New Delhi, August 11, 2020.

Amazon Prime Video’s International Amazon Original Series World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji is a 10-episode adventure series is hosted by Bear Grylls and executive produced by Mark Burnett. The show tells the story of the ultimate expedition race, in which 66 teams from 30 countries race non-stop for 11 days, 24 hours a day, across hundreds of miles of rugged Fijian terrain complete with mountains, jungles, rivers, and ocean. World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji premieres on Prime Video on August 14^th 2020 in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

For years, Bear Grylls has built a career as an adventurer, outdoorsman and reality host by tackling Mother Nature’s wiles alone. He even has a show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls, where he helps celebrities do much of the same. But as the host and executive producer of the new Amazon Prime Video series, World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, Grylls serves as a hype-man and beacon of hope for 66 teams from 30 different countries. In order to reach the finish line, the teams of four must conquer the elements as well as inner and outer turmoil in an 11-day race over 671 kilometers (416 miles) of vast mountains, jungles, rivers and ocean.

“This is a whole different ball game and these are some of the world’s greatest, extreme, ultra-endurance athletes,”Grylls, 46, says. “But none of them will have done anything like this before. Officially, this is going to be the longest, hardest adventure race in human history.”

“Do not underestimate the wild, the terrain and the distances,” Grylls continues. “And Fiji here, you might think of it as like a perfect desert Pacific island. But it is not like that. It’s got absolutely brutal heat, humidity, river gorges, [the] ocean legs are a big part of this race as well, and it is very, very hard.”

While Grylls takes this level of human physicality and fortitude very seriously, he still found ways to joke with contestants, chat them up and make them feel like they mattered. And a number of racers from Australia to America describe comical instances where Grylls would even pop up out of the blue during the race and both excite and befuddle them.

There could be no one as good as Grylls to host the show, said Indian Twin climbers Nungshi and Tashi Malik. Twin racers Tashi and Nungshi Malik from India’s Team Khukuri Warriors met Grylls a few years ago in London and when they heard he was hosting World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, they knew he would inspire everyone involved. “We instantly connected,” Nungshi Malik says. “It’s almost like adventurers speak a common language. So, having him host the show, was like, wow. Icing on the top.” Tashi Malik agrees. “He’s an amazing adventurer. There’s nothing that can go wrong when Bear is the host” she says. “We’re very grateful that he’s the host.” Grylls’ personality is one of the reasons showrunner and executive producer Lisa Hennessy wanted him to host the series, she says.

At its core, World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji is about perseverance. People from all walks of life and every corner of the globe join together to overcome the most incredible obstacles. The challenges lie both within the course itself, and competitors’ equally daunting personal struggles, which are only magnified by the demands of the expedition. Viewers worldwide will see the limits of human physical and mental endurance tested like never before. 

Showrunner and Executive Producer, Lisa Hennessy, worked alongside Burnett on all eight prior Eco-Challenge races from 1995 through 2002. The program stands as the pioneer for unscripted competition series, and 25 years later World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji brings about an unprecedented scale and global design to the format. 

The series, produced by MGM Television in association with Amazon Studios, comes from an award-winning team in television including host and executive producer Bear Grylls (Man vs Wild, Running Wild), showrunner and executive producer Lisa Hennessy (Eco-Challenge, The Biggest Loser), and executive producers Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Voice), Eric Van Wagenen (Survivor, The Amazing Race), Barry Poznick for MGM Studios, and Delbert Shoopman, Grylls’ producing partner.

Details of the teams participating in the show:

Team Khukuri Warriors (India) 

Competitors: Tashi Malik (TC), Nungshi Malik, Brandon Fisher, Praveen Singh Rangar, Col VS Malik (TAC)Team Hashtag: #TