Bear Grylls and Tom Arnold.
During a conference call on August 13, 2014, I spoke with Tom Arnold about his stint on NBC’s hit reality series,“Running Wild with Bear Grylls.” In each episode, Bear takes a different celebrity on a two-day survival excursion that Bear describes as “A boy’s adventure.”
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the call since the usual questions about character development and writing do not apply with this type of show. As Arnold answered my questions, however, I found myself feeling something I didn’t expect — inspired. Arnold spoke about his self-image; it was a big issue for him because despite losing weight prior to his appearance on Running Wild with Bear Grylls, he still felt like the fat guy. Readers who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know I have been battling my own weight issues and recently lost around 80 pounds. I found his story about tree and the ravine especially uplifting because I could relate on a personal level.
The transcript doesn’t convey the pride in Arnold’s voice as he described his experience. It was evident this was more than a TV show for him; this was a personal journey that will have a lasting impact on him mentally, emotionally, and physically.
While the show has featured other celebrities like Zac Efron and Channing Tatum, Arnold had a great line I really connected with when he said “… there’s way more Tom Arnolds than there are Zach Efrons or Channing Tatums.”
Keep reading for my question, followed by the remaining Q&A of the call.
Running Wild with Bear Grylls airs Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, only on NBC.
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Operator: Your first question comes from Greg Staffa with Your Entertainment Corner. Please go ahead.
Greg Staffa: Mr. Arnold, much of your work has been for the entertainment of others. And with a show like this, while entertaining, there’s a lot of personal growth and kind of personal finding of one’s self. Can you tell us a little bit about anything that surprised you about yourself in doing this kind of project?
Tom Arnold: Well, I you know I mean when they asked me to do it, you know, obviously I wanted to know who else was doing it—if I could see somebody that matched me physically that made it humanly possible cause they don’t tell you what you’re going to be doing. You just know that you’re with Bear Grylls. And, you know, I’m a huge fan of his and have watched him do many crazy things but most of which I could not possible do so someone said well he did a couple shows with, in the past, with Jake Gyllenhal and I was like oh, yes. Well, Jake Gyllenhal has an amazing body; he’s young. And then they said Will Ferrell and I go oh, well wait a minute. If Will Ferrell can do it, then maybe I can do it and then of course, I saw Will Ferrell and the talk he gave and he was super trim.
And I—there were first of all, it’s a TV show. So I assumed it would be fake at some point. I assumed that you know, you’d stop and you’d harness up and then you’d you know if you were catching fish, they’d bring some fish in. And you’d have your fish and but it wasn’t. And that was the scariest thing is I mean it was on. It was you know once I got into it, you know, I just, I mean, I lost 100 pounds in the last year since I had my son. And I’ve you know worked out really hard and eaten right and but you know it also occurred to me that I’ve done most of my exercising in a gym on an elliptical machine or you know and how does that translate to you know as I found out when I got there being in a forest with a 75-pound backpack, I was you know, I said I’d do it cause I knew it was a challenge and you know, cause I’m a fan of Bear’s. And I assumed he’d take care of me, or teach me something.
The fact that they don’t tell you anything, you know, it’s a little frightening. And then once you’re there, it’s on, and you have to, you know, the moments that—you know, I made the mistake in telling the producer what my biggest fears were, which now I realize you should never do that. Which were, you know, cause I consider myself a 300-pound person. I mean, when I think of myself, I’m the fat guy. There’s no—even when I weigh 190—there’s no, you know, when you’ve grown up that way and you’ve been that way. So I assumed that if I stand on something, it’s probably going to break—whether that if I get on a rollercoaster, I assume oh, I’m going to be the person that puts this over the top and there’s a problem.
