What do you get when you pair a retired NFL running back from Oakland, California, and a British adventurer and strand them in France’s Corsican Mountains? Absolutely must-watch TV.
The latest episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls features former Seattle Seahawks running back and Super Bowl champion Marshawn Lynch, and it’s arguably the best of the show’s 22 episodes. Anyone familiar with Lynch’s antics can imagine what the outspoken, entertaining 30-year-old would be like when he’s stuck in the mountains for two days, but even those who don’t know of Lynch could definitely enjoy how things play out.
The episode, which is posted in its entirety on YouTube, begins with Lynch immediately questioning if he’s actually interested in what he knows will be a new experience, saying as a kid he “climbed trees a little bit,” but that’s as far as his outdoorsman side has gone. From there, it gets only better.
Lynch and Grylls stalk and kill a hog, with Grylls making Lynch repel down the side of a mountain to retrieve the hog. Lynch then is told to cut into the hog and cut out that night’s dinner. Despite being disgusted, Lynch goes for it and is successful — until Grylls wants to celebrate the kill with the traditional act of putting blood on Lynch’s face.
That experience is just the beginning for Lynch, who at that point says, “If he’s again got me dangling off a cliff then I’mma gonna have to put paws on him. I’m going to put these hands on him. I don’t know how I’m going to do it yet, because I know he be fighting stuff out here in the wild so I gotta make sure my attack is planned right and well.”
Lynch speaks mostly with California slang throughout the episode, and though some of his phrases are unfamiliar to most of the audience, it makes the authenticity of the show that much more entertaining.
Lynch’s experience takes another turn when Grylls begins building their campsite, with Lynch asking, “You don’t got a blow-up tent?” And the episode hits possibly the pinnacle when Grylls asks Lynch for a piece of a dreadlock to help start the campfire.
The episode also includes Grylls asking Lynch about his abrupt retirement, which came after the Seahawks won the 2015 Super Bowl, and what advice Lynch would give younger players.
The 42-minute episode is entertaining from beginning to end, but Lynch, being the quote machine that he is, summed it up with one quote:
“I think the theme of this show should be, not ‘Running Wild,’ but rather ‘Bear Be Trippin On Mamas.’”
