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Bear Grylls drops other people on a deserted island for new show 'The Island'

 
Fourteen ordinary guys are dropped on an island for a month in The Island, a new show hosted and produced by survival expert Bear Grylls. It’s based on a British TV show of the same name.
Fourteen ordinary guys are dropped on an island for a month in The Island, a new show hosted and produced by survival expert Bear Grylls. It’s based on a British TV show of the same name.
Published May 25, 2015

Survival expert Bear Grylls expects the contestants on his new NBC reality adventure series The Island to be more prepared than they would have been had the show debuted a decade ago. The 14 players who are dropped on a deserted island for a month have had the opportunity to see Grylls fend for himself in the wild through numerous survival series.

"I hope they have learned something from my shows and that encouraged them to work on their survival skills," Grylls says. "… It sparks something in people to wonder if they could do it if the s--- hit the fan."

The new NBC show, based on a British series of the same name, has no prizes, eliminations, winners or camera crews. The entire series was filmed by participants and edited into six episodes.

All they will have are their clothes and minimal survival tools. They must hunt for food, find a water source, build a shelter and try to survive. Grylls promises the island has everything the men need. It's just a matter of figuring out what is available.

Grylls didn't want to fill the show with survival experts. He wants to show what happens when everyday people are pushed to survival extremes. Participants include a stay-at-home dad, trauma surgeon, firefighter and criminal defense attorney.

"This experiment reveals, in a shocking way, whether modern man, when pushed, can still summon all the resolve, ingenuity and strength that traditionally made a man's man — or whether our society's cushioning has meant we have lost those hard-earned skills of our ancestors," Grylls says. "This is the raw, unfiltered and uncensored story of 14 men, as told exclusively by them. They will have to learn to work together through trial an error. That's why there is more tension in this show."

Grylls has seen how hard it is to predict which participants will shine because things change dramatically in a month. One thing has become clear: The men with the most drive to succeed are the ones who tend to do the best.

"It's not about skills and knowledge. It's about kindness, humility, resourcefulness. The people who become hero can not be called at the start. That's because the island is the ultimate equalizer," Grylls says.

The Island is one of two series featuring Grylls on NBC this summer. A second season of Running Wild With Bear Grylls will debut July 13, taking him into wild locations with celebrity travelers: Kate Winslet, Kate Hudson, Drew Brees, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed Helms, Michelle Rodriguez, James Marsden and Michael B. Jordan.

Grylls says being dropped into uncharted territory and tackling the wilderness head-on can be both daunting and draining, but it is also empowering. That's what he calls the beating heart of Running Wild.

Whether he's dealing with 14 participants on an island or traveling through the Colorado Rocky Mountains with a celebrity, there's one place on Earth that remains the favorite for him.

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"It's home," he says. "I have spent a lifetime traveling, but I always like when I get back home."