From eating a real bear's leftovers to looking into the effects of climate change, President Barack Obama is said to get "a true taste of Alaska" in an upcoming episode of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls." But that wasn't really the taste the White House was worried about.
After news broke about the president getting into the wild, there was a petition calling for Obama to drink his own urine, which Grylls addressed in a conference call about the upcoming episode Monday.
Grylls told The Huffington Post, "It's funny, because as soon as we announced we were going to do this, there was a big petition of the White House saying, 'You gotta get the president to drink his own pee.'" Grylls continued, "And we had a good conversation about, 'You tell me, what is it with you and pee?' You know, 'Why [are you] known for this?' And he wanted to understand the science again behind it."
"So it's funny, sort of, [this] whole conversation about when pee is good and when pee is bad, and how these berries can help people’s flatulence and all this," Grylls continued, explaining his signature survival methods. "I always think toilet/lavatory humor is always a great leveler. And he’s a dad. He’s going to get that."
Perhaps the person most concerned about the pee was the president's food taster, who wanted to secretly swap out Obama's food for pre-cooked fish, according to Grylls.
Grylls explained, "He says, 'Will you make him drink the water (and pee)?' and, 'Absolutely, the president never films either eating or drinking on camera.' I thought, 'Oh, gosh, it’ll be a nightmare,' but we just [went] with it."
Grylls said in the end, he did get the president to eat some salmon that a bear had left. Despite pushback from the White House and the roughly 50 Secret Service personnel on hand, the outdoor expert's team was impressed by how much they were able to do.
"It was really driven by the fact that he was willing just to go for it and, you know, trust me doing my stuff and then I’d keep him safe and do my bit as well," said Grylls.
The president’s episode of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls" airs Thursday, December 17 at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC.
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