A grand prize of $10,000 is on the line, and five players are determined to live up to the chance to best each other — and overcome some wild wilderness challenges based on experiences survivalist Bear Grylls has conquered. On the fifth episode of the first season of I Survived Bear Grylls (Thursdays on TBS at 9:00 pm ET/PT), Bear welcomes five new players to the hardest day of their lives, which will include “broken” legs, electric shocks and even alligators. Ahead are the episode’s top moments from each of the four challenges facing the contestants: fitness coach Fendi; clinical social worker Tenley; arts professor Lynn; tech consultant Tyler; and engineer Sylvester.
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Bloody Good Time
Bear is ready to rain on the players’ parade with the same extreme conditions that once forced him to use a mountain sheep carcass as a sleeping bag to survive a night in a freezing bog in coastal Ireland. But the contestants won’t have to snooze in skins. Based on a question from Bear, these budding survivalists must select the correct fake fur pelt (soaked in real animal blood), climb inside and roll to the finish line. But it’s the odor of the blood, not the sight, that’s hardest to stomach. “If I could describe the smell,” Tenley says, “the only thing I could think of is if a skunk met some burned rubber and then was wrapped up and thrown in some hot trash in the summertime.”
Balls Appetite
The four players who move on head to a sick feast in the forest in Order Up. “This is where it gets a little more stomach churning,” Bear promises of serving up some unappetizing hors d’oeuvres. He notes, “Survival food is never pretty.” Bear again asks a question and the players need to select one of three answers, which are in the form of some pretty disgusting dishes. They’re then committed to chowing down on their selection, earning points. When asked about the worst thing they’ve ever eaten, the contestants’ responses range from beets to military food. But the most memorable item on this challenge’s tasting menu turns out to be testicles. “I have had the misfortune of having to chomp down on a lot of testicles over the years in the name of survival,” Bear shares.
Consolation Prize
In a recreation of Bear’s adventures as an Everest mountaineer, up-and-coming survivalists must maneuver their way across increasingly rickety ladders strung between platforms, retrieve a surfboard, beach ball, dummy and deckchair, and then return with all four to the starting point without dropping anything. The most memorable part of the competition wasn’t how bad the players did, but how well they each performed, including the last place finisher. “Just to know that I put myself out there, doing something that I never thought that I’d be able to do, is truly a blessing,” the person sent home says.
Phoning It in
The last two survivors still standing for the final challenge are about to learn what it’s like to be injured and make it out of a tough spot alive. Players must splint their “broken” leg, crawl their way across a swamp to a cell phone — all under the menacingly watchful eye of a live alligator looking on. First person to hand Bear the cell phone wins the money. But of course, faking a broken leg is easy. What’s not is Bear deciding to zap players with a high voltage taser to make the challenge seem real — and real painful. “This is like a whole other level of pain,” one player says of the “intense” race to the finish line. “I believe in mind over matter, but I literally thought I was going to throw up.” And judging from their reactions to the taser, the two vying to win are clearly in a world of pain. Nothing $10,000, it turns out, couldn’t help fix.