And so I said well, you know being I’m super high, really, I don’t like that. I don’t like heights like that. It makes me nervous. And you know, so of course almost everything was like that from the second they picked me up on the outside of a helicopter. I mean, I kept comparing this to let’s say True Lies or one of the other many movies I’ve done. You did stunts, but you were safe because you practiced and you were hooked up to all kinds of cables and it looked scary, but this actually was scary and there was a moment, excuse me, where a tree had fallen down over some big ravine. And it was 50 feet and it sort of was on an incline across the other side and it really was, it was one of those moments in my life—excuse me—cause I had Bear, this tree is rotting. And there’s no way I’m going to—Bear just kind of scampers off. He’s much smaller than me. And he scampers across this thing and you know he’s crazy and he’s like just sure of himself and matter of fact. And he has no fear. And then he says well you come across this 55-foot thing and over this 60-foot drop-off into these rocks. And I was like yes that’s not—I can’t do—this is where, this moment is where this ends because I’m 55. I have finally everything I’ve wanted in my life. I have a son. I have a great wife. Everything is perfect. And now you want me to fall off this thing. And then I’ll die in a hilarious way.
So, but, you know he went across there and then he said, he said something to me, he said, you know, we can go back down and hike across the river and it’d take five or six hours. Or you could do it like I just did or you could go as far as you can on this log and drop to your knees and you could crawl to me.
And there’s something about the way—and he did not say it to challenge me, but the way I grew up as a kid, and the things that happened to me as a kid, something clicked with this man saying hey you will drop to your knees and you will crawl to me. And I was like eff it. I am going to walk across this thing, and if I fall, and I probably will, so what. My son’s going to see me try to do this thing. And there were a couple moments when I went up on one foot cause there’s no—I mean, I am in—something happened that was greater than me. Like I can’t, I couldn’t’ have done that but something inside of me, something happened. I don’t know what did, but I made it and I don’t know how and it was, you know and then you know of course I immediately thought oh, I wonder how many times in my life I’ve thought oh, I can’t do that and then just stopped and then you know not to ramble on. But when I went back home I went to therapy and I told my therapist well this is what happened. This guys said drop to your knees and then crawl to me and he’s like oh, well here’s your problem Tom. No man has ever talked to you like that. And he didn’t mean it like you think. He meant, he was kind. He meant well there’s three ways to get across this thing. You go down and we can hike around. That’s the long way. You can do it the fast way like I just did. Or you can do it the middle way and that’s how in life is.
There’s always three ways to do anything. And for whatever reason, I made it and I felt really good about that.
Greg Staffa: Well, I haven’t seen the episode yet, but from the clips I’ve seen—
Tom Arnold: Well, now you don’t have to. I just explained the whole episode. Sorry.
Greg Staffa: Well, I just want to say. You should be very—as a big guy myself, I think you should be very proud of what you accomplished and just want to thank you for your time.
Tom Arnold: Thank you very much. Thank you, very, very much.
Greg Staffa: …When was the episode filmed and secondly this sounds almost like a celebrity-detoxing for you emotionally, physically, and mentally. Going forward now, how has this experience changed you and how will it change how you approach projects—film, TV, something, not necessarily like this but approach things in the future with this kind of new experience of that you can do something, just take a chance at it.
Tom Arnold: Well, there’s a couple things. One is you know I think we filmed this a month ago. It sounds about right. I mean I know I did and then I know that Zach was the next week. I mean they it wasn’t long ago.
I you know I mean it’s such a great badge of because you know it’s like you know sometimes you do a movie with somebody and you tell people oh, I just did like last night they screened this movie I did with Sean Bean and I wanted to work with him and wanted to see what he was like and you know he’s the guy that you tell people and people that do know who he is go oh he’s amazing. And I think Bear, Bear is like. You say I did the Bear Grylls thing.
First of all, people can’t believe that I did it—people that I know. And that does stop people in their tracks. They’re like wait a minute you actually did that? I go yes and I went—I did the whole so part of it’s the way people thing about me. I did sit next to my wife and watch—which is the thing I care about the most and watched her watch it. and that gave me a lot of pride. She was very nervous and proud of me. And that alone is a huge—you know, that makes me feel good cause she thinks I’m fearless which is not true at all. But you know I, you know there’s certain things you know because I have this young son and I have a little bit more confidence. I do. I definitely have more confidence. I mean, I’ve always been pretty confident about because I physical stuff but not really. As you get older, you start questioning yourself and you know you know I gained a bunch of weight and then I lost it. and you say well am I the guy that can still do this. So I have to be. There’s no you know I can’t negotiate my—I have to be on the floor everyday playing with this kid. We have to be outside and that’s what we do. We wrestle. We do all this stuff. We’ve got to—and I’ve got to do this forever. I have to take this kid camping. I want to. I know that experience. I know it’s like you know just all these experiences I want to have with my son. I want to feel confident that maybe I can build a tent, which I still don’t feel confident but I know that at one time I went you know with Bear Grylls and did this thing.
