HE'S known around the world as Bear, but the TV survivalist has been seriously grilled by an Aussie guide who reckons he wasn't all that tough when it came to the rugged Kimberley outback.

Staying Alive Survival Services director Nick Vroomans was hired by the Man vs Wild crew in 2007 to act as Bear Grylls' behind-the-scenes guide during an episode shot in Western Australia.



Vroomans, based in Laidley, just outside of Brisbane, told mX the show was "entirely scripted''.



"He's not a survival expert, he's an adventure actor,'' said Vroomans, who set up his own Outback survival company in 1997.



"Everything you see in the show is set up I built him shelters and found him snakes to .. eat it's all for show.''



Grylls will be in Melbourne tomorrow for Bear Grylls Live.



A spokeswoman for Man vs. Wild's UK-based production company, Diverse Television, said compliance issues in the early series had been raised before.



"Bear does do all his own stunts and does put himself in extremely perilous situations, however the series is not an observational documentary but a how-to guide to basic survival techniques in extreme environments,'' she said.



Vroomans said he didn't hold anything against Grylls, 37.



"Bear is a nice guy, he's a good person and he generally contacts me when he comes to Australia,'' he said.



"He may not be a survival expert but if he gets people interested in finding out more, that can only be a good thing.



"I've got nothing against Bear or the producers.



"What he does isn't survival but it's definitely entertaining,'' said Vroomans, who learned his trade at the Australian Defence Force combat survival school.



"On the show broadcast to Europe and the US, you see him catch a snake, kill it, and eat it.



"But it was actually two snakes a roadkill that I found which he (was shown beating) on the head and eating, and then a live olive python that a wildlife carer had been rehabilitating.



"Bear decided he wanted to swim across a river with the snake, but he kept dropping it and losing it. I had to keep catching the thing and giving it back to him.''



While the episode showed Grylls perilously close to saltwater crocodiles, Vroomans said Bear, a former UK Special Forces commando, wouldn't go near them.



"The whole crew was petrified of the crocodiles,'' he said.



"Bear didn't want to get anywhere near the water, so we filmed a set up of him (like) he was near a crocodile when he was actually a safe distance away.



"I was a bit miffed when I saw the finished show.''



Diverse Television said the "program explicitly does not claim that presenter Bear Grylls's experience is one of unaided solo survival''.



Originally published as Bear grilled over toughness