Running Wild with Bear Grylls is an American survival skills reality television series starring Bear Grylls. In each episode, Grylls brings a different celebrity on a wilderness trip that is pre-arranged and supervised, but is presented as raw and unplanned. The crew includes host Grylls, a story producer, two camera cinematographers, two field recordists, and a mountain guide, who are present throughout filming.
Celebrities such as Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, and Ben Stiller made appearances on the first season of the show. In season 2, Kate Winslet, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Hudson, Michelle Rodriguez, James Marsden, and Barack Obama appeared. The series' fourth season premiered on May 7, 2018.
Grylls announced the show's fifth season on October 27, 2018, which began filming around the same time. In February 2019, it was announced that the show would be moving to National Geographic for its fifth season, which premiered on November 5, 2019. The show was rebranded as Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge starting with season 7. On February 9, 2026, the series was renewed for a ninth season with the show moving to Fox and rebranded as Bear Grylls Is Running Wild, which premiered on April 21, 2026.
Contents
Description
The show is based on the same survivalist concept as Grylls' other shows, such as Man vs. Wild, but with a celebrity joining him for the journey. The journeys include skydiving into the Catskill Mountains and climbing the cliffs in Utah.
The first season began on July 28, 2014, and ended on September 8, 2014, receiving generally positive reviews that improved week by week. For three weeks it was the highest rated unscripted new show of the summer. A second season was announced on March 26, 2015, and began airing in July 2015.
On August 31, 2015, NBC and the White House announced that President Barack Obama would appear as a guest, hike through Exit Glacier and discuss conservation as well as the impact of climate change on the Alaska wilderness.
Episodes
Season 5 (2019)
The series premiered its fifth season on National Geographic on November 5, 2019. Guest celebrities featured include Alex Honnold, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cara Delevingne, Dave Bautista, Zachary Quinto and returning season 1 guest Channing Tatum, among others, with locations including Iceland, Sardinia, Panama, Arizona and Utah.
French version
A French version of Running Wild with Bear Grylls titled À l'état sauvage airs in the French on M6. It is hosted by Mike Horn and premiered on the network on June 28, 2016.
À L'État Sauvage
Six episodes aired between 2016 and 2018. In each episode, Horn brings a different celebrity along on his adventures. The following six French celebrities made their embarked on an adventure with Horn: Michaël Youn, Matt Pokora, Laure Manaudou, Christophe Dechavanne, Shy'm and Adriana Karembeu. Each episode is set in different countries around the world: Namibia, Sri Lanka, Botswana, Venezuela and Nepal.
Cap Horn
After the six episodes of À L'État Sauvage, Horn started his own format of the show: Cap Horn. Two episodes aired, featuring celebrities Arnaud Ducret and Bernard de La Villardière, whom he embarked on adventures with in the Philippines.