So you know I think it makes you a better father. You do walk around taller. I will say that. And it is a club and I highly recommend it to other actors because there is this little—you know it’s not often that we actually get to do something and you’ll hear actors say oh for this movie we had a little boot camp which is you know I know most of that’s BS. You know that means they met with some military folks. They aren’t going to put actors through a boot camp but they always say that cause they want you to believe them in the movie. But this is, this was the real deal and it was the most real physical thing that I’ve you know ever gone through and it does make me you know I’m still not going to take my shirt off ever but it does make me a little more confident to do other kinds of physical rolls.
And you know I walked away from there saying you know it’s more you know I could do 100 minutes on the elliptical machine, but now I know I can also hike for 10 miles up and down in the forest and with a backpack that weighs 75 pounds. So there’s not a lot, I mean I’m probably in the best shape of my life actually. You know, there’s not a lot that I can’t do.
Greg Staffa: Wow, thank you very much for taking my questions today.
Tom Arnold: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
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Netta: Hi everyone and thank you for joining today’s conference call for NBC’s Running Wild With Bear Grylls, with star Tom Arnold, whose episode airs next Monday, Aug. 18 at 8 p.m. Without further ado, I open it up to questions and welcome Tom Arnold.
Tom Arnold: Thank you.
Operator: Your next question comes from Karen. Please go ahead.
Karen: Hi, Tom. Thanks for, thanks for being with us today.
Tom Arnold: Well, of course, of course.
Karen: I, I, I hate the outdoors, so I—
Tom Arnold: Oh, my gosh, yes.
Karen: So I really respect what you did and I was wondering if you could tell us what was the high point of your time with Bear and what was the low point—maybe it was crossing that log.
Tom Arnold: Yes, I mean, it was—definitely crossing the log was the high point—the instant he, the helicopter dropped, he shook my hand and he hooked me up to the outside of the helicopter and we took off and I was looking down and I mean I just, my legs were shaking so much I was like oh, I got myself into something that I cannot do here. I am in such trouble. What are they going to do with me, with my body? What you know—I mean, part of the reason I did it was because you know I’d like when I was young, I was an outdoors person. I grew up in Iowa in a small town and we—everything outdoors. But obviously the last 30 years, I have not been an outdoors person. And I love taking my 16-month-old son outdoors cause I know how much being outside and being in the dirt and things like that, I know how good that is for you. And I was thinking, oh, I’ll go with Bear Grylls and learn how to camp with my son. I’ll get a refresher course and that’s what I’ll take away from this is I’ll maybe be a better father.
And so that you know, that I mean, it’s you know I mean there was so many things. First of all when I found out it was just me and Bear and that we were going to have to sleep in some sort of tent arrangement—just the two guys. And I thought, that is so intimate, what if he doesn’t like me. You know, but by the time we got to that, I was so tired from the 10 miles of hiking and all this stuff and so hungry. I mean, he did try to—some people freak out with the way he you know grabs fish and snails and weird stuff and worms and growing up where I grew up that doesn’t—none of that bothers me. I mean, I like—I’ll eat anything. There were, there were actually black bears there and animals don’t scare me either. Cause growing up you know—I have a healthy fear of all animals—cows, horses. So I don’t have an unusual shocking fear, oh there’s a black bear here. But you know the intimacy and the heights and you know failing on camera, you know, you know, I that is you know I had this big fear of letting down my family. Letting—you know, what if I don’t do this thing or you know and then I you know you weigh that with your own fear and judgment and but it turned out to be this fantastic thing and afterwards, I you know I mean I talked to, I was talking to Zach Efron the whole time I was up there because I really was excited for him to do it and to Channing and you know kind of—they were asking what happens. What does the—you know, and you know, obviously I knew they could do cause they’re incredible physical specimens and—but I also thought boy this is probably going to be good. Cause you can’t—you don’t bring your people there.
