Bear bares almost all

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Among the challenges that Bear Grylls encounters as the star of "Man vs. Wild" on the Discovery Channel is nudity. His own nudity.

It's not as if there aren't enough challenges in the show. In each episode, he's dropped in the middle of nowhere with only the clothes on his back, a knife, a water bottle and some flint. He's got to find his way to civilization.

He gets cold. He gets wet. He needs to take off his clothes to dry them. And he's accompanied by a cameraman who records all of this.

Along the way, the Brit has become a sex symbol to some of his viewers.

"Listen, I'm not a sex symbol," he said. "And, no, I'm not comfortable with nudity. The thing is — I get tricked an awful lot.

"What I've learned about the telly is that just because there's one person with you doesn't mean just one person is ever going to see this."

In other words, he tends to forget he's on camera. He tends to figure that stuff isn't going to get edited into the show ... and it is.

"I get so comfortable with these two guys (the cameraman and the sound guy) who are always with me," Grylls said. "I have no qualms about taking my kegs (pants) off and diving in. ... You think nobody is going to see this, and you forget the kind of millions that are then behind it."

And, again, he doesn't see himself as a sex symbol.

"My ego takes a bit of a pummeling because I don't feel I look like Brad Pitt," Grylls said.

NEW EPISODES of "Man vs. Wild" are scheduled to begin airing in November on the Discovery Channel.

According to the network's executive vice president/general manager, Jane Root, it will be "the biggest and the scariest season so far."

ONE OF THE REASONS "Man vs. Wild" is so much fun to watch is that, no matter how dreadfully uncomfortable the situation, Grylls always seems to have a positive attitude.

"I always think there's two ways to live your life," he said. "You can either live it with a big smile or you are a miserable b------. I'm in the moment, and I just know from all the survival stories it's the optimists who always come through it. I always try and take that attitude

"I love the times when I'm sitting in the middle of the jungle lost, hungry, cold, wet, unable to start a fire, devoured by mosquitos thinking, 'What the (heck) l have I got myself into now?"'

Um, yeah, sounds fun ...

BY THE WAY, "Bear" is not Grylls real first name. (Big surprise there, huh?)

"I was christened Edward. That became Teddy. Teddy Bear," he said. "So it would be nice to have a story about being wrestled by a grizzly, but no."

The name Bear has been with him "since I was literally about a minute old." He thought he might outgrow it, but everyone — including "sergeant majors in the Army" — has always called him that.

Well, almost everyone.

"I have a very bad-tempered bank manager. He calls me Edward, but that's about it," Grylls said.

---

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com