Netflix Unveils Interactive Survival Show Starring Bear Grylls

Fans of Bear Grylls, reality television, and/or survival shows are going to want to check out the latest interactive program coming our way from Netflix. Set to debut on April 10, You vs. Wild gives viewers the ability to make decisions –– choose your own adventure style –– that will impact the outcome of each episode. In other words, our choices will determine whether or not Grylls makes it out alive.

When it arrives on Netflix in a few weeks, the show will include eight episodes with survival expert Grylls as the host. Much like Bear’s previous show Man vs. Wild, we’ll watch as he is dropped in a remote location and must figure out how to survive. Where the Netflix version will differ is that at various times throughout the program we’ll be asked to pick a course of action. From there, we’ll watch how our choices play out on the screen, with Grylls either progressing further along toward safety or finding himself in even more dire straits.

This is Netflix’s second foray into interactive television, with its debut coming with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. The company promises that we’ll see more options for programming that gives viewers a chance to decide the fate of characters on screen and even find multiple endings. It’s not clear just how far You vs. Wild will push the envelope in terms of how our choices impact Grylls, but there will definitely be choices that make for a wiser course of action when it comes to keeping him alive.

The video above serves as a bit of a sneak preview of what to expect from the show. As usual, Bear is an engaging personality and it should at least be fun to play through an episode or two and see how things work. Who knows, we may even pick up a few tips on how to survive in the wild, but considering Grylls’ propensity for eating bugs and drinking his own urine, they might not be the lessons we like all that much.

Kraig Becker