Bear Grylls and Holly Wofford – The Island

By starrymag | June 4, 2015

Q) I was just wondering what is the biggest piece of advice you would give someone who’s taking on this challenge?

Bear: Well, we kind of intentionally wanted to pick everyday people, you know, real cross-section of society for this experiment, you know, this very wasn’t us sending out to do a reality show with reality type people. We really wanted to do a study of what’s happened to modern day man. We’ll still got that edge so bear in mind we had really regular people. We gave them, bare minimum amount of training, literally about a day and a half, two days and then they’re on to it. And probably the most important advice I gave to them was at the end of their training which was really about the psychology of it and said listen this will be a brutal, brutal, you know, experience you’re about to go through. You’re going somewhere where there’s bare minimum of everything. You’re going to be dehydrated, you’re going to be starving some of these guys didn’t eat for days and days and days and days and days on end. That’s sleeping rough on the floor. You got snakes, you got sandflies, it’s going to be a really brutal time this but just remember the pain won’t last forever and this is your chance to distinguish yourself and show the world what you’re made of and that you can put up with this and you’re made of sterner stuff and you don’t crumble when the pressure goes on. And I think what I’ve noticed is that so many people can talk a good story and one thing I said to them I said the words don’t matter. This is about your actions, your actions are what define you. And look after each other and be kind and be resourceful and be determined and be that quiet, humble team player who just kind of works harder than anyone else and those are the thing that really are going to matter during this experience for you. I said to them I said you’ll remember these words at difficult times and they’re true and what was interesting is as I’m watching this whole experience, this whole month unfold and as Holly and me and the team sat and watched footage coming in every day, you realize some of the guys who talked of great stories just couldn’t necessarily follow-through with that. And other people who started-off really nervous and unsure about their place not only in the world but also on this island started to grow and I think this is why it’s such a compelling show is that you really this is as raw and as real and as visceral and as moving as you can get because it’s just straight, these guys going through an incredible experience and trying to kind of look after each other and hang on in there themselves so really proud of how they did.

Q) Overall was luxury was the hardest for them to give up?

Bear: Well, everyone obviously has different stuff but it’s amazing what hunger does to people and I think if you’ve never been without food for 12 days straight, it’s hard to kind of describe what it does to you but again you see this very powerfully close-up with these people is this obsession comes with eating. And it’s almost like they don’t mind what the taste is, what it is, they just want that feeling of something in their belly and it’s why a lot of the concentration camp survivors, in the last World War talked about this is they’d often just eat mud and grit and gravel because it was wanting that feeling of just something in the belly. And these guys really go through it and I said to them you got to embrace failure because you’re going to fail and fail and fail at fishing, at catching crocs, at doing all of this stuff until eventually you get it and I won’t say whether they did get it but it was a really moving kind of journey as these guys had to figure out how to be resourceful and use what is there in clever and genius ways to try and satisfy this hunger. But it was a very powerful thing that need for food between the men.

Q) It seems like so many reality shows are not really reality but it seems like yours, really trying to be real. Do you think that there’s a need for that in the audience, people really want to see real reality?

Bear: Well, you’re right and I know there is a need for that and it was a big step for NBC to say hold on, you’re going to do a show where there are no camera crews and you’re just putting everyday people with some GoPros and some cameras and trusting them to film stuff and we’re putting however much money on the line to make this happen. We won’t get the footage, but they kind of understood and they said well this is what we should be doing. We should be doing cutting-edge stuff that takes it forward and really does a show that is 100% as it is and they really backed us and encouraged us to do it but you’re right, people find it hard. They almost go yes, yes, yes, I get it but where does the catering come from or yes, yes I get it but how do you resupply the crews and it’s like no, no, it is literally what it is. Its 14 men left on an island with nothing with zero contact with the outside world for that month and it’s almost sort of hard to understand in its simplicity. But it really was that and sometimes that’s why the stories are so powerful because it is so straight-up and people sort of almost forget about this is a TV thing become so sort of raw for these men, just the process of trying to survive that, you know, they sort of forget about the cameras. And I think that’s what yourself lose in these reality shows, it’s all about the cameras whereas for these guys it is all about staying alive and the fact that there are no rules for these people. Are you going to go on your own or are you going to work together as a team. What happens if you hate each other? Are you going to sleep there, are you going to fish there, are you going to do this there are no rules. You got to kind of figure it out as you go and I think Americans are not used to this thing of no prizes, no eliminations.

