The Edition
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linkedin icon

Latest

British adventurer Bear Grylls' documentary on Maldives filled with false information

Lamya Abdulla
12 December 2021, MVT 15:43
A screenshot of Bear Grylls in the most recent episode of "Into the Wild" --
Lamya Abdulla
12 December 2021, MVT 15:43

Public criticizes British survival expert Bear Grylls as the information provided in the most recent episode of his documentary "Into the Wild" featured false information about Maldives.

The documentary, featuring famous Bollywood actors, had Vicky Kaushal in the most recent episode. The series is available for stream on Discovery Plus.

In the episode that was streamed on Sunday, two locations from Maldives was documented; a mangrove in Kaafu Huraa, and the famous tourist attraction and dive spot in Maldives, the shipwreck in Vaavu Atoll.

Maldives was not mentioned even once in the forty minute episode. He had referred to the locations as "somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean."

A screenshot of Bear Grylls in the most recent episode of "Into the Wild" --

"Crocodiles and snakes in Huraa island"

According to Kaushal, he swam in the sea for the first time during the shooting of this documentary. Kaushal got over his fear by the time the episode was over.

However it does not seem he was aware of the lies told by Grylls.

The episode shows them approaching the mangrove in the island of Huraa in a Coastguard vessel of Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF). He cautioned Kaushal that the mangrove was filled with snakes, crocodiles, and other such dangerous animals as well. He also said the mangrove was three miles long.

A mangrove of that length doesn't exist in Maldives.

A screenshot of Bear Grylls in the most recent episode of "Into the Wild" --

The documentary also featured a map to visualise the Huraa mangrove. However it is evident this was not a map that belonged to Maldives. According to this map, the shipwreck in Vaavu Atoll is about one and a half miles away from Huraa. In reality, these two locations are in different atolls and there is a total distance of 60 miles between them.

The episode showed the two of them supposedly swim to the shipwreck in Vaavu Atoll from the Kaafu Huraa mangrove.

When they dived near the shipwreck, they were able to recover an open tin fish can. Grylls assumed this would have been there for over twenty years, and guessed that it was likely used for cat food. The shape of the can makes it evident that it is one of the commonly used tuna cans in Maldives, especially the open lid ones, which went into manufacturing over the past decade.

There was a previous episode of Into the Wild shot in Maldives featuring another bollywood star Ajay Devgn which garnered a lot of criticism towards Grylls due to the false information in it as well. It was shot in an uninhabited island of Vaavu Atoll and mainly provided information on how to escape if you are stuck on an island.

He had said there were snakes on that island as well, despite the fact they are not a commonly found reptile in the nation. He had also said there was no inhabited island near them, despite the fact that there are five inhabited islands in Vaavu Atoll itself.

Grylls had shot a survival documentary featuring the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi last year as well.

Share this story

Discuss

MORE ON NEWS