Man vs. Wild Accused of Being Tamer Than It Lets On

• Jul 24, 2007 02:25 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Discovery Channel is looking into claims that Man vs. Wild doesn't rough it as much as viewers are led to believe. "Discovery Communications has learned that isolated elements of Man vs. Wild in some episodes were not natural to the environment and that for health and safety concerns the crew and host received some survival assistance," the cabler says in a statement cited by the Reporter.

An investigation by the U.K.'s Channel 4 found that Man vs. Wild host Bear Grylls retreated to a hotel room on at least two occasions when it was purported that he slept "in the wild." (To be fair, the lodging in question was a Motel 6, so... tomato, tom-ah-to.) Discovery maintains that "moving forward, the program will be 100-percent transparent, and all elements... will be explained to our viewers."