The Discovery Channel has announced a new TV show that pits humans against bears in what’s being billed as a unprecedented competition program.
The network has given the green light to a show called Man vs. Bear, which is a competition show where “humans will be entering the bear’s territory and take them on in a competition like never attempted.”
Three grizzly bears–whose names are Bart, Honey Bump, and Tank–will compete against three humans in challenges involving speed, strength, and stamina. Each episode will feature five different competitions that are apparently based on what bears do in the wild. Some of the competitions include a tug-of-war between bear and man and another strength test involving pushing big logs. In the final round, the human competitors will square off against the biggest bear, Bart, who stands more than 8 feet tall and weighs 1,400 pounds.
All of the bears live in a sanctuary in Utah, which is where the competition will take place. One of the competitors is an MMA fighter named Ira, who spoke frankly about the challenge: “Competing against bears is both scary and exciting,” Ira said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Man vs. Bear will feature a commentary team comprised of CBS Sports Radio broadcaster Brandon Tierney and animal expert Casey Anderson.
“Grizzlies are extremely clever and lightning fast animals. Do these humans stand a chance? And will the humans be able to prove that they’re the ultimate predators…or simply prey?” reads a very ominous-sounding description by Discovery Channel.
Man vs. Bear premieres December 4 on Discovery Channel.
Believe it or not, this won’t be the first human-versus-bear TV show. Fox aired a show called Man vs. Beast in the early 2000s, and one of the episodes featured competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi trying to eat more hot dogs than a 1000-pound Kodiak bear.
CBS is GameSpot’s parent company.
