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It is amazing the damage press can do to our reality and a person's image.
Bear Grylls, survivalist, and my latest hero is now facing allegations that certain aspects of his show have been a sham. This deals a tough blow to my reality, as I really was impressed by his show Man vs. Wild. I enjoyed watching him drink his urine and eat live animals. In fact, this past Sunday I watched episodes that I missed for about four hours. It was pure joy. The fact that some of this may be contrived doesn't completely ruin the show for me but does damage the ability of my mind to suspend its disbelief. A person expects dramatization to a certain extent with any television show, after all it is entertainment.
The amazing fact is that neither Bear's website or the Discovery Channel's Portal for Man vs. Wild mentions any of this news. Perhaps if they were willing to accept the press and say, "You know what certain elements of the show were for entertainment, but from now on we'll make sure everything in the show is transparent." Rather, it seems they hope most of the coverage will blow over.
The sad thing is what this does for Bear's reputation and credibility, it will never be the same. Even if the allegations are true and he cheated at certain points for dramatic effect or comfort there is still no doubt that he is very knowledgeable about survival and endured miserable conditions for our entertainment. The man drinks his own piss, juices elephant turds to stay hydrated and jumps in freezing cold water. But now that is has been exposed that certain elements of the show have been fake one cannot look at any of the episodes without questioning their authenticity. And the fact that they were exposed in an "action news" style rather than the upfront honesty of the show and the Discovery Channel makes it even worse.
For real survivalist, Bear has always been more fluff and drama than reality, as they will tell you many of the things he does on the show are foolish, unnecessarily risky, and exaggerated. However, this bunch takes survival as seriously as Islamist extremist take their religion. For them there is no lighter side. For the rest of the world it was quite entertaining to watch someone suffer through dehydration, starvation, and hypothermia. Now that our suspension of disbelief has been shattered the show will never hold our imagination in quite the same way. Bear Grylls's career may continue on but the man who gives motivational speeches to Fortune 500 companies will no longer bear any credibility.