There’s no, I mean, I don’t remember the last time I was totally alone with a stranger in a remote place where I have no phone. I have no—it was a weird feeling and you know nature and what if, who do I, what if, how do I, what if I need something and so it was really good. And I especially thought it would be great for Zach and you know single young man. You know working his way through life. And it was, it was.
And I think what you’ve done that you know I talked to Will Farrell. I said I did that thing with Bear and he was like oh my god. It’s sort of this club and I hope a lot of other people do it. I already made a list then.
Karen: Oh, well, you know what. That was going to be my second question. So thanks for answering that also.
Tom Arnold: Yes.
Karen: And I can’t wait to see it.
Tom Arnold: Thank you.
Operator: Your next question comes from Christine. Please go ahead.
Christine: How much time was there in-between you saying yes to going on this excursion with Bear and you heading out to do this? And did you do any prepping before you left on the trip?
Tom Arnold: There was very little time. I think it was a week, maybe less than a week. But I’ll tell you what happened. I was at a, I was at a —how do I describe it? Let’s describe it as a men’s group. I was somewhere and someone came up and said oh your wife’s trying to get a hold of you. This is what they want you to do and I looked at it and I was like I’m going to let god decide whether—I’m not going to rush and call anybody back. I’m going to see this is a little frightening because it’s Bear’s world. You go wherever. And I—well I don’t want to, I’m not going to back down fro the challenge, but I’m not going to rush and call somebody back. Let’s see if they find somebody else in the next couple hours. And then you know I did and you know they don’t give you enough—they don’t give you—I talked to the producer but it was basically what are your fears. My doctor did a quick thing you know everything is fine. You know, and then that’s it.
And then I said, well, where am I going and they don’t even tell you. And you sort of get this thing and you land in some airport which was different from where it was. And you’re taken to a really nice hotel or spa resort. Incredibly nice in this case. And then you’re picked up and it’s on and you’re taken to wherever. So I think landed in if I remember it was somewhere in California in a little airport and then taken to this kind of nice, this very nice resort and then yanked out of there and I had no idea what state I was in. And someone said oh, now you’re in Oregon and you know and then when you meet Bear, that’s it. Like he you’re standing—in my case I was standing on this whale watching stand 30 feet up, which I was scared to death of that cause it was like old and I thought well it’s going to start off—I’m going to collapse this thing. And then that’s the show and it’s over and I haven’t even met Bear. And of course you see a helicopter in the distance and you’re like oh, my god. OK, this is happening.
And then you know he kind of, he’s such a good dude too. I mean, he’s like the real deal. Like you know I try to constantly find out what OK what’s their weak spot. What is BS about this person? where are they phony? I never, he is so—and you know there’s a picture that kind of represents this. It’s him with his hand out. Cause he helped me obviously I never could have done it without him. But he genuinely is that guy that no matter what the situation, I would have liked to have worked with him at the meatpacking plant because he would have been a guy that you know when we went behind the union hold to have one of our fights, he would have had your back.
And I you know he just is the real deal. I kept it looking for the what is show business about this. What is the TV show and I also felt that NBC my friends at NBC, like you sign a release that’s not from release. You sign it from like Bear and his buddy. I think NBC’s probably scared to death of this show and what’s going on. You don’t just take. and I don’t mean just mean, but famous people and put them into—it is so unusual and they have all these movie stars and people that are not used to—you know there’s a lot riding on all these things and it is so real and that’s what makes it such an unusual experience and hopefully you know what will make my episode different is there’s a lot of guys—there’s way more Tom Arnolds than there are Zach Efrons or Channing Tatums or I mean you know—I’m a very average you know physical specimen and by the way I’m 55 years old and whatever. So both men and women can see this and go oh yes, well if Tom can do it, I can do it. And that’s an absolute fact.
