BEAR GRYLLS PUSHES ORDINARY PEOPLE TO THEIR BREAKING POINT

Press release

The world’s best-known adventurer is set to face his toughest challenge yet in BEAR GRYLLS: BREAKING POINT, a new six-part series for Discovery Channel. The series follows Bear as he returns to the wilderness - but this time, he’s not alone. In each episode, the extreme survivalist will instead be joined by some very unlikely companions: two people on a mission to overcome debilitating phobias that have haunted their daily lives. Plagued by their anxieties, they are determined to confront their fears, Bear Grylls style.

Premiering on Discovery Channel on May 26 at 9:00 p.m., Bear will take his terrified companions on a meticulously-planned three-day expedition into the wild landscapes of Mexico and Italy. Designed to expose them to the fears that rule their lives, Bear will test their resolve as he brings them to their Breaking Point – and beyond. And Bear himself is seen in a new light – as an advisor, cheerleader, confidant and buddy – that leads him into unchartered psychological and emotional territory.

Heights, germs, spiders and rats are just some of the phobias Bear’s companions struggle to live with on a daily basis – but they are unavoidable in some of the world’s harshest terrains. As Bear’s survival skills are put to the ultimate test, he vows to keep them out of danger – and send them home in one piece. Bear wants to show these people that they hold strength in their vulnerability, that the wilderness can transform their lives. If they can conquer this, he believes, they can conquer anything.

Bear’s buddies:

• Water. Bear meets two men who are terrified of water after suffering trauma in their lives, and helps them to confront their fears at some of the world’s deepest canyons and highest waterfalls. 
• The OCD Sufferer. Terrified of any contact with blood or germs, an OCD sufferer tests his trust in Bear when he must face a muddy forest canyon, eat raw meat and drink animal blood.
• Afraid of Heights. Our heights sufferers have to face their fears head-on when they are dropped at the bottom of a mountain and the only way is up. After reaching the summit, Bear expects them to heli-hop through the Dolomite Mountains to another peak, where a terrifying high-wire challenge awaits. 
• The Claustrophobics. Bear meets two men who struggle to conduct normal lives after traumatic events gave them a life-long terror of enclosed spaces. In a bid to face their demons head-on, Bear takes them through a massive network of caves.

 

Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel

• Rats and Spiders. Haunted by the idea of these scuttling creatures at their homes and workplaces, two family men follow Bear into terrain perfect for hosting super-sized versions of the very thing they would normally run screaming from.
• The Picky Eater. Food allergies and fad diets are not much use when it comes to surviving in the wild with a man boasting an infamously unorthodox palate. A father of two embarks on a journey with Bear that threatens to take his strict diet to breaking point.
• Trees. Bear meets a mother who is so scared of trees she can’t even take her son to the park. Determined to help her tackle a phobia that has blighted her entire life, Bear takes her to the middle of the Mexican jungle, where she must confront the very trees she is most afraid of.
• Insects. After witnessing his mother suffer a terrible allergic reaction to an insect sting, Bear helps a man face his fear of insects with an emotional journey into the wilderness, where insects come in far larger, more dangerous shapes and sizes than he could have previously imagined.

BEAR GRYLLS: BREAKING POINT demonstrates that anyone can become an adventurer, no matter how inexperienced or terrified they are, and that with the right training and support, the wilderness is a place not just to survive, but to thrive.