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Netflix's next Bandersnatch lets you choose Bear Grylls' interactive adventure

Maybe now when you scream at the screen "DO NOT DRINK YOUR PEE," Grylls must obey. (Probably not though.)

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Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter
Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.
Expertise Streaming video, film, television and music; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; deep fakes and synthetic media; content moderation and misinformation online Credentials
  • Three Folio Eddie award wins: 2018 science & technology writing (Cartoon bunnies are hacking your brain), 2021 analysis (Deepfakes' election threat isn't what you'd think) and 2022 culture article (Apple's CODA Takes You Into an Inner World of Sign)
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Joan E. Solsman
Bear Grylls and Shaquille O'Neal stick their heads out from a pile of leaves

Bear Grylls bonds over a love of nature with Shaquille O'Neal in his NBC show Running Wild with Bear Grylls. 

 Ben Simms/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Last year, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch expanded Netflix's interactive video efforts to a wider audience. The company's next interactive series, You vs. Wild, will let viewers pick the twists in a survival adventure lived by Bear Grylls. 

Netflix on Monday released an "interactive" trailer for the show where viewers can choose between two possible videos to complete it, in a style that was popular on YouTube circa 2009. 

In the trailer videos, it appears viewers get to decide things like how Grylls crosses a frozen lake, either by crawling on his belly (like you're supposed to do) or by walking "really tentatively" (which you're... not). So it seems the sadistic among us can force Grylls to put himself in even more extreme peril. Grylls is known for his reality shows that document adventure survival in extreme natural circumstances. Also, sometimes to stay hydrated he drinks his own urine. 

Grylls said the show gives "viewers an all-access pass to explore the world and its landscapes in my boots." 

Netflix will debut the eight-episode, live-action interactive series on April 10.  Each episode will have multiple choices that let watchers direct the course of the story. "You make all the decisions, and whether or not Bear succeeds or fails is totally up to you," Netflix said. 

Alfred Ng contributed to this report.