Zac Efron survives ‘extreme’ nature challenge

ZAC EFRON        AP

When we first heard of “Bear Grylls,” we thought that the term referred to a zoo—until somebody more in the know curtly told us that it was a guy’s name, as in Bear Grylls, the host of an exceedingly tough nature survival TV challenge titled “Running Wild.”

Well, we finally got to watch the show last month, so we’re now properly clued in—and most impressed.

The “Running Wild” telecast we caught was particularly impressive because it featured a celebrity guest, Zac Efron, who joined Bear on one of his dangerous and even life-threatening expeditions into the wild—and (just barely) survived!

The two-day survival challenge took the unlikely duo to the Catskill Mountains, where they had to find their own food to eat, aside from rappelling down steep cliffsides and waterfalls—and, the most daunting challenge of all, traversing a gorge using only a rope that the aerialists hugged—for dear life!

Bear is no spring chicken, so we admired him for his upper-body strength, which he has been able to maintain, despite his age. It enabled him to hoist himself up and down mountainsides as easily as if he was taking a walk in the park, no sweat!

Hurdling challenges

We became even bigger fans of Zac, because he was able to keep up with his much more experienced mentor. Indeed, even Bear was impressed with his younger ward’s ability to hurdle all sorts of exhausting and dangerous physical challenges.

To break Zac in gently, Bear began with a simple rappelling challenge that they both measured up to, no problem. Next, to provide sustenance, they had to harvest earthworms and look for other possible protein sources to ingest. Luckily they were able to find some bird eggs, so they cooked a sort of “earthworm omelet”—that apparently tasted as weird as it sounded!

But, survivors aren’t gourmets, so they gamely swallowed the yucky stuff down, just thankful that it would keep them active throughout the day.

The next challenge of rappelling down the side of a waterfall was a daunting test that offered new difficulties to overcome, but Zac did well at it, too.

So, Bear decided to hit him with the most dangerous challenge, traversing a wide gorge, using only a thick rope to pull the formidable feat off. Even Bear had a hard time pulling himself over with just that length of rope, using one leg for balance and the other leg and his arms to do the pushing and pulling.

Visibly daunted

When it was Zac’s turn, the young star was visibly daunted and may have wanted to beg off—after all, he was an actor, not an aerialist!

But he decided to face up to the thrilling test—and not just survived, but impressed the heck out of Bear—and the telecast’s many viewers, as well!

Later, Zac attributed his success not just to his good physical conditioning, but also to the discipline that he had gained from his years of focus and hard work in the acting trade.

Whatever the combination of factors that enabled him to measure up to the challenge, we figure that Zac’s love for nature also played significantly into the equation.

The show’s next stellar guest (or “victim”) is Adam Sandler—here’s hoping and praying that he does well, as well!