Reality TV can go light on the “reality” sometimes, and presenting events as authentic and unaltered while secretly scripting and staging important scenes is common. Here are a few events that TV survivalist Bear Grylls didn’t really have to “survive,” but it sure made for a better story onscreen.
The Sierra Nevada mountain region is home to some of the last truly wild horses in the United States, and wild mustangs have lived in this area for centuries. In a Season 1 episode of Man Vs. Wild, Grylls was shown attempting to lasso some of the steeds, but it turned out that these mustangs might not have been so wild after all, the crew reportedly “hired” them from a trekking station near their filming location.
These were actually relatively tame animals that were accustomed to being around humans, according to a Sunday Times of London report. Of course, that doesn’t play as well to audiences. What makes for a more interesting scene: showing Grylls trying to sling a lasso around a “wild” mustang, or admitting that the crew essentially rented a few horses that weren’t actually running wild? The answer is obvious.
Watch to learn more about Bear Grylls stunts that were totally fake!
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“Borrowing” tame horses | 0:19
Using smoke machines | 1:05
Raft fakery | 1:45
Helping hands | 2:41
A load of dung | 3:31