It's only a matter of time until an accident happens, so I think, for the sake of his family, he's better off having a less dangerous job .

With that said, I've always given Survivor Man MUCH more credit, even if I enjoyed both shows equally.

Originally Posted by synrgy

Anyway, just so I can contribute something of merit, I humbly suggest those interested in survival TV may want to check out Out of the Wild: Venezuela. My lady and I started watching it on a Friday night between work and dinner, watched more when we came back home from dinner, and by Saturday night we'd powered through all 8 episodes because it was just too compelling to stay away. Out of the Wild Venezuela : Discovery Channel

I love that show. Sadly, I only caught the first 4 or so episodes of it, but it was awesome. It gets me all warm and fuzzy inside seeing a show about my home country's hostile and exotic environments . HOWEVER... Put those guys in the middle of Caracas in the same conditions, and I assure you they won't last more than a couple days, if not less .

[synrgy]

IMHO, it gets better as it progresses, and we see the participants (I don't say "contestants" because there was no prize or incentive for them beyond the pride of saying they did it..) continually break over the course of the journey. At the start of the show everyone is all gung ho, but by the end, those few who actually completed the trek appeared to be shadows (physically and emotionally) of what they were when they started.

I usually have a severe distaste for most "reality" television, but I found Out of the Wild: Venezuala to be incredibly compelling.