Bear Grylls' own son called him the 'biggest TV flop in history'
The TV adventurer has made dozens of shows, including for Netflix, and he's teaming up with Holly Willoughby for his newest series.
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Bear Grylls has become the most famous survival expert in Britain over the course of his 20-year TV career. But that doesn't mean he has always been successful.
In fact, the 49-year-old former SAS trooper has a litany of small screen failures in his past — shows that were swiftly cancelled due to low viewing figures. And the star's own kids absolutely love to remind him about that.
Speaking at a live show in Glasgow, reported by the Daily Mail, Grylls explained that he has about 25 shows in his past that were considerably less successful than his breakout hit Man vs. Wild.
Watch: Bear Grylls' most extreme moments from Man vs. Wild
He said: "I actually listed it out to [my children] only a few weeks ago, all of the TV shows we've had that have been canned after not just one season but sometimes like a couple of episodes in. And it's been no good, pulled off air. It was something like 25 separate shows that they never even heard of.
Grylls said that his son wasted no time in taking his dad to task for his failures, pointing out that not many presenters have such a long list of misses to go alongside their hits.
"My middle teenager who doesn't miss a trick looked at me and said: 'So, technically this probably makes you the biggest TV flop in history'. I said: 'Thank you very much'. You can always rely on your kids to bring you down to Earth."
But Grylls said he's "proud of failures" and more than willing to speak openly about what has gone wrong, adding: "You only get the good stuff by going through the bad stuff."
The star's next big project sees him reunite with Netflix after making several interactive specials for the streamer. He's joining forces with Holly Willoughby for a show called Bear Hunt.
Willoughby will host the celebrity show, in which Grylls drops a dozen famous faces into the jungles of Central America, where they must avoid being captured by the renowned adventurer.
Grylls will be hoping that this one turns out to be a success on par with his greatest TV hits. Otherwise, he'll never hear the end of it from his kids. Forget the critics; they're the brutal ones.
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