Q) I hope you start a trend, that would be great.

Bear: Yes, and further to that, the one thing that I would add to that is the fact that I like to say that this is the most real survival show in the history of televisions. These men didn’t even know where they were going until we handed them their tickets. They had no idea. They had the full run of the island. There was no other person, no production person, no nothing, no medical on the island. It was 14 men on an island surviving for a month, go.

Q) What was the decision to make it all men and not have some women in there or make it difficult?

Bear: Well it started off because we wanted I get so many people always saying to me what’s happened to modern man nowadays, you know, they’re so emasculated and they’re their greatest survival ability is now Google and their smartphone and we’ve lost that ability to what makes a man nowadays. It’s confusing. And so when we originally did this, that’s what we tried to set out to answer. We said well let’s take a totally cross-section of society and see if they do still have that when you strip them of all of the conveniences of modern living. We’ve done a version of this in the U.K. and lots of people said after the success of that first season, we would love to see what would happen with women as well and it was really exciting to be able to do a second season and then do a women’s one as well. That was incredibly moving actually, very different, very surprising, not what I expected to happen on that island with the women but very inspiring and the goal is if this one goes well and people really kind of get into it in a way we’ve seen it build in all the other countries we’ve aired around the world it would be great to do a women’s version as well for sure.

Q) So do you think it would be difficult if you tried to make it mixed men and women?

Bear: Yes, well that’s maybe Season 6 we got to get to that stage but it’s interesting it took a while in the U.K. for people to really understand this show, but by the time we found ourselves sort of three episodes in, some of these people realized my God this really is what it says it is. It really is that raw and real and it’s sort of built quite a cult following quite fast in the U.K. and ended incredibly popular and we got a (bafter) last week which was exciting for it so but sometimes new things take a while for people to kind of almost to believe. So I’m excited especially for this week because we’re kind of established it last week, this is what we’re doing and it really starts to ramp-up in quite a dramatic way from here on in.

Q) That’s quite a commentary on our lives but that people don’t understand that real is real when you think about it.

Bear: Yes, well sometimes the simplest things can be kind of hard to understand like that and I was with it as well when we initially set this thing up is like can we really pull this off.

Q) I was very excited to watch the first episode and so and understand it is real so my question’s for you Holly, what type of safety nets did you have in place just in case because it is so real?

Holly: Yes, I mean, looked at the dangers, the dangers are out there. They absolutely are and we had to be smart about how we protected the men but I say protected the men and I mean that from a distance. As I mentioned there were no other people on the island. The men had the run of the island. However, the safety net was that as you saw in the first episode the men did have a walkie-talkie that they could reach us at in the event of an extreme emergency and then we had a safety crew and a medical crew, they were a couple of miles away but they could reach the island within a matter of minutes.

Q) When you guys were casting, did you find that people have had walking around sense or are those that can they figure things out the best ones for this type of show and then what skills do you think we need to have just as people in today’s modern society should we ever get landed on an island where there’s nothing for us to survive with?

