There’s no better motivator than money — $10,000 to be exact — to get five contestants to confront and attempt to overcome some of Bear Grylls’ craziest survival situations. This week he’s delivering everything from a spoonful of brains to a bird poop rainstorm in four incredible environments. In the new episode of I Survived Bear Grylls (Thursdays on TBS at 9:00 pm ET/PT), Bear meets the latest survivalists up to the challenge: Dylan, a former Marine and current standup comedian; Ronald, a Honduran mountaineer who scaled Everest; Katelyn, a social media influencer and freelance content creator; Sam, a gymnast who loves to hunt and fish; and Matt, a vet dedicated to helping military-connected folks overcome difficulties they might be facing. Ahead are the top moments from the newest crop of challenges.
Videos by Outdoors
Say Cheese
Mountain rescue is the name of the first game, “Surefooted Sherpa.” Contestants must slide down a slope, retrieve items ranging from boots to a bed, and grab a rope to scale their way back to the top — all while dodging obstacles that include bulky boulders and errant animals. Influencer Katelyn ends her game with a loss that is far from picture perfect. “It’s harder than I thought it was going to be,” she admits. “The two Pilates videos that I did to prepare for this just weren’t cutting it.”
Still, the social media star adds, “I’m going out with my head held high, taking selfies.”
This Stinks
The players go from slick ice to slippery mountains in “Don’t Drag Me Down.” Bear advises that climbing in the wild is never straightforward like it is in a nice sanitized gym: “It’s often raining, it’s windy, you’re on your own, you’re up against it.” The seasoned survivalist notes that in his lifetime he’s done a lot of climbing known as via ferrata, or literally the iron way. The method relies on steel wires bolted to mountains faces, and the week’s aspiring survivalists use carabiners to race each other along “cliffs” to retrieve a lantern they must return to Bear. In case that’s not difficult enough, the host decides to make the course “awkward, stinky, difficult and dangerous” with simulated bird droppings. Despite Bear’s advice to “ignore the bird poop” splashing around, one of the game’s biggest athletes craps out and goes home. “For being bird poop, it kind of tastes tropical,” the loser notes.
Bon Appétit
It’s time to head to the desert for the challenge “A Spoonful of ‘Sugar?’”
“I always say at the beginning that you’re going to need guts on this show,” Bear says when introducing a survival food-eating challenge that includes some not-so-delectable dishes he’s had to live off while in the wilderness (skunk anus, anyone?) To move on to the final level, the remaining three players have to be the first to correctly answer questions or swallow not-so-tasty meals, such as beaver anal glands and pig brains. One player says she’s never tried disgusting survival foods before but confesses to having had “some questionable things in my mouth.” And if that player manages to chow down and win the prize money that’s up for grabs? “Well, 10 G sounds like the perfect amount of money for some new boobs,” she tells Bear.
That’s Cold!
The last battle, “A Game of Ice and Feathers,” starts out with a swamp challenge designed to test the remaining two survivalists’ physicality, adaptability, guts and grit. A two-minute ice bath, which Bear says will “feel painful and intense,” is followed by a go at the climbing wall — a difficult feat to pull off since players won’t be able to feel their hands or feet. The winner is the first person to complete the third and final part of the challenge: hitting five feathered targets with projectiles shot from a slingshot. After the game is decided, the losing player poses the winner an important question: “Is the shrinkage real?”
