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====Criticism====
====Criticism====
In 2006 it became known that Born Survivor deceived viewers into believing that Grylls was really stranded in the wild when he was not,<ref>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-471510/Latest-TV-fake-scenes-Grizzly-attack-survival-man-fancy-dress-bear-costume.html</ref> and [[Channel 4]] temporarily suspended the show for a few weeks. Discovery aired re-edited episodes, removing elements that were considered too planned, with a fresh voice-over and a preceding announcement pointing out that some situations are 'presented to Bear to show the viewer how to survive'. Both Discovery and Channel 4 have continued to broadcast the program.
In 2006 it became known that Born Survivor deceived viewers into believing that Grylls was really stranded in the wild when he was not,<ref>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-471510/Latest-TV-fake-scenes-Grizzly-attack-survival-man-fancy-dress-bear-costume.html</ref> and [[Channel 4]] temporarily suspended the show for a few weeks. Discovery aired re-edited episodes, removing elements that were considered too planned, with a fresh voice-over and a preceding announcement pointing out that some situations are 'presented to Bear to show the viewer how to survive'. Both Discovery and Channel 4 have continued to broadcast the program.He is also know to stay in hotels when viwers are given the impression he is actully camping out in the wild.


An adviser to the ''Man vs. Wild/Born Survivor'' series revealed that Grylls had been staying at a California lodge while filming. A crossing of a deep crevasse was shown to be within sight of a road.<ref>{{YouTube|3UpSlpvb1is|Re: Man Vs. Wild, Bear Grylls is a Phony}}. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.</ref> Grylls was shown taming 'wild' horses who had horseshoes on their hooves when the film was examined closely and which turned out to be ex-ranch horses. Similarly, it was revealed that Grylls had stayed at a crew base-camp in the [[Costa Rica]]n jungle, while giving viewers the impression that he was alone. Further, there have been several other incidents, including the impression Grylls built a raft "in a matter of hours with no tools." According to the adviser, the raft was actually in part built by a show stunt consultant. This particular episode implied it was filmed on a small south pacific island, which Channel 4 admitted was actually a small peninsula in Hawaii, the scene of at least three Hollywood movie shoots. These incidents were confirmed by Channel 4, who argued that it was not a documentary, but a "how-to" guide to survival, implying that staged scenes were acceptable in that context.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=470155&in_page_id=1770 |title=How Bear Grylls the Born Survivor roughed it – in hotels |date=2007-07-23 |work=Mail Online |accessdate=2008-07-14}}</ref>
An adviser to the ''Man vs. Wild/Born Survivor'' series revealed that Grylls had been staying at a California lodge while filming. A crossing of a deep crevasse was shown to be within sight of a road.<ref>{{YouTube|3UpSlpvb1is|Re: Man Vs. Wild, Bear Grylls is a Phony}}. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.</ref> Grylls was shown taming 'wild' horses who had horseshoes on their hooves when the film was examined closely and which turned out to be ex-ranch horses. Similarly, it was revealed that Grylls had stayed at a crew base-camp in the [[Costa Rica]]n jungle, while giving viewers the impression that he was alone. Further, there have been several other incidents, including the impression Grylls built a raft "in a matter of hours with no tools." According to the adviser, the raft was actually in part built by a show stunt consultant. This particular episode implied it was filmed on a small south pacific island, which Channel 4 admitted was actually a small peninsula in Hawaii, the scene of at least three Hollywood movie shoots. These incidents were confirmed by Channel 4, who argued that it was not a documentary, but a "how-to" guide to survival, implying that staged scenes were acceptable in that context.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=470155&in_page_id=1770 |title=How Bear Grylls the Born Survivor roughed it – in hotels |date=2007-07-23 |work=Mail Online |accessdate=2008-07-14}}</ref>

Revision as of 15:08, 5 February 2009

Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls
Born (1974-06-07) 7 June 1974 (age 50)
Bembridge, Isle of Wight, UK
Occupation(s)professional adventurer,
author,
motivational speaker,
television presenter
SpouseShara Cannings Knight[1]
ChildrenJesse, Marmaduke[2] and Huckleberry[3]
WebsiteBearGrylls.com

Bear Grylls (born 7 June 1974), real name Edward Michael Bear Grylls, is a British adventurer, television presenter and writer currently best known for his television series Born Survivor (Man vs. Wild in the U.S.).

Personal life

Grylls was raised in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.[6] He is the son of the late Conservative party politician Sir Michael Grylls and Sally Grylls, the former Sarah Ford.[7] His maternal grandmother was Patricia Ford,[8] an Ulster Unionist Party MP. He has one sibling, an elder sister, Lara. Grylls is the great-great-grandson of prolific Scottish writer Samuel Smiles.

