Bear Grylls: My new show is 'I’m a Celebrity' on steroids
Mission Survive will see stars undertaking gruelling tasks in the jungle - but with Bear Grylls looking on instead of Ant and Dec
Bear Grylls' new six-part series sees him take eight celebrities in to the jungle to tackle gruelling tasks… wait, this all sounds very familiar. Grylls is the first to admit that Mission Survive will draw comparisons with ITV's I'm a Celebrity… Get Me out of Here.
"It's I'm a Celebrity on steroids, multiplied," said the action man at the press junket for the show. "Yes we have celebrities and we're in a jungle... the difference is one sits in a jungle, there's lots of cameras and you create tension and drama with challenges, but in [Mission Survive] I don't need any of that. You're cold, you're wet, you're tired, you're hungry, you're exhausted, you're moving across rivers and battling everything. The journey will show me all I need to know."
Grylls has a number of scary challenges set up for contestants Dame Kelly Holmes, Mike Tindall MBE; actors/cousins Emilia Fox (Silent Witness) and Laurence Fox (Lewis); Max George (singer), Tom Rosenthal (comedian), and Vogue Williams (model).
"I had eight rookies, who'd never done anything like this before, running around with machetes and going in rivers with crocodiles and snakes," said Grylls. "They were tired and they would make mistakes. I was nervous to start."
During their adventure in the wilds of Costa Rica, the celebrities have to jump out of a helicopter into an algae-infested pool, sleep in the wild and drink their own urine – a whole pint of it.
"What these guys went through in the end was incredible, it shows some genuine steel," said Grylls, "I'm so proud of how they did."
Watch Bear Grylls: Mission Survive at 9pm, Friday 20th February, on ITV
Visit Costa Rica with Radio Times Travel, see here for more details
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