If you’re having the President to dinner you’re going to think a lot about what to serve. Unless you’re Bear Grylls, in which case you just pick up whatever old leftovers are lying around the riverbank, and then instruct your dinner guest on the finer points of bear nutrition.
A sneak peek went up today of the episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls in which President Obama will join Grylls for a hike through Alaska’s Exit Glacier and a talk on conservation. Watch below as the host tells Obama exactly why a bear would throw away their food (SPOILER: they only want the fatty parts.)
The leader of the free world was a good sport about trying out nature’s garbage, commenting, “Bear’s a mediocre cook, but the fact that we ate something recognizable was encouraging.” He added that Grylls could have left out the part about the salmon being leftover from a bear.
When the network announced Obama’s participation, USA Today did a feature on the grossest things Grylls has eaten on his survival shows Man vs. Wild and Running Wild. Salmon was apparently Secret Service approved, though not everything the host suggested was. On the flight to Alaska White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters, “I will not deny your suspicion that there may have been some suggestions put forward by the Bear Grylls team that were not approved by the Secret Service.”
The Today show reported that the President not only survived but enjoyed his wilderness trek, saying, “First of all, I’m not in the office. Second of all, I’m not in a suit.” He even allowed Grylls to Instagram a selfie, commenting on it “Glad this is the only Bear I met in the park. -bo”
Running Wild features the same survival instruction format as Man vs. Wild but in this incarnation Grylls takes celebrity companions along on a two-day trip. Kate Winslet, Drew Brees, Zac Efron, and Ben Stiller have all tested their mettle in locations from the Colorado Rockies to the Welsh Highlands. Obama was right to comment that he’d like his food to be semi-acceptable, in a previous episode Grylls had ‘Fast and Furious’ star Michelle Rodriguez eat a mouse cooked in her own urine.
Though Grylls is himself the son of an Irish politician President Obama will be the first political figure on the show, using the opportunity to reach a broad audience interested in climate change and ecology. The show will air later this year on NBC.