Bear Grimes is dirty, rugged, and so good looking very masculine.  His hit show is “Man vs. Wild” and it’s been the topic of many conversations.

The general format of each episode is that Grylls is left stranded in a region. The episode documents his efforts to survive and find a way back to civilization, usually requiring an overnight shelter of some kind. Bear also tells about successful and failed survivals in the particular area he is in.

Each episode takes about one week to shoot. Before each shooting the crew does about a week of reconnaissance, followed by Bear Grylls doing a flyover of the terrain. Grylls then undergoes two days of intensive survival briefings. “I spend two days on location prior to dropping in – I go through all the safety and comms briefing as well as being briefed on local conditions, and flora and fauna by local rangers and a local bushcraft expert.” He is followed on the program by a cameraman and a sound engineer. To show various survival situations, some aspects of the show are staged.

The Discovery Channel wants to shed some light on the show: “In each episode of Man vs. Wild Bear strands himself in popular wilderness destinations where tourists often find themselves lost or in danger. As he finds his way back to civilization, he demonstrates local survival techniques, including escaping quicksand in the Moab Desert, navigating dangerous jungle rivers in Costa Rica, crossing ravines in the Alps and surviving sharks off Hawaii.”

Hey, it works. I hopefully will never find myself stranded in the middle of the jungle rivers in Costa Rica, but if I do– at least I know that Bear Grylls tried to show me how to get out of there. Check out the premiere of the fourth season tonight, on the Discovery Channel.