NBC has given the greenlight to the Bear Grylls reality competition “Get Out Alive,” in which teams of two will compete to succeed in the wild.
Neither element is new — CBS's "Survivor," which helped spawn the reality competition genre, has pitted teams against one another in harsh conditions for more than a decade. And shows including "The Amazing Race" have teams compete in pairs instead of in big groups, as they do on "Survivor."
But the new show has Grylls, the star of Discovery's intense "Man vs. Wild." In that show, Grylls is dropped into the most remote corners of the earth, where he must go to such extremes as drinking his own urine to stay alive. (Or rather, to avoid the humiliation of being pulled out by his crew.) This time, the contestants will be the ones struggling.
Discovery and the British-born Grylls parted ways in March in a contract dispute. The new series comes from Ben Silverman's multimedia studio, Electus. CEO Chris Grant will executive produce.
"To meet Bear is to meet a force of nature," said Paul Telegdy, NBC's president of alternative and late night programming. "He is a magnetic and charismatic talent, whose infectious enthusiasm for adventure inspires people to push themselves beyond their limits."
"'Get Out Alive' will be raw, tough and unrelenting, but it will also inspire and teach the essentials that one day may just save your life," said Grylls. "The goal is to empower people with the ultimate in both survival and teamwork, and that brings incredible reward… but first there must be some pain."
Grylls’ grew up on the U.K.'s Isle of Wight, where his late father taught him to climb and sail. He was trained from a young age in martial arts, then spent three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces. He then survived a free-fall parachuting accident in Africa to become one of the youngest climbers ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
