What happened behind the scenes of Man vs. Wild when reports claimed Bear Grylls was staying in hotels instead of sleeping in the wilderness?
In this episode of Switch to Channel 2, Donny McGuire sits down with veteran executive producer and showrunner Steve Rankin for a revealing, hilarious and refreshingly honest conversation about Man vs. Wild, Naked and Afraid, Onside: Major League Soccer and more than four decades in television production.
Only two weeks into his first season on Man vs. Wild, Steve received a call from the Daily Mail seeking comment about an upcoming Mail on Sunday story. The allegations claimed that Bear Grylls had stayed in hotels, eaten blueberry muffins and received more production assistance than viewers realized.
The story exploded into a major reality television controversy. Steve explains why production temporarily shut down, how the series underwent a compliance audit and how changes in narration helped clarify that Bear was demonstrating what viewers should do in a survival situation. Despite the controversy, Steve makes one thing clear: Bear Grylls is the real deal when it comes to extreme stunts, climbing, jumping from aircraft and operating almost anything put in front of him.
Steve’s career began as an aspiring photojournalist and music photographer. He photographed Bono when U2 was still supporting The Cure, then joined the BBC and received extensive training in cameras, lighting, editing, writing, producing and traditional film production.
After working in British television news, documentaries and natural history, Steve moved into international adventure programming. His work developing an authentic survival series with Ed Stafford eventually led to another career-changing opportunity: showrunning a new Discovery series about two strangers attempting to survive without food, water or clothing.
That series became Naked and Afraid.
In January 2013, Steve flew to Tanzania to film the very first episode. He shares how the franchise was developed, the tremendous hours required to launch it and the realities of producing survival television in some of the world’s most challenging environments.
The conversation then moves from survival to soccer as Steve discusses producing Onside: Major League Soccer with Box to Box Films, the company behind Formula 1: Drive to Survive. Steve explains the challenges of securing meaningful access to MLS clubs and players, finding compelling personalities instead of simply featuring star athletes and creating a character-driven documentary series capable of attracting viewers who may not already follow soccer.
Steve and Donny also discuss Lionel Messi’s impact on Major League Soccer, LA Galaxy, LAFC, the growth of American soccer and the Sullivan family’s memorable story in Onside.
In this episode:
• The Bear Grylls hotel controversy • The Daily Mail call that came two weeks into Steve’s first season • How Man vs. Wild responded to accusations of reality TV fakery • Why Steve considers Bear Grylls the real deal • Steve’s BBC training and early television news career • Photographing Bono when U2 opened for The Cure • Becoming the original showrunner of Naked and Afraid • Filming the first Naked and Afraid episode in Tanzania • Producing Onside: Major League Soccer for Apple TV+ • Working with Box to Box Films after Drive to Survive • Lionel Messi, LA Galaxy, LAFC and American soccer • Why great unscripted television must be driven by character • A survivalist eating a tarantula and using its fang as a toothpick
Watch the full video episode: https://youtu.be/rtvg3X-fV3c
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