President Obama Eats Bear-Chewed Salmon On ‘Running Wild’ With Bear Grylls [Video]
President Obama has been really roughing it. Obama recently taped an episode of Running Wild with survivalist Bear Grylls, and some of the footage was released for broadcast on the Today show Tuesday morning.
In the clip, we see President Obama and Bear Grylls in Alaska, sitting on a river bank and chowing down on a piece of raw salmon that had been already chewed by a bear.
“Why wouldn’t the bear finish this sucker?” President Obama asks, since, to him, it looks like a nice piece of fish. Bear Grylls responds that bears tend to eat the fattiest part of the meat along with the eggs and skin. To which, Obama repeats, “So a bear has chewed on this sucker.”
Bear Grylls then proceeds to cook the rest of the fish, and Obama eats it. He says that it’s tasty, but he has one minor critique of Bear’s cooking.
“It would have been nice if we had a cracker to go with it,” he remarked.
Obama gets a little more critical of Bear’s culinary skills as the clip progresses, though.
“Bear’s a mediocre cook, but the fact that we ate something recognizable is encouraging,” he said, referencing the fact the he was afraid that the show was going to make him eat something really strange. “The fact that he told me this was a leftover fish from a bear… I don’t know if that was necessary. He could have just left that out.”
It’s a beautiful world. Let’s fight to protect it. pic.twitter.com/DrBP5VCgr0
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 4, 2015
President Obama was in Alaska for three days to help raise awareness about climate change and the effect human activity is having on the environment. Near the end of the clip, he says he enjoyed his time with Bear Grylls.
“First of all, I’m not in the office, he says. “Second of all, I’m not wearing a suit.”
But there are people who aren’t too thrilled about Obama appearing on Running Wild with Bear Grylls. According to the International Business Times, PETA issued a statement after the announcement that Obama would be on the show, clearly stating their disapproval.
“Grylls’ shows are known as the bottom of the barrel in demeaning sexist, speciesist, and who knows what other ‘-ist’ TV reality shows — and that’s certainly saying something,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk wrote in a statement.
Running Wild with Bear Grylls takes famous people like Obama on survivalist adventures in the wilderness. The point of the show is to test their mettle and to show people how to survive in the wild.
“[‘Running Wild’] is the last place for the 44th president to be seen. There are far better ways to get the message about global climate change out than by appearing on this disgusting show.”
PETA also cites episodes of Running Wild with Bear Grylls where female guests had been “bullied into slitting a baby pig’s throat and eating a mouse soaked in urine,” as examples of why the show is offensive.
Running Wild’s episode featuring President Obama will be aired on NBC later this year.
[Photo via Today]