Grylls was educated at Ludgrove School, Eton College, and Birkbeck, University of London,[9] where he graduated with a degree, obtained part-time, in Hispanic studies in 2002. He is also a second dan black belt in Shotokan karate. He can speak English, Spanish, and French.[10] Grylls has a strong Christian faith, and described his faith in an interview with Channel 4 as being the 'backbone' in his life.[10]

Grylls has been married since 2000, he and his wife Shara Grylls (née Cannings Knight)[1][8] have three sons: Jesse, Marmaduke[11], and Huckleberry (born January 15, 2009).[12]

In December 2008, Grylls suffered a broken shoulder while kite skiing across a stretch of ice in Antarctica. Traveling at speeds up to 50 km/h, one of his skis caught on the ice launching him in the air and breaking his shoulder when he came down.[13] On December 7, 2008, Discovery Channel stated that Grylls did not injure himself during a taping of his Man vs. Wild show but instead was injured while on an independent expedition.[14]

Career

Military

After leaving school, Grylls considered joining the Indian Army [15] and spent a few months hiking in the Himalayan mountains of Sikkim and West Bengal. From 1994 to 1997, he served in the part-time[16] United Kingdom Special Forces Reserve, with 21 Regiment Special Air Service, 21 SAS(R), as a trooper, survival instructor and Patrol Medic [17].He served in North Africa twice.[18] His service in the SAS ended in 1997 as a result of a free fall parachuting accident he had suffered the previous year in Kenya. His canopy ripped at 1600 feet (500 m), partially opening, causing him to fall and land on his parachute pack on his back, which partially crushed three vertebrae.[19] Grylls later said of the accident, "I should have cut the main parachute and gone to the reserve but thought there was time to resolve the problem".[20] Grylls spent the next 18 months in and out of military rehabilitation at Headley Court[20] before being discharged and directing his efforts into trying to get well enough to fulfil his childhood dream of climbing Mount Everest.

Grylls has since been awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant Commander in the UK's Royal Naval Reserve for services to both charity and human endeavour.[21]

Expeditions

Grylls has been involved in several solo, and team based feats, and attempts for charity or record breaking.

By land

Ama Dablam

Grylls first entered the record books in 1997 by being the youngest Briton to summit Ama Dablam in the Himalayas--a peak famously described Sir Edmund Hillary as "unclimbable"--with his good friend Colm Keaveney [citation needed].

Everest

In 1998, Grylls achieved his childhood dream, and a Guinness World Record (since surpassed), as the youngest Briton, at 23, to summit Mount Everest, just eighteen months after breaking his back. However, James Allen, an Australian/British climber who ascended Everest in 1995 with an Australian team, but who has dual citizenship, beat him to the summit at age 22.[22]. The expedition led by former SAS officer Neil Laughton and including childhood friend Mick Crosthwaite, involved nearly three months on Everest's southeast face, from his first reconnaissance climb on which he fell in a crevasse and was knocked unconscious, regaining consciousness to find himself swinging on the end of a rope, to the grueling ascent that took him past extreme weather, fatigue, dehydration, last-minute illness, sleep deprivation and almost running out of oxygen inside the death zone.

By sea

Circumnavigation of the UK

In 2000, Grylls, with his friend Neil Laughton, was among the first team to circumnavigate the UK on a personal watercraft or jet ski, to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

Crossing the North Atlantic

Three years later, he led a team of five, including childhood friend and Mount Everest climbing partner Mick Crosthwaite, on the first unassisted crossing of the north Atlantic Arctic Ocean, in an open rigid inflatable boat. Battling force 8 gale winds, hypothermia, icebergs and storms in a eleven meter long boat through some of the most treacherous stretches of water in the world including the Labrador Sea, the Denmark Strait, and the stretch made famous by The Perfect Storm, Bear and his team were just barely able to finish the journey from Halifax, Novia Scotia to John o' Groats, Scotland. He was awarded an Honorary commission in the Royal Navy, as a Lieutenant-Commander for this feat.

By air

Paramotoring over Angel Falls

In 2005, Grylls led the first team ever to attempt to paramotor over the remote jungle plateau of the Angel Falls in Venezuela, the world's largest waterfall. The team was attempting to reach the highest, most remote high tepuis, made famous by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.

Dinner party at altitude

In 2005, alongside balloonist and mountaineer David Hempleman-Adams and Lieutenant Commander Alan Veal, leader of the Royal Navy Freefall Parachute Display Team, Bear Grylls created a world record for the highest ever open-air formal dinner party, which they did under a hot air balloon at 25,000 feet, dressed in full Mess dress and oxygen masks. To train for the event, Bear made over 200 parachute jumps. This was in aid of the The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and The Prince's Trust.

