Would you want to be a contestant on “Survivor” or “American Ninja Warrior”? Do you dream of being on “The Voice” or “Dancing With the Stars” some day? Last week President Obama appeared on an episode of the survivalist reality show “Running Wild With Bear Grylls.” He said, “… [T]o be with Bear in the woods, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
What reality TV show would you want to be a guest star on?
In “President Obama, Joining Bear Grylls, Tests Survival Skills in Alaska,” Gardiner Harris writes:
He helped make tea from catkins, ate a salmon prechewed by a bear, and discussed why people would drink their own urine.
On Thursday night, President Obama appeared in an episode of the survivalist reality show “Running Wild With Bear Grylls,” part of an effort by the White House to highlight the perils of climate change. While trekking in the Alaskan wild, the president and Mr. Grylls, one of reality television’s biggest stars, bemoan the rapid retreat of a vast glacier.
But the episode also revealed Mr. Obama as a leader made claustrophobic by tight security, a father who is worried about appearing cool to his daughters, and a man who likes pushing through a forest and scrabbling over rocks to reach his campsite.
“I think you assume that someone with that kind of responsibility and power is somehow different from the rest of us,” Mr. Grylls said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “So it’s surprising to see how he really is.”
Mr. Grylls, a former Special Forces soldier, has created a climb-and-eat-nasty-critters show on NBC that sometimes provides a more intimate portrait of celebrities than they would offer in traditional interviews. Among his guests have been Kate Hudson, Ben Stiller and Channing Tatum.
For the show’s producers, Mr. Obama presented a unique challenge. The White House has a set of ironclad protocols — the president, for instance, cannot eat or drink anything that has not been vetted. Nor could Mr. Obama put himself in danger, as previous guests have by jumping out of a helicopter or rappelling down a mountainside.
The show agreed to all of the conditions, “but Bear pushed his luck in a couple of interesting ways,” said Paul Telegdy, the president of alternative and late-night programing for NBC Entertainment. “You do not hand the president a piece of salmon that a bear has already taken a bite out of and expect him to eat it.”
Bending the rules seemed to be much of the fun for Mr. Obama.
“I’m in what’s called the bubble, and Secret Service makes sure that I’m always out of danger, which I very much appreciate but can be a little confining,” Mr. Obama said on the show, which was filmed in September. He continued, “So to be with Bear in the woods, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …
— What reality TV show would you want to be a guest star on? Why?
— Do you see it as a way to jump-start a future career, such as in singing or cooking? Or do you just want to be on the show for the fun of it?
— What other reality TV shows do you like to watch? Why?
— President Obama appeared on “Running Wild With Bear Grylls” to highlight the dangers of climate change. Is there any message you would want to promote with your moment of TV fame?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.