Bear Grylls grew to fame with his popular TV show “Man vs. Wild," where he went into the wilderness and showed his audience how to survive with bare necessities. In “The Island,” Grylls’ new show, 14 men travel to a deserted island and work together to survive. Many people in the U.K. watch “The Island” and the show has made its way into the U.S. as an American adaptation. The first episode aired on May 25, 2015 on NBC. “The Island” differs from other reality shows because it offers no prizes, eliminations or winner and is filmed entirely by the participants themselves.
The Eagle participated in a conference call with other journalists to question Grylls and producer Holly Wofford on their new show. Below are some of the highlights.
On how the islands are chosen
Bear Grylls: “Well, in short, we try to find the toughest island out there, you know, so I think people have an image of desert islands as being lovely places with nice palm trees and, you know, nice climate and, you know, nice swimming and all of that, you know. This really could have been called Hell Island because it’s a place that’s just full of snakes, crocodiles. It’s like a natural fortress patrolled by sharks, brutal heat and humidity, sand flies that sometimes, you know, you’ll see these men they’re literally— it’s like they’re just devoured by these things, you know. So we’re looking for an island that has a lot of those elements. At the same time, we’re having to look for an island that has enough natural resources and indigenous animals that can sustain life but barely and that was the kind of brief, you know, find a really mega unforgiving island that can sustain life just.”
On whether NBC or Grylls chose the islands
BG: “Yes, we, you know, Holly led a scouting team, and we had people out all over the world looking for the right sort of places and then we put a selection of those in front of NBC and put our case for each one and eventually pick the right one. But, again at the end of the day, the great thing is it’s not about the island, you know, you could do it anywhere. It’s about these guys’ personal journey and their transformation and the cost of the transformation and the cost, you know. I’ve said on this is about 1000 barrels of sweat, but it’s an incredible price to pay and it’s an incredible prize at the end. It might not be a sort of prize you’re used to on American TV, but it’s a prize that is almost beyond value for these guys that endured but not all of them made it.”
On possibility of being a vegetarian on this show
BG: “Well, you’re going to go pretty hungry, you know, but the thing is there are no rules and this is what’s so appealing, you know, because you could easily have a vegetarian or a vegan on there and that’s why it’s such a great reflection of life. There are no rules. There’s nobody saying you can’t do it. They could do it, but they’re just going to go through even more starvation than the others, you know, and there are a lot of times where they had to make some pretty moral judgements, you know, on certain things and, you know, it’s moving seeing how people approach that when you take people outside of this rule of law, you know?”
On challenges involved in production
Holly Wofford: “Well, the 14 men shot the series themselves. Everything was shot by the 14 men, and I think frankly maintaining the camera, lugging the cameras around and thinking about shooting what they’re doing under the circumstances when they’re starving and when they’re, you know, absolutely thirsty, dying of thirst. Each man did receive a small amount of camera training, so they weren’t sent out there blindly, but yes. I think, you know, getting their bearings, being able to shoot when feeling so exhausted and being able to deliver a, you know, a network quality product was quite challenging for them. They did that so exceptionally well and I’m so proud of them for what they’ve brought back.”
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