A new streaming series about Alaska has joined the ranks of TV shows like “Deadliest Catch,” “Bering Sea Gold” and dozens of others, this time focused on the fat bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve.
The latest series, “The Hungry Games: Alaska’s Big Bear Challenge,” features narration from a well-known New Zealand star. Rhys Darby, who has appeared in the HBO comedy series “Flight of the Conchords” and the recent “Jumanji” films, describes himself as a “comedian, actor, leg model, cryptozoologist, artist, and author.”
In a brief preview clip for the series, which premiered Thursday, Darby is narrating a scene where a Katmai bear known as Boldface tries to cross a flowing channel with her three cubs. The mama bear goes in first to test the waters and then calls for the younglings to follow.
“Boldface is waiting for them about halfway across the river. If they can swim to her, she can carry them the rest of the way. C’mon kids, hurry up and get to your mom,” Darby narrated.
Boldface, and other Katmai bears like her, are the focus of a new streaming series that claims to be the first natural history competition show of its kind.
The show will also include a ranking system similar to Katmai National Park’s Fat Bear Week tournament, where several brown bears in the park are pitted against each other and the public votes for their favorite fattest bear. Darby, however, will add more context and commentary to the bears’ activities while they bulk up for winter.
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In “The Hungry Games,” the large brown bears are given scores based on their actions, like eating hundreds of pounds of food over the course of 150 days. The three categories they’ll be measured in are Beefiness, Ingenuity, and Grit – an acronym that spells out B.I.G.
Once the show is over, the highest scoring bear will be crowned the Hungry Games champion.
The first season is streaming on Peacock with three episodes released so far.
