On Saturday night’s Man Vs Bear, there’s a new time, a marathon, and a candidate named Chrissi from Hackensack, New Jersey who hopes to beat Bart the bear, aka King of the Mountain, in a competition.
For the big Man Vs Bear finale on Saturday, the broadcast time has shifted. Man Vs Bear’s finale is now at 1 p.m. ET/PT on Saturday with a marathon of the series from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. leading into it.
The stats seem unlikely. Chrissi Shewchuk is all of 5’3” and 138-pounds while Bart tops the scales at 1400+ pounds. He stands at eight feet tall when he’s upright too.
In our exclusive clip below, we see Chrissi is going round two with Bart the bear in the tower tug of war which has most competitors airborne in seconds.
Still, as hosts, Casey Anderson and Brandon Tierney explain, her new strategy may trick Bart and give her the time she needs to remain on the platform so she can win.
In an interview back in December with Tap Into Paramus, Chrissi said: “I think seeing Bart in the wild, I would have probably peed my pants, but it was definitely overwhelming being that close to a bear,” she said of the experience.
“You see a bear in the zoo, and it’s not the same thing. It’s hard to describe. There was a part of me that knew there were safety measures in place.”
What is Man Vs Bear about?
Discovery’s curveball, Man Vs Bear, had 21 amateur and professional athletes, male and female, go head to snout with three enormous grizzlies in close, breath-smelling proximity.
There were once three baby grizzly bears, orphaned and left to their own devices in the wild. Their story in captivity is a fascinating one, as the three grew up frolicking in the mountains of Utah, where their contract rider insured them a never-ending supply of blueberries and fresh salmon.
These apex predators are kept by their human parents Doug and Lynne Seus. They now have TV careers and unlimited access to craft services thanks to this bonkers Discovery series that put forth the premise: Can bears and humans compete against each other?
For the most part, that is a yes. That is conditional, of course, on staging the matches with ample space and borders to keep the giant bears from wandering over to eat their competitors.
This hour-long show is hosted by Brandon Tierney, host of CBS Sports Radio’s nationally syndicated show Tiki and Tierney. He is paired with TV host and wildlife expert Casey Anderson, who had a bear as his best man at his first wedding.
The set up is simple, as 21 competitors from around the country receive a series of tasks against Honey Bump, Tank, and especially the big boy Bart (he had a cameo in Game of Thrones).
The series goal is to see if strength, speed, and stamina are measurable between humankind and bears, and all are put to the test. This eight-week series saw Shewchuk do well, just one of six women cast in the show.
Man Vs Bear exclusive preview:
Can Chrissi out-think the big boy Bart and hold on for at least 14 seconds? See if this Jersey girl is smarter than the average bear:
Man Vs Bear’s finale is now at 1 p.m. ET/PT on Saturday on Discovery Channel with a marathon of the series from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. leading into it.