President Obama had one lunch request when he agreed to go off into the wilderness with Bear Grylls. “I’ve seen some of the stuff Bear eats,” he said in a Today show preview of the upcoming Running Wild With Bear Grylls episode the president filmed during a recent climate-change-themed trip to Alaska. “It’s gotta be something that doesn’t still have its legs and eyes on it. I want it not to be too recognizable.”
Grylls mostly acquiesced to this request. However, the bloody salmon carcass the pair shared did happen to be already chewed a bit by a recognizable furry something that still had its eyes and legs.
Yes, the president of the United States ate salmon meat left behind by a bear, an act that probably led the ghost of Theodore Roosevelt to weep with happiness. Grylls and Obama did roast the fish before eating it.
“Bear’s a mediocre cook, but the fact that we ate something recognizable was encouraging,” Obama said, adding that the meal was “tasty,” although he could have used a cracker. “Now, the fact that he told me this was a leftover fish from a bear, I don’t know if that was necessary. He could have just left that out.”
Thankfully for the president, Fear Factor is no longer on the air, which means he will not be compelled to one-up his reality-TV appearance and policy-promotion game by eating a buffet of gross and crunchy and slimy invasive species.
