Bear Grylls' ITV Show 'Mission Survive' Cancelled

He’s been more or less a permanent TV fixture since 2005, but it looks like the public’s interest in seeing celebrities tough it out in the wilderness might be on the wane, with the news that Bear Grylls’ show ‘Mission Survive’ has been axed by ITV.

‘Mission Survive’ ran for two seasons, and featured 12 celebrities being put through their paces in a series of tough outdoor challenges. The likes of former rugby player Mike Tindall and TV actress Emilia Fox featured on the show, but this couldn’t stop it from suffering plummeting ratings last time out, and now it seems the format has been put out of its misery.

“We had two exciting series of ‘Mission Survive’ but the commissioning team continues to refresh the channel’s Entertainment portfolio and so we have taken the decision not to commission a further series,” an ITV spokesperson confirmed on Monday (May 30th).

“We would like to thank Bear and the production team for everything that they achieved with the series. We have a number of projects with Bear in the pipeline and we will be announcing more details in due course.”

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According to a report in The Sun, the decision was made shortly after the final of the second series in March this year, which pulled in a significantly lower-than-expected figure of 2.2 million viewers, which an unnamed source blamed on the poor quality of celebrity contestants.

“’Mission Survive’ did what ITV expected to at first – it got everyone talking and there was a real buzz around the series,” the source claimed, but added “the second group of celebrities didn't get people quite as excited, and that showed in the ratings which were much lower.”

This doesn’t necessarily signify the end of the format, or of the 41 year old survivalist’s association with ITV, as the spokesperson was sure to add: “Bear remains very much part of the channel.”

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