Obama to tape reality TV episode with survivalist Bear Grylls

NEW YORK --Survival expert Bear Grylls has bagged his biggest celebrity yet for a walk in the wilderness - President Barack Obama.

NBC and the White House said Monday the president will meet with Grylls during his visit to Alaska to discuss climate change, then spend some time in the wilderness. NBC said Grylls would give the president a crash course in survival techniques for an episode of his show, "Running Wild," to air later this year.

Grylls has taped previous episodes of his show with the likes of Kate Winslet, Drew Brees, Kate Hudson and Channing Tatum.

"I will not deny your suspicion that there may have been some suggestions put forward by the Bear Grylls team that were not approved by the Secret Service," said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. "We have been able to work with the Secret Service to find a couple of interesting things" for the president to participate in, he said.

Earnest called it "an admittedly unorthodox but legitimately interesting way for the president to reach an audience that obviously cares about conservation."

Before joining NBC, Grylls starred in the Discovery Channel's "Man vs Wild" series.