His toughest adventure yet

His name is Bear Grylls.

He’s served with the British special forces. He’s climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest. He’s traversed the frozen oceans of the Arctic. But now, he’s in one of the most perilous environments on the planet -- a U.S. media tour.

He will show you how to survive.

It’s been a rough year for Grylls, the star of Discovery Channel’s “Man vs. Wild.” In July, England’s Sunday Times revealed that Grylls had actually set up camp in hotels, not the wilderness, during some filming of what appeared to be a dramatic documentary of outdoor survival. The scandalous revelation could have potentially ended his new life as a television personality -- a wiry, snake-eating, globe-hopping character who crosses the enthusiasm of the late Steve Irwin with the diction of the royal family.

But Grylls laid low with his family in Wales, while Discovery executives huddled over the fate of one of their most popular shows. Season 2 would go on, they decided, but the show would have to be grander and more transparent. (A “Mission to Everest” special kicked off the new season Nov. 9.) And after filming in such places as the 130-degree Sahara Desert and the minus-30-degree Patagonian snow caves, Grylls would travel the talk show circuit to promote the new season and catch flak for the old.

“Making TV is not my side of it,” he said recently, over a glass of water in the rarely dangerous Four Seasons’ bar in Beverly Hills, where he was staying during his tour. “But I’m big enough and ugly enough to stick my head above the parapet and say, ‘Yeah, it’s my fault. Whatever.’ ”

Bright and personable, Grylls would be a crisis manager’s dream. He takes responsibility (although executives implied other heads had rolled as a result of the controversy.) He stays on message. (The new, more realistic shows are even more dramatic, he says.) He uses self-deprecating remarks to keep the tone light. He has just enough eye contact -- but not too much -- to convey honesty.

Dressed in quality sweats, Grylls had just showered after a run. His nickname is misleading, having come from a shortening of Edward to Teddy and an association with teddy bear. He looked more fit than tough.

At first, he said, he told network executives he wouldn’t go on the media tour. “I said I’m not doing it. I’m exhausted, let me just go home,” he said. But executives persuaded him by promising him the new shows would show and explain more of the situation. “They said, ‘Trust us. If you just tell people. . . .’ ”

And he has. He says he always stays outdoors when filming; when not, he stays in motels (“lodges,” he says) with the crew. The problem with Season 1 was a misperception of what the show was all about: It appeared to be a documentary, but was more of a reality show, he said.

“I was just busy doing my job,” he said. “Looking back now, I should have made it absolutely clear and said, ‘Listen, tell people, show it all.’ That’s the benefit of hindsight.”

The new shows and the repeats now have disclaimers at the start stating that the crews receive support when they are in “potentially life-threatening” situations and that “on some occasions, situations are presented to Bear so he can demonstrate survival techniques.”

The new season features shots of cameramen who accompany him. On the Everest special, Grylls was even shown weeping with frustration when circumstances delayed his flight over the mountain.

He said he felt pressure when filming began in September “after all of this. . . . I’ve got to deliver amazing shows that come out exciting. It’s much harder for everyone, more work, more remote places, pushing harder, showing more.”

Jane Root, Discovery Channel general manager, said public opinion was more harsh in the U.K. than the U.S. “He didn’t do anything egregious. He was a guy trying to do his best,” she said. She green lighted “Man vs. Wild” because she knew Grylls was a popular public speaker who could hold an audience with stories of his adventures. “We knew when he got out there and met people, everyone would have the same reaction I did. He’s a great guy,” she said.

Indeed, she said Discovery has had so many requests from people who want to go out in the wilderness with him, the network is planning more shows that will include volunteers. “They will go out to some of these wild places where people have actually got into terrible trouble. Couples, fathers and sons, maybe the odd celebrity, will go out with him to test their instincts, their physical toughness, their mental survival skills,” she said.

There were times, Grylls said, when he wondered if he would make it through the controversy. “I was so nervous starting filming in September after all of this. I’ve got so much pressure to deliver amazing shows that come out exciting.” After he saw the first shows, he said he felt relieved. “It’s like the weight is off my shoulders.

“I can’t help whether people see it, whether they like it, or don’t like it,” he said. “What I can help is when I come back and deliver these things that I feel it’s as good as I can give to them.”

lynn.smith@latimes.com