Adventurer Bear Grylls Returns With an Epic New Season of National Geographic's RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS: THE CHALLENGE

Natalie Portman, Simu Liu, Ashton Kutcher, Florence Pugh, Anthony Anderson and Rob Riggle Must Face New Heart-Racing Survival Challenges This Season

RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS: THE CHALLENGE Premieres With Academy Award(R) Winner Natalie Portman on July 25 at 9/8c on National Geographic

All Episodes Will Stream on Aug. 10 Exclusively on Disney+

WASHINGTON -- Fan-favorite survivalist Bear Grylls is back with more bold and exciting episodes of the hit series "Running Wild with Bear Grylls." Except this season, he is kicking things up a notch by introducing RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS: THE CHALLENGE. Premiering on National Geographic and Disney+, Bear takes the daring adventures up a level by teaching celebrity guests essential survival skills that they will have to master and then prove they can use in a high-stress situation.

RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS: THE CHALLENGE premieres Monday, July 25, at 9/8c on National Geographic with first guest The Mighty Thor Natalie Portman ("Thor: Love and Thunder"). Following the premiere, weekly episodes will feature fellow Marvel superhero Simu Liu ("Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"), actor Ashton Kutcher ("Two and a Half Men"), Oscar(R)-nominee for "Little Women" Florence Pugh ("Black Widow"), actor Anthony Anderson ("black-ish"), and actor and comedian Rob Riggle ("Holey Moley"). All episodes of the newest season will stream Aug. 10 only on Disney+.

This season, guests will not only be pushed physically and mentally - like plunging into a frozen lake in the Canadian Rockies or foraging for food in the deserts of the Great Basin - but Bear will be testing each on their survival skills. This time, they will be tested beyond other guests: after Bear teaches each of them a key set of skills, they will then have to master them on their own and deploy those skills at a high-intensity moment to earn their extraction from the wilderness.

The celebrity guest lineup and challenges include the following:

NATALIE PORTMAN IN SOUTHERN UTAH
Premieres July 25 at 9/8c on National Geographic
Streams Aug. 10 only on Disney+
Bear takes Academy Award(R) winner Natalie Portman into the slot canyons of Southern Utah. Their adventure begins when Bear leaps from his helicopter onto Natalie's 4x4. They trek into the Escalante desert, where Bear teaches Natalie piton placements, rope system transfers and fire starting while descending various canyons. Natalie uses her new skills as they ascend a mountain and attempt to light a signal fire for extraction.

SIMU LIU IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES
Premieres Aug. 1 at 9/8c on National Geographic
Streams Aug. 10 only on Disney+
Bear takes Marvel superhero Simu Liu to the Canadian Rockies. As the adventure begins, they must trigger an avalanche to clear a path to a ravine and find an old cabin or risk hypothermia as temperatures drop below -20. The next day, Bear sets the ultimate arctic challenge: Simu must strip down to plunge into a frozen lake and then navigate to a dogsled team to whisk them back to civilization.

ASHTON KUTCHER IN THE COASTAL JUNGLES OF COSTA RICA
Premieres Aug. 8 at 9/8c on National Geographic
Streams Aug. 10 only on Disney+
Ashton Kutcher joins Bear to challenge the coastal jungles of Costa Rica. Their adventure begins with a helicopter jump into the Pacific Ocean. Once they swim ashore, they must canoe up a river to fish for their dinner, then descend a 300-foot cliff into the jungle. The next day, Bear sets up a commando crawl rope challenge. Ashton must use all the strength he can muster to cross a massive ravine.

FLORENCE PUGH IN THE VOLCANIC RAINFORESTS OF COSTA RICA
Premieres Aug. 15 at 9/8c on National Geographic
Streams Aug. 10 only on Disney+
Rappelling from a helicopter, Bear takes Florence Pugh to the volcanic rainforests of Costa Rica. Bear shows Florence how to traverse rapids, test river depth with a rope and rock, and avoid poisonous snakes and deep cliff edges. Crossing an alligator-infested swamp, they catch eel for dinner. On day two, Florence must test the depth of a waterfall pool before choosing to leap from a high cliff into a set of rapids below. Finally, they jump out of an airplane at 10,000 feet to their extraction.

ANTHONY ANDERSON IN THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS
Premieres Aug. 22 at 9/8c on National Geographic
Streams Aug. 10 only on Disney+
Anthony Anderson joins Bear in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Tossing their backpacks from the helicopter, Bear challenges Anthony to survive with just a rope and compass. On the ground, Bear teaches Anthony navigation and knot-tying skills. On day two, Bear leaves Anthony to use his new skills to secure his climb up a sheer rock face. Anthony will dig deep to make it to their extraction point.

ROB RIGGLE IN THE GREAT BASIN DESERT
Premieres Aug. 22 at 10/9c on National Geographic
Streams Aug. 10 only on Disney+
Bear puts Rob Riggle through survival tests in the Great Basin to prepare for Rob's latest movie role. They begin by rappelling from a helicopter to travel west, where Riggle learns the ropes and then faces an even bigger ropes challenge. Once on the canyon floor, Bear teaches Rob river crossing skills, foraging for food and building a rudimentary shelter. The next day, Rob must evade being spotted by Bear or face his fear of skydiving.
Previous seasons of RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS are currently streaming on Disney+ with guests that include Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Anthony Mackie, Dave Bautista, Cara Delevingne, Bobby Bones, Terry Crews, Rainn Wilson, Keegan-Michael Key and more.

RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS: THE CHALLENGE was developed by Bear Grylls and Delbert Shoopman. The series is produced by Electus, a Propagate Company, and The Natural Studios. For Electus and The Natural Studios, Bear Grylls serves as executive producer along with Chris Grant, Drew Buckley, Ben Silverman, Howard Owens, Liz Schulze, Rob Buchta and Delbert Shoopman. For National Geographic, Bengt Anderson and Sean David Johnson are executive producers.

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About National Geographic Partners LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the National Geographic Society, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 134 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About Bear Grylls

Bear Grylls has become known worldwide as one of the most recognized faces of survival and outdoor adventure. His journey to this acclaim started on a small island off the U.K. coast where his late father taught him to climb and sail. Trained from a young age in martial arts, Grylls spent three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces as part of 21st SAS Regiment. It was here that he perfected many of the survival skills that his fans all over the world enjoy as he pitted himself against the worst of Mother Nature. Despite a free-fall parachuting accident in Africa, where he broke his back in three places and endured many months in military rehabilitation, Grylls went on to become one of the youngest climbers ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest. He then went on to star in seven seasons of the Discovery Channel's Emmy award-nominated "Man vs. Wild" TV series, which became one of the most watched shows on the planet, reaching an estimated 1.2 billion viewers. Since then, he has hosted more extreme adventure TV shows across more global networks than anyone else in the world including the Emmy-nominated Netflix series "You Vs Wild", "Man vs. Wild" for Discovery Channel, "Running Wild" for Nat Geo and "Into the Wild" for the Asian TV market. He is a No. 1 best-selling author, an honorary colonel to the Royal Marine Commandos and the youngest ever chief scout, an inspiration to 55 million scouts worldwide.