Review: Bear Grylls: Worst Case Scenario

Having been a fan of Man Vs Wild I was quite looking forward to Bear Grylls' new series Worst Case Scenario.

And it's pretty self-explanatory; Bear runs through various dangerous scenarios and tells you the best way to get out of them.

In tonight's premiere episode there was a "Burning Car" and a "Boating Accident".

And the scenarios themselves are fairly interesting to watch, for the mere fact that Bear knows his stuff and offers up some pretty decent and inventive ideas- such as in the event of someone being trapped in a burning car, ripping up a T-shirt, wetting it with some coffee (or any available liquid), then placing it over the mouth of someone trapped in the wreckage to avoid smoke inhalation.

This is similar to the way he can fashion a raft out of some vines and other jungle-crap on Man vs Wild, however, the vaguely off-putting thing about this show is that all the situations are so blatantly contrived.

And yes, I know that it would be somewhat hard to throw Bear into an actual accident which has just occurred, but at least they could make a bit more realistic. Oh- this guy in the car just happens to have a bag with a half-full coffee thermos? First of all, how many guys carry bags? Anyway, the fact that Bear carries on as if he doesn't know what is in the car just makes it more off-putting.

There's also this over-the-top, jerky camerawork, which, apart from conveying a false sense of drama, just makes it so bloody hard to make out what's happening.

There's also dramatic music, in case you missed the fact that these situations are meant to be, you know, just a touch dangerous. This doesn't really seem that out of place in Man vs Wild (whether it's planned or not, at least you can believe that the vast majority of things he does is actually dangerous) but in this show it's trying to create drama that just isn't there.

The show is designed as more a tutorial than anything else, as opposed to the "adventure" like feel of Man vs Wild- everything in this show is planned, the people are trained stuntmen or actors and the events are controlled.

Trying to convince viewers otherwise is just a textbook treating-your-viewers-like-idiots move.
The other thing about the scenarios is that, well, some of the advice is just a little unnecessary; take the boating accident, apparently it's a good idea to "Use buoyant objects to float". What, so don't use "Heavy objects that sink to float?" You get what I mean...

In between scenarios we get little tips such as finding out that the best way to unstick your fingers if they have been stuck by super-glue is NOT by using a knife, and NOT by using just soap and water, but by using nail polish remover. Who would have thought, huh?

Unfortunately for Bear, the show comes off as a blatant exploitation of the Bear Grylls brand. There is still some of the intuitive and likable Bear that shines through in this show, but the rest of it is lost in a desperate bid to make the show seem as dramatic as possible. Possibly if it was stripped back a bit, and filmed less frenetically, it would be more palatable, but at the moment, it just lacks the earthy, down-to-earth (for lack of a better description) charm of Man vs Wild.