Bear Grylls To The South Pole?

The Adventurist first reported on this a few days back, quoting from a recent interview that Bear Grylls conducted with the Times Online in which he discusses a number of topics, including a new show launched on the BBC called Born Survivor, and the controversy that surrounded his show Man vs. Wild last year.

Of particular interest however is a small, almost passing comment, at the end of the article in which the author states that Bear will be going to the Antarctic "next year". It's hard to know if that means he'll be headed to the South Pole starting in the Fall of 2008, as would be the traditional time for such an expedition, or if he's actually not planning to go until 2009. Often when someone sets out on an expedition like that, they need time to plan the logistics and find sponsors, but I'm guessing that Bear doesn't really need help in the sponsors area, and the BBC and Discovery Channel are more than willing to help fund such a trip.

Bear seems to have gained a sense of humility and understanding from the dust up last year about certain elements of his show being less than realistic in their depiction. He comes across as very genuine in this article, and seems to feel that he let his viewers down to a certain degree. The show has taken steps to insure that future episodes are more forthcoming, and I think we've already seen the results of that in this season's episodes.

It'll be interesting to hear more about his plans for a trip to the South Pole. It'll certainly be a fun and exciting journey to follow. I'll post more if we learn anything about those plans.