Netflix and Bear Grylls are teaming up to bring a new interactive show to the streaming juggernaut. Similar to last year’s “Bandersnatch” film of Black Mirror, You Vs Wild will put viewers in control of Bear Grylls as he explores the wilds of various different countries. Grylls, Chief Scout and previous host of Discovery Channel’s Man Vs Wild, will be the star and watchers will be given multiple choices for how he proceeds through the wilderness.
Eight episodes will be premiering on April 10, 2019, for your binge-watching pleasure. I’m mostly just trying to figure out if Grylls dying is an option because I’m still quite puzzled at how this show will actually work. This isn’t a fictional setting like Bandersnatch, but a real person out in the world with wild animals. The multiple episodes are said to take place in locations such as “jungles, mountains, deserts, and forests,” so there should be a good amount of variety to the proceedings.
Despite how silly Man Vs Wild was, I was always amazed at how much educational value the various episodes had. Grylls might have fudged some of the actual survival bits (and taken a few trips to hotels while filming), but some of the episodes from that series were pure gold. I’m particularly fond of the one where Grylls parkoured his way through an abandoned city, which felt like an adaptation of the STALKER game series. It was loaded with information about what to do in the situation and clues to look for when scavenging for food.
Maybe it is all just movie magic, but I’m down to see why Grylls has in store.
