Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - celebs Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Channel was accused of fakery last night after it emerged producers set up a water supply and let loose two crocodiles on survival show The Island with Bear Grylls.

It has also emerged that four of the “13 ordinary men” marooned for a month were TV ­professionals with experience of extreme conditions and at least two had worked with Grylls before.

In last week’s opening episode, the dehydrated camp-mates came close to despair as time ran out to find a source of fresh drinking water.

When they eventually found it, viewers were not told that the murky supply was actually a rubber-lined pool put there by the production crew.

Grylls introduced the show by saying: “I want to find out what happens if you strip man of all the luxuries and conveniences of modern living and then force him to fight for his existence.

"Let’s see what British man is made of.”

The audience was then told: “Thirteen ordinary men are about to be abandoned on a Pacific Island with just the clothes they stand up in and a few tools.

“These guys are going to be completely alone, filming themselves, as they struggle for fire, water, food and shelter.”

Viewers were introduced to ­call centre worker Ryan McHugh, 21, ex-police officer Tony Fletcher, 70, leakage engineer Craig Brown, 26, hairdresser Dean Smith, 24, neurologist Sam Nightingale, 33, sheep farmer Joe Birch, 23, IT trainer Mike Fletcher, 37, and business coach ­Christopher Barrow, 60.

But there was no mention that Rupert Smith had worked in warzones and extreme environments – including ­alongside Grylls as director of Channel 4’s Escape to the Legion.

Similarly there was no introduction to cameraman Dan Etheridge, who also worked with Grylls on Discovery ­Channel’s Man vs Wild.

Kiff McManus, a sound recordist with 10 years’ experience in some of the world’s most dangerous places, also failed to get a mention.

As did TV producer Matt Bennett, a specialist in working on shows in dangerous ­environments, including Sky’s Ross Kemp on Gangs.

Viewers were simply told: “Three of the men are trained cameramen but they will be living in exactly the same conditions as everyone else.”

In episode two, the men were shown trying in vain to find food for two days.

But it was Grylls’ ex-colleague Rupert who ­dramatically jumped on the back of a caiman ­crocodile, which was out of the water in broad daylight.

He and actor Sackie Osakonor, who trapped the beast armed only with a piece of string, then carried it back to camp, where it was slaughtered and eaten.

Viewers were reminded: “None of these men have any ­experience of surviving in the wild.”

(Image: Channel 4)

Profiles for all four crew on the show’s website mention that they work in TV but only Kiff’s listing refers to his work on The Island.

They are also given credits in the end titles – as production crew rather than castaways.

A “making of” video on the website refers to four professionals “embedded” among the men – but does not name the crew members.

Last night, responding to allegations of fakery, Channel 4 said: “It clearly states in the programme voiceover that trained crew are part of the experiment, living under exactly the same conditions as the other men.

"Like all of the men on the Island, their professions are captioned on screen and their backgrounds are discussed.

“Biographies are also on the Channel 4 website.”

Channel 4 admitted the ­production team had added two extra crocodiles and adapted the water hole.

It said in a statement: “We had to ensure the island’s only water supply, a muddy pool, would last through filming in the dry season and that there was enough native animals and native ­vegetation that could sustain the men for 28 days – as long as they had the ingenuity to find it, catch it and kill it.”

The “terms of the experiment” are also explained on the show’s website but few viewers would have been aware of the interventions.

After watching the start of the five-part series, some of the audience questioned what they had seen. Laura Colpits tweeted: “This Bear Grylls Island thing looks so fake.”

Bambi said: “I hope this Bear Grylls programme isn’t staged and fake like his born survivor series.”

And Lauren T 99 declared: “The Island with Bear Grylls is the most staged pile of bulls**t I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

The fakery row is the second to engulf Grylls, 39, who apologised to viewers in 2008 after it emerged that he stayed in a hotel rather than in the wild during filming for Channel 4’s Born Survivor.