Bear: It is a key trait that walking around sense of that just awareness of what’s going on around you but I think people lose that and I think one of the reasons is that life is just so fast and it’s so busy and we kind of stand on our track and that is it, we kind of just focus on that and we lose that awareness of what’s going on around us. It was part of what we tried to me and the survivor team tried to teach them in that sort of brief bit of training they had beforehand but I think when it comes to actually the traits they needed, I think what I’ve noticed is that there is such a strong link between the island and life. And the qualities that really mattered on the island might not be qualities that you initially think would really be important and you said what makes a great survivor? You wouldn’t necessarily say things like humility or kindness. But when you’re that beaten-up and you’re that starving and you’re that thirsty and you haven’t slept for however long and it’s pissing the rain day after day the person who can work harder than the person that’s going to carry all that firewood and just quietly sort of help people and be a good guy really matters and it’s the same in life. I think nobody’s interested in the bravado from the person next door. You want a person who’s going to really care for you and be a good guy to be with in the battles of life so it’s wise such a path will link between everyday life and the island. It’s just the island strips are very bare and blows all the fluff of life away so people can come and see it as it is but I think it’s why it resonates with people because you relate to it even though you might not necessarily have ever gone through that sort of experience yourself.

Q) As Bear mentioned, there are no camera crews on location with the participants and our question is from the production side, what has been the most difficult aspect working on the series?

Holly: Well, the 14 men shot the series themselves. Everything was shot by the 14 men and I think frankly maintaining the cameras, lugging the cameras around and thinking about shooting what they’re doing under the circumstances when they’re starving and when they’re, you know, absolutely thirsty, dying of thirst. I think those are the biggest challenges on the surface as far as a production is concerned. It’s a network television show. We had expectations for these men. Each man did receive a small amount of camera training so they weren’t sent out there blindly but yes, I think, you know, getting their bearings, being able to shoot when feeling so exhausted and being able to deliver a network quality product was quite challenging for them. I think frankly their biggest challenges were survival, though outside of production. It’s mentally how do you keep yourself in the game when you are absolutely miserable and you know it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. And I think it’s the mental struggle and the mental transformations and the mental successes that they came back with that I’m most proud of. I have to say though what they gave to us, what they delivered to us as far as media and what they shot is just so impressive. These guys they took it seriously. They put their heart and soul into turning this into a successful series. Of course when they went out there they weren’t thinking I hope this is a successful series they went out with a goal of being able to stick it out, being able to be successful at the survival game while they’re out there and documenting that along the way. And they did that so exceptionally well and I’m so, so proud of them for what they’ve brought back.

Q) What was your favorite moment from this season of like when a contestant maybe had a breakthrough or just any moment that stands out?

Holly: Sure. I have to say if you stick around and watch the series, you will see that every man that makes it to the end is a changed man. It is absolutely remarkable. It’s inspiring and for me this was a personal – it was a personal championship – I mean, it was an amazing experience to see these guys that we cast, these regular men, these non-survivalists who had very little to no skills in the wild, some had never even been camping. And they come out the other end not just being able to survive on an island but changed from, you know, their outward appearance but inside, their hearts, their minds, they will never be the same again and it’s absolutely remarkable.

Bear: Yes, I’d really echo that that, you know, Holly it’s interesting because Shara my wife, she so used to lots of our shows coming out that she sometimes watches them but when it comes to the island, it’s the first TV show I’ve ever done where she goes and I was away when she watched she’s now watching Episode 3-4-5 of the U.S. version, she’s going “I haven’t cried for a long time in front of a TV set.” And it’s so great to hear and you’re right Holly, that beach at the end when they all came back, I mean these guys had a light in their eyes that money can’t buy it really is this hard-earned glint in their eye that they won through heart, sweat, endeavor, brotherhood and they’ve earned it the hard way. And it was, Holly’s right, it was very, very moving and inspiring and that’s why we’re so proud of this.

Holly: Yes, and you’re exactly right Bear. I think it’s not just survival, this show. It’s human transformation and there are a lot of moments that are very touching and real. It’s not just hardcore survival. Yes, it is hardcore survival but it’s very there are a lot of touching moments throughout this series.

Q) I was wondering were there people who emerged as leaders that you did not anticipate were going to be the leaders of the group?

