Obama runs wild in Alaska, drinks catkin tea for TV adventure show

They shared tea made out of catkins, ate wild salmon picked over by a bear, talked about being dads and discussed climate change. President Obama’s “Running Wild” Alaska episode with wilderness expert Bear Grylls set to air on NBC on Dec. 17 (10 p.m. EST) was filmed in September on a trek to Alaska’s shrinking Exit Glacier that was aimed at drawing world attention to climate change. Grylls, a British former SAS soldier turned adventurer and survival specialist, said the idea for the TV episode came from the White House.

[The White House] approached us, saying would we consider taking the president on an adventure to Alaska. I almost didn’t really believe it. I thought this was a spoof.

Bear Grylls

Grylls said a team of of about 50 Secret Service personnel, a food taster, snipers and helicopters accompanied the pair during the daylong trek through a forest and across a glacial outwash. Obama threw himself into it, shrugging off the food taster, sharing Gryll’s water bottle, lighting fires and eating berries. Noting how down to earth the whole experience was, the TV adventurer said the president ‘wanted the physicality’ and was willing to try everything.

Whoever you are, everyone puts their trousers on one leg at a time.

Grylls

Entertainment Bear Grylls