Netflix's Celebrity Bear Hunt trailer looks so bizarre, I can't tell if its satire or not – but I think I'm in

Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls standing in front of a jungle fortress
(Image credit: Netflix)

Netflix has revealed the trailer for its latest reality show, and while the whole thing sounds (and, at first, looks) like a satire, it appears to be honest-to-goodness show that I might not be able to resist.

Celebrity Bear Hunt involves a group of celebrities heading into the Costa Rican jungle to be trained in various survival methods by famous survival maniac Bear Grylls. The celebrities will compete in "epic challenges", and those who lose the challenges won't just be kicked off the show – they'll be sent out into the jungle and hunted down by Grylls, with the goal being to escape his clutches.

Celebrity Bear Hunt | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube Celebrity Bear Hunt | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube
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It's hosted by UK TV staple Holly Willoughby, and features a group of celebrities probably more familiar as a group to our UK readers. The list is:

  • Boris Becker (former tennis player)
  • Danny Cipriani (former rugby player)
  • Joe Thomas (actor)
  • Kola Bokinni (actor)
  • Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (TV host)
  • Leomie Anderson (model)
  • Lottie Moss (model)
  • Mel Brown (musician)
  • Shirley Ballas (TV host)
  • Steph McGovern (TV host)
  • Zuhair Hassan (musician)

The trailer involves plenty of promise of celebrities find themselves and having personal and emotional breakthroughs, but I'm really much more interesting in all the footage of people being swept up in giant nets.

I love a good 'people outsmarting each other', so it's really the hunting side of this show that's drawing me in; seeing what techniques Bear Grylls uses to track people, and what they'll do to avoid him. Apparently, the hunting will happen in an area called 'The Bear Pit', so I have this feeling that it might have a whole The Hunger Games vibe too in the end. I suppose I'll find out on February 5th, when we'll see if it's good enough to rank among the best Netflix shows.

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Matt Bolton
Managing Editor, Entertainment

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, meaning he's in charge of persuading our team of writers and reviewers to watch the latest TV shows and movies on gorgeous TVs and listen to fantastic speakers and headphones. It's a tough task, as you can imagine. Matt has over a decade of experience in tech publishing, and previously ran the TV & audio coverage for our colleagues at T3.com, and before that he edited T3 magazine. During his career, he's also contributed to places as varied as Creative Bloq, PC Gamer, PetsRadar, MacLife, and Edge. TV and movie nerdism is his speciality, and he goes to the cinema three times a week. He's always happy to explain the virtues of Dolby Vision over a drink, but he might need to use props, like he's explaining the offside rule.