Holly: There were, you know, we cast a group of 14 regular guys and you never know who’s going to end-up standing-out as a leader, who’s going to step forward, what approach are they going to take to leadership? Is it a loud boisterous one or is it, you know, a quiet approach? And I have to say that the men that I would have guessed would have emerged as the leaders and carried the show in that way absolutely did not and the men that were more quiet and perhaps more observant in the beginning truly emerged as leaders. That said, this experience for the men it was a group effort. It took every man to get every other man to the end, you know, as Bear said, sorry to quote you Bear and I don’t want to misstate you but he’s like no man is an island and that’s true, you know, it take a team. And it really it took this team and it took a lot of positive attitudes and kindness to get through this experience. Yes, there were moments that were heated, you know, a group of strangers, they aren’t always going to get along but they certainly did find a way to succeed as a team and as a group as a whole. And Bear I thought you said something really interesting to the men at the end about like everyday heroes. Do you remember what you said to them? It was you said that, you know, you can never predict who the hero’s going to be. Again, I’m just sort of restating what you said generally but you can never predict who the hero’s going to be and you’re absolutely right.

Bear: Well, you can in the movies because they all look square-jawed and big muscles and all of that but this really was the ultimate sort of quest to find those heroes and what I’ve learned in many things from expeditions in the military and the island shows that heroes come in many forms and they’re often well-disguised. But when you really put the squeeze on like the island does where it’s the ultimate pressure cooker you begin to see what people are made of and those heroes do definitely emerge but first of all there was a lot of pain and I think that’s why it’s such compelling TV because the pain is very full-on for these guys. And I often talk about the phases of forming a team which is the forming, the storming, and then the performing. First of all you form them, then it’s a storming where it’s crazy where you’ve got all these people in different backgrounds, different jobs, different attitudes and prejudices and opinions and because there’s no rule of law on the island, some people might not want a leader so there’s all a storming phase. And then eventually out of desperation you figure it out and finally you get to hopefully you get to a phase where it works but yes, no, as you said it’s an inspiring process you see come to life.

Q) The show has been described by some as a combination of Naked and Afraid with Survivor. What do you think it is about the show that differentiates it from those two and to bring viewers in?

Holly: The thing about The Island is this is the most real survivor survival television show in the history of TV. It truly is. As I said earlier, these men didn’t even know where they were going until we handed them their tickets. They were literally dropped on an island, expected to film themselves and were given no resources beyond three machetes, three knives and enough water for one day. The only other supplies they had were camera equipment obviously and a medical pack so they had no knowledge of the island when they arrived and were expected to find a way to survive amongst themselves and it was no easy task that’s for sure. The other thing is there’s no grand prize here. There are no challenges. There are no rewards. They didn’t get food along the way provided by production. There wasn’t the game element – there isn’t the game element – in The Island. There are no eliminations, voting-out eliminations and the fact that they aren’t playing for any sort of prize. The only prize truthfully is pride. They’re not playing for a monetary prize so it’s, you know, its hard core. There are no format elements in this series if you look at Naked and Afraid, they’re going to be dropped off and they move from one location to the next and then they have to get to their pick-up location. Survivor has the games and the elimination at the end. The Island is truly a docu-series of 14 men documenting their experience surviving on an island and it’s real, it’s raw and it’s extraordinary.

Bear: And what’s cool is that it didn’t need a prize. It didn’t need money or anything to motivate these guys. These guys worked beyond the normal and the reason they did it is that they wanted to discover something about themselves. And they wanted to show to their loved ones whether it was their mom, their dad, their spouse, their kids, they wanted to prove their mettle and they hadn’t necessarily we’ve had a chance in life to prove that mettle and it’s incredibly inspiring seeing how motivating it is for people. You don’t need prizes or games for people to go to hell and back. And if you think of those other shows you talked about these guys are experts on nature play, their survivor list and they’ve got camera crews supporting them and the same with Survivor, there’s camera crews everywhere what is so original is doing this in a way where you’ve got zero contact. And most people say oh there’s no contact but I bet there is. I mean, it’s literally zero contact and I think that’s what’s so original here and it’s what results in some pretty shocking moments to be honest. I mean, there were definitely times Holly and me were seeing stuff coming back and going wow you just have to come and sit down and take a moment, but it was always going to be like that you’ve put them on an island with no rules, you got to expect a bit of that.