Christine: When you got home, aside from seeing your family, what were you looking forward to doing?
Tom Arnold: Oh, my god. Shower. First of all, there’s no shower. You wouldn’t even think about, you are so, you know, you know. I couldn’t wait to get home to tell my wife, you know. And I was so you know—proud maybe and you know I you know, I knew immediately as I flew off, as I left the airport, I come in on a prop plan, which I never fly on prop planes. I’m a little nervous about those, propeller planes. But you have to on this little airport. And it was windy and it was bucking and I could see that other passengers were scared. But and I would have been coming in there, but coming out of the Bear experience, I was like well we have two wings, we’re way ahead of where I was about 12 hours ago, you know. So I’m pretty you know I’m not going to be scare on this stupid airplane. Anyway, that’s the way I went through it.
Hopefully, you know, that goes away one day. Where you’re walking around a little taller and I could feel that little more confident like you know maybe you know maybe I could do that stuff. Because you do—I grew up and I worked really hard growing up and I—you know, I worked in the fields and I bailed hay and I worked in a meatpacking plant for three years and I did real work. And but for the last 30 years, I’ve been in show business and I’d like to think of myself as that other guy and you know the Iowa guy, but you really you get pampered. You do lose track. You’re used—and so it was a, I was suddenly you know thrown back to who I maybe was back then. Except that I’m older, which is never a good thing, so I was like you know I know I could do this when I was 22, but when I’m 55 wow, what have I—cause I was crazy then. Now I just know things can go wrong out here. So you know, this is you know there was many times where I was like what the hell am I dong? Why did I say yes? Even my wife after I was getting ready to leave. She was like oh my gosh why did I let you do this? I am so worried. I go don’t say that. Oh, my gosh. She was like I’m so worried you’re going to hurt yourself. I’m like oh, my god. You’ve got believe in me or at least pretend to.
Christine: Well, I’m glad you survived.
Tom Arnold: Yes, I absolutely did.
Operator: Your next question comes from Darian with Premiere Guide Media. Please go ahead.
Darian: Hello.
Tom Arnold: Hello.
Darian: Hi, thank you for the interview.
Tom Arnold: Thank you.
Darian: I was wondering, as far as everything that you said that you’ve been through—the heights, with you telling the producer that you’re scared of heights and they put you through all these things. How was the overall experience for you?
Tom Arnold: Well, it was incredible. I mean, I feel like you know I feel like I accomplished something. Like I did something that was very uncomfortable for me that now that I know what it was, if they’d have told me everything in advance, I would never in a million years have done it because I would have been scared. And I would have though why put myself through that and why embarrass myself because I can’t do those things. So you know find somebody else.
I you know and there were several moments along the way where it was like I guess this is where it ends. I can’t do—I’m going to embarrass myself and you know there was a funny moment where you know Dion Sanders—I know Dion Sanders. I know he did the show too. And I you know I used to be on a sports show and I know Dion pretty well. There was a moment where we were at some crazy height thing and there—I was like yes I can’t do this. And they’re like Dion didn’t want to do this either. And I was like well maybe I can do it then. Because I was like well if I can do one thing better than this world class athlete then it’s going to be, then it’s going to be a good day.
Darian: OK, and can you give us your insight on the episode and how you personally feel about it?