Paramotoring over the Himalayas

In 2007, Grylls claimed to have broken a new world record by flying a paramotor over the Himalayas, higher than Mount Everest. [23]

Grylls took off from 14,500 feet, 8 miles south of the mountain. Grylls says he got within two miles of the famous peak during his ascent.

Grylls describes coping with temperatures of −60 °C and dangerously low oxygen levels for the expedition, which reached 29,500 feet, almost 10,000 feet higher than the previous record of 20,019 feet and was filmed for Discovery Channel worldwide as well as Channel 4 in the UK. [24]

While Grylls initially claimed that the flight was over Everest itself, the permit was only to fly to the south of Everest, and he did not approach Everest itself out of risk of violating Chinese airspace.[25]

Longest Indoor Freefall

Bear Grylls, with two other skydivers, set a Guiness world record in 2008 for the longest continuous indoor freefall.

The previous record was 1hr 36mins by a US team. They broke the record by a matter of a few seconds.

Television

Escape to the Legion

Grylls filmed a four-part TV show in 2005, called Escape to the Legion, which followed Grylls and eleven other UK 'recruits' as they took part in a shortened recreated version of the the French Foreign Legion's basic desert training in the Sahara. The show was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4,[26] and in the USA on the Military Channel.[27] travel channel, 2006-2007. In 2008, it was repeated in the UK on the History Channel[28][29][30]

Born Survivor / Man vs. Wild / Ultimate Survival / Survival Game

Main article: Man vs. Wild

Grylls hosts a series titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls for the British Channel 4, broadcast in the U.S. on Discovery Channel as Man vs. Wild. This series is titled Ultimate Survival for Discovery Channel in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Locations around the globe that Bear visits during Man vs. Wild. Red – Season 1, Blue – 2, Green – 3.[citation needed]

The series features Grylls being dropped into some of the most inhospitable places on earth, and showing viewers how to survive. The second series premiered in the US on 15 June 2007, the third in Nov 2007, and the fourth in May 2008. Grylls is currently filming the fifth series.

The show has featured stunts including Grylls climbing cliffs, wading rapids, eating unusual animals and even wrapping his urine-soaked t-shirt around his head to help stave off the desert heat. Grylls also regales the viewer with tales of adventurers stranded or killed in the wilderness.

Criticism

In 2006 it became known that Born Survivor deceived viewers into believing that Grylls was really stranded in the wild when he was not,[31] and Channel 4 temporarily suspended the show for a few weeks. Discovery aired re-edited episodes, removing elements that were considered too planned, with a fresh voice-over and a preceding announcement pointing out that some situations are 'presented to Bear to show the viewer how to survive'. Both Discovery and Channel 4 have continued to broadcast the program.He is also know to stay in hotels when viwers are given the impression he is actully camping out in the wild.

An adviser to the Man vs. Wild/Born Survivor series revealed that Grylls had been staying at a California lodge while filming. A crossing of a deep crevasse was shown to be within sight of a road.[32] Grylls was shown taming 'wild' horses who had horseshoes on their hooves when the film was examined closely and which turned out to be ex-ranch horses. Similarly, it was revealed that Grylls had stayed at a crew base-camp in the Costa Rican jungle, while giving viewers the impression that he was alone. Further, there have been several other incidents, including the impression Grylls built a raft "in a matter of hours with no tools." According to the adviser, the raft was actually in part built by a show stunt consultant. This particular episode implied it was filmed on a small south pacific island, which Channel 4 admitted was actually a small peninsula in Hawaii, the scene of at least three Hollywood movie shoots. These incidents were confirmed by Channel 4, who argued that it was not a documentary, but a "how-to" guide to survival, implying that staged scenes were acceptable in that context.[33]

Civilian

Outside of TV, Grylls sometimes works as a professional motivational speaker and trainer. Grylls entered television work with an appearance in an advertisement for Sure deodorant, featuring his ascent of Mount Everest, compared with what really made him sweat (giving a motivational talk to an audience). Grylls has been a guest on many television programs, including Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Attack of the Show, The Late Show with David Letterman,Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Harry Hill's TV Burp.

Bear Grylls is also a bestselling author. Grylls' first book, titled Facing Up, went into the UK top 10 best-seller list, and was launched in the USA entitled The Kid Who Climbed Everest. Its subject is his expedition, at 23 years old, to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. Grylls' second book Facing the Frozen Ocean was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2004. His next book was written to accompany the series Born Survivor: Bear Grylls. (Released in America in April 2008 to the Man vs. Wild Discovery television show) It featuring survival skills learned from some of the world's most hostile places. This book reached the Sunday Times Top 10 best-seller list.

He also has a series of children's adventure survival books out titled: 'Mission Survival: Gold of the Gods', and 'Mission Survival: Way of the Wolf'. His latest book is an extreme guide to outdoor pursuits, titled Bear Grylls Great Outdoor Adventures.

