President Obama ‘Running Wild With Bear Grylls’ In Alaska: First President To Visit Alaskan Arctic For Global Warming Awareness
If you’re looking for President Barack Obama, check the Alaskan wilderness. Mr. Obama will be busy, reports the BBC, with Bear Grylls. The NBC channel announced that an upcoming episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls will feature none other than the leader of the free world.
Barack Obama to test survivor skills on Bear Grylls show – BBC News http://t.co/UkI8rnjOIA
— Bear Grylls (@BearGrylls) August 31, 2015
It’ll be interesting to see the Secret Service folks trekking along with President Obama on the show with the British adventurer who teaches others to survive in the wild. Grylls is known to perform gross feats, such as squeezing elephant dung and drinking the moisture – something Bear called not the best liquid he’s ever had. Grylls also has dove straight into the opened carcasses of dead animals in order to extract the food from within their stomachs.
Born Edward Michael Grylls, Bear has drank the blood from a yak and eaten live beetle larvae in one of the most “gross out” segments of the show. However, don’t expect President Obama to perform all of those gross eating habits. According to USA Today, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that not every antic suggested by the Running Wild with Bear Grylls folks was A-Okay with the Secret Service.
Earnest spoke with the press while President Obama flew on Air Force One on Monday, heading to Alaska and the Arctic Circle – the first time a sitting president has visited the region.
“I will not deny your suspicion that there may have been some suggestions put forward by the Bear Grylls team that were not approved by the Secret Service.”
The point isn’t for President Obama to prove his merit in the wild, but to bring attention to changes in climate in the region. The airdate of the show with President Obama is scheduled to appear later this year. Either way, on the president’s three-day tour of Alaska, there should be plenty of footage to pull for Bear’s show as the Commander-in-Chief visits glaciers and leaders in the area.
Famous actors have appeared on Grylls’ show previously, but never an acting president. Michael B. Jordan, Kate Winslet, and Kate Hudson have all appeared with Bear – a 41-year-old man who previously lived as a British special forces solider.
Reactions to President Obama appearing on Grylls’ show have already included a petition asking for Mr. Obama to imbibe his own urine for scientific purposes, the petition stated.
“President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with Bear Grylls during his visit to Alaska, who will give the president a ‘crash course in survival techniques.’ If there’s one thing we all know about Bear Grylls’ techniques, it’s that they mostly involve drinking his own urine. And so: We ask that Obama do the right thing and drink his own urine during a taping of Running Wild with Bear Grylls. For science. The people demand it.”
[Image via Getty Images/Alex Wong]