Tom Arnold: Well, first of all I’m always embarrassed to watch myself on anything and I will say that there is no makeup artist or anybody. It’s you know it’s pretty raw. I was worried afterwards that maybe I complained too much because I did keep saying why are we not faking this. This is a dang TV show. I produced many TV—you can, you get a prop guy in here. Why are we, why are we doing this? This is crazy madness. But you know I mean it’s, what they do is they wear you out. He wears you out—Bear does and then you sit and talk to him and you can’t, you’re so vulnerable you don’t have whatever it is you usually carry into an interview or a conversation which is sort of your thing. Your character, your bit, whatever protects you. Whatever that thing you are that you represent in99 percent of the time you talk to people and you’re so tired—you’ve hiked so much that now whatever you’re saying is just coming from you. You don’t have time to think about oh how’s this going to make me look or you know you just have this conversation with him. And you forget. There’s not a big crew there. They’re very subtle. A couple, a couple guys and you know so you’re actually talking to him and you know I also felt like this is a, this is probably going to be the only time I get Bear Grylls by myself so I am going to take advantage of that and you know have this conversation with him. And if he’s willing to have a conversation with me, and allow me into you know his world, I’m going to try to make the best of that so I have no idea what I said to him or what I talked about. And you know I know it’s like Oprah except you know, it’s like a talk show except Oprah you’re all worn down. So by the time they stop and start talking to you you don’t even realize you’re doing an interview. You think well I’m talking to this guy about my struggles or whatever and maybe what I’ve learned or whatever but you don’t think oh I’ve got to look good cause I’m going to talk to him. You think oh, because you’re so tired. You don’t’ have your defense mechanism up and I think that’s probably good because I felt that I really bonded with that guy. And I feel that there are some things in life you know, I’ve been in 120 movies and some of them you go and instantly you have this, you’re supposed to be intimate with people and oh this is your girlfriend or this is your wife and you’ve known—or this person you’ve known your whole life in the movie. And so you learn to bond really quick with people. But you also learn to cut off really quick.
I mean that’s what—it kills you otherwise. But this, this experience and you know it’s a short experience. It’s not like we went to Afghanistan and fought in the war, but in the way it did remind me of the time I did go to Afghanistan and to entertain the troops. At least I felt like oh, I’m doing something. It is not this is a different environment to me and I am sort of a part of this world, you know what I mean, for a moment. And I’m not you know I’m not a soldier or I’m not an outdoor adventure guy like Bear but I’m getting a little taste of this and it’s rough and I’m going to walk away feeling better about myself. And feeling closer to the people I’ve experienced this with.
Darian: OK. OK, thank you so much.
Tom Arnold: Thank you very much.
Operator: Mr. Arnold. We did have one more question come in. Your final question comes from the line of Karen. Please go ahead.
Karen: Hi again Tom.
Tom Arnold: Hi.
Karen: Aside from maybe you know hoping to learn to do a little more camping with your son and things like that, is there any other part of it that you’d like to do again or an interest in rock climbing or repelling. Sky diving anything like that?
Tom Arnold: You know there’s a bit part of me that’s like OK I did that. It’s over. You know the skydiving thing terrifies me and you know I like I say if I’d have known everything we were going to do and they laid it out on paper, I’d have went oh, I just can’t do that. No that’s just not—if none of this possible for me. So you know I don’t feel the need to scare myself—you know, I do standup comedy. So that gives me enough fear every time I get on stage because it is so—you when you do standup comedy at least for me, I am so nervous. I get so nervous before a show because you realize it doesn’t matter what I’ve done my whole career, my whole life. There are a few hundred people here and they better be entertained and you better, for the next hour, you better—they’ve driven here, they spent their money. They took their night and it doesn’t’ matter anything you’ve done. And if you had a fight with your wife, it doesn’t mater. It doesn’t matter. Right now for the next hour, you are entertaining these people and you better make them laugh because nothing else matters and that is so frightening. I feel like that’s you know skydiving is frightening but I don’t know that it would be as frightening as knowing you have to for an hour entertain people. But it may. I don’t want to skydive. I’m going to say it right now. I don’t want to skydive. I’m good. I don’t want to you know I wouldn’t mind, I guess when my son gets a little older taking him out just the two of us camping. I think I’m taking—before I would have said oh, I need to take somebody with me, an assistant or a team. you know things needs to be set up. We need to go to a place where things are set up. But I would feel confident taking my little boy to one of these campgrounds and you know setting up a little tent. You know I’m not going to take him to Alaska to the middle of the forest cause I don’t feel that confident. But I would feel like I could drive up here 30 miles outside of Beverly Hills and you know we could set up our little tent and have a little father son thing and I absolutely wouldn’t have felt confident doing that before.
Karen: Great. Well, that sounds like a great experience and totally worth it. I’m a little bit jealous.
Tom Arnold: Thank you very much. Thank you very, very much.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the Q&A session for today’s conference.
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