An interactive adventure with Bear Grylls in You vs Wild

I had an early childhood memory where I borrowed a book from the library which had a pick-your-choice kind of genre. I, for my life, could not recall the theme nor the the title of that story book. But I remember being so excited and immersed in it because at the end of each chapter, you get to make a choice of what next. Based on your decision or choice, you would then be brought to a certain stated page to continue that story line. It was such a thrill for a reader to make choices which could affect the characters and story line altogether.

Fast forward 2019. I caught on a pretty similar premise in the form of television series. Yes, Black Mirror's Bandersnatch has been very popular with such an interactive feature (I'm keeping that for another day), but last night I tried the You Vs Wild with Bear Grylls. Already famous in the scene of survival in the wild and plenty of adventures with famous people, Bear Grylls has now invite Netflix viewers to make choices in the wild for him. 

I thought that was really cool! Whether it is to climb the rope or climb up the slippery rocks, you decide and your decision brings you to watch what happens when Bear takes that path. When I search on the internet, I find many people trying to "kill" him off by making risky or dumb decisions. I, however, always strive to succeed the mission. But my decisions always happen to me not-so-wise. I have gone through 3 episodes so far and failed 3 times in the mission. When you get a mission fail, you would be given a choice to skip to the next episode or try again. While some criticise that it can be pretty boring after awhile, I thought this is a very smart way to watch something with say, a family of young children. Imagine the fun of making these choices with your kids at home. It completely has revolutionarised the way television is since its inception in those black and white days.

For a person who normally does not opt to watch a documentary on wild or nature on the television, this has completely changed my point of view. The level of excitement is certainly one that keeps me cheering under my duvet while I binged on Netflix in the dark, challenging to push my bedtime boundaries a little further each night.