Q) And Bear is it pretty much impossible to be a vegetarian and be on one of these shows?

Bear: Well, you’re going to go pretty hungry, you know, but the thing is there are no rules and this is what’s so appealing because you could easily have a vegetarian or a vegan on there and that’s why it’s such a great reflection of life. There are no rules. There’s nobody saying you can do it. Why couldn’t they? They could do it but they’re just going to go through even more starvation than the others and there are a lot of times where they had to make some pretty moral judgments on certain things and it’s moving seeing how people approach that when you take people outside of this rule of law. So it would be possible but it would be even tougher I think, especially when you’re having to work so hard. The main thing is about thirst there’s no water there to get water they’re having to trek miles at a time and having to carry the water back. And they’re having to then filter it and then collect firewood to get a fire to boil it this is sort of hours and hours of work to get sips of water so you can see what sort of hunger and everything they’re going through when it’s such hard work just to get the basics of just water in your mouth.

Q) I’m just wondering how you choose the island that the contestants are dropped?

Bear: Well, in short we try to find the toughest island out there so I think people have an image of desert islands as being lovely places with nice palm trees and nice climate and nice swimming and all of that, you know, this really could have been called Hell Island because it’s a place that’s just full of snakes, crocodiles. It’s like a natural fortress patrolled by sharks, brutal heat and humidity, sandflies that sometimes you’ll see these men they’re literally it’s like they’re just devoured by these things so we’re looking for an island that has a lot of those elements. At the same time we’re having to look for an island that has enough natural resources and indigenous animals that can sustain life but barely and that was the kind of brief find a really mega unforgiving island that can sustain life just.

Q) Were you given a choice of islands by NBC or was it a list that you created on your own?

Bear: Yes, Holly led a scouting team and we had people out all over the world looking for the right sort of places and then we put a selection of those in front of NBC and put our stamp our case for each one and eventually pick the right one. But again at the end of the day the great thing is it’s not about the island you could do it anywhere. It’s about these guys’ personal journey and their transformation and the cost of the transformation and the cost I’ve said on this is about 1000 barrels of sweat but it’s an incredible price to pay and it’s an incredible prize at the end. It might not be a sort of prize you’re used to on American TV but it’s a prize that is almost beyond value for these guys that endured but not all of them made it.

Q) What has it been like to work together?

Bear: Holly has been amazing. She’s kind of led this team. She’s been the unsung hero behind the scenes and there’s only one girl who worked hard than those men on the island and that’s Holly and I think both of us couldn’t relax until finally we’d gotten them off. And when they were finally off the island, it was a huge sense of relief because when you unleash people with no training or minimum training on an island like that with that many nasties, there is so much that can go wrong and I’m used to shows like Running Wild where I can really guide these people by the hand through the wilderness. And in many ways the hardest thing for me on this one was sitting on my hands and watching it unfold so Holly you did an amazing job managing all of that from the production side, the safety side and, yes, I can’t sing your praises enough to all of those journalists because you deserve it.

Holly: Well, thank you Bear, that’s really nice. I mean, the show is my baby. There’s no doubt about it. It’s been a very personal show that I’m extremely proud of and so grateful to have been a part of and most of all I’m just extremely and exceptionally proud of the men out there the men and the journeys that they went through and the struggles that they overcame. Each man arrived at the island with a very personal reason for coming and I think that they all leave as changed men and many thanks to you Bear for allowing that to happen. This is your show and without you none of us would be here.

Bear: Yes, so it’s been a great journey. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of the episodes. Brace yourself. It ramps up and yes, here’s to hopefully doing well.