Saturday, February 06, 2010

Bears in New Zealand?

Fiordland, New Zealand - rugged and remote, but currently bear-free

If nearly 10,000 (and counting) Kiwi "Man vs Wild" fans have their way, Fiordland will play host to it's first bear. Bear Grylls, that is.

Some local enthusiasts have started a Facebook group petitioning for Bear to record an episode of Man vs Wild in this rugged, challenging area of New Zealand.

It's not a bad choice for the show. Certainly there are lots of waterfalls to rappel down, which seems to be his signature move. There are plenty of backcountry huts for the crew to relax in between shots. And to keep it dramatic, you can almost guarantee that it will be pissing down with rain at least half of the time.

My only worry is that it will inspire a bunch of Bear copycats, who will decide to go off track in this very remote corner of New Zealand to test out their skills, and end up needing extremely expensive and risky rescues!

I guess the only question is - what disgusting creature can they get him to eat? Maybe a giant weta?