Bear Grylls also has his own outdoor survival clothing line produced by clothing manufacturer Craghoppers.

Bear Grylls has recorded two advertisements for Post's Trail Mix Crunch Cereal, which will air in the US from January 19, 2009. The video's are available at this link - http://beargrylls.com/ontv.html [34]

Charities

Grylls has a close relationship with several charitable organizations; many of his expeditions and stunts have raised large sums of money for them. Grylls is an ambassador for The Prince's Trust, an organisation which provides training, financial, and practical support to young people in Britain. He is also vice president for The JoLt Trust, a small charity that takes disabled, disadvantaged, abused or neglected young people on challenging month-long expeditions.

Global Angels, a UK charity which seeks to aid needing children around the world, were the beneficiaries of his 2007 attempt to take a powered paraglider higher than Mount Everest. Grylls's attempt to hold the highest ever dinner party at 25,000 feet was in aid of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, and launched the 50th anniversary of the Awards. His attempt to circumnavigate Britain on jet skis raised money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Grylls' Everest climb was in aid of SSAFA Forces Help, a British-based charitable organisation set up to help former, and serving members of the British Armed Forces, and their families and dependents. His 2003 Arctic expedition detailed in the book Facing the Frozen Ocean was in aid of The Prince's Trust. His 2005 attempt to paramotor over the Angel Falls was in aid of the charity Hope and Homes for Children.[35]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Out of the Wild: Bear Grylls survives the urban jungle". mensvogue.com. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  2. ^ "Bear Grylls : Man vs. Wild". Discovery Channel. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  3. ^ Bear Grylls Welcomes Son Huckleberry Celebrity Baby Blog, January 15, 2009
  4. ^ "Who dares wins". The Echo. thisisdorset.net. 2004-04-17. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  5. ^ ""This is where we hide from the world"". Home & Gardens magazine. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  6. ^ "MY LIFE IN TRAVEL: Bear Grylls". The Independent. Retrieved April 17 2004. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "Sir Michael Grylls". Telegraph. Retrieved November 22 2001. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  8. ^ a b "Person Page 24749". thePeerage.com. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  9. ^ "History of Birkbeck: 1900s". Birkbeck. Retrieved December 3 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  10. ^ a b "Ask Bear Your Questions".
  11. ^ "Bear Gryll's Bio".
  12. ^ Bear Grylls Welcomes Son Huckleberry Celebrity Baby Blog, January 15, 2009
  13. ^ http://www.journeyantarctica2008.com/diary/?currentPage=2
  14. ^ http://www.headlinecontent.com/newsarticle.aspx?catId=4&articleId=1724121
  15. ^ Grylls, The Kid Who Climbed Everest, 11
  16. ^ http://www2.army.mod.uk/uksf/special_forces_soldier_reserve_/sas/index.htm
  17. ^ "Bear Grylls – Mountaineer & Motivational Speaker". City Speakers International. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  18. ^ "Bear Brylls Biography". Retrieved 01 January 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. ^ "Escape to the Legion". Channel4.com. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  20. ^ a b Petty, Moira (2007-04-24). "Adventurer Bear Grylls' battle with back pain and high cholesterol". Mail Online. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  21. ^ "News and Events: Royal Navy – Honorary Officers of the RNR". The Royal Navy. 2006. Retrieved May 19 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  22. ^ Summit Magazine #40, Winter 2005, page 12
  23. ^ "Latest News". Bear Grylls. Retrieved September 2 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  24. ^ "Flying Into A Dream". Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved May 27 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  25. ^ "Explorer hits heights with Himalayan record". Telegraph Media Group. 2007-05-16. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  26. ^ "Escape to the Legion". Channel 4. Retrieved May 19 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  27. ^ "Military Channel: TV Listings: Escape to the Legion". The Military Channel. 2007. Retrieved May 19 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  28. ^ "ESCAPE TO THE LEGION: Escape To The Legion – Part 2". The HistoryChannel.co.uk. 2008-03-10. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  29. ^ "ESCAPE TO THE LEGION: Escape To The Legion – Part 3". The HistoryChannel.co.uk. 2008-03-17. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  30. ^ "ESCAPE TO THE LEGION: Escape To The Legion – Part 4". The HistoryChannel.co.uk. 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  31. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-471510/Latest-TV-fake-scenes-Grizzly-attack-survival-man-fancy-dress-bear-costume.html
  32. ^ Re: Man Vs. Wild, Bear Grylls is a Phony on YouTube. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
  33. ^ "How Bear Grylls the Born Survivor roughed it – in hotels". Mail Online. 2007-07-23. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  34. ^ "Bear Grylls on tv". Bear Grylls. Retrieved January 27 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  35. ^ Murray Norton (2005). "Fancy An Adventure". Webchats.tv. Retrieved May 19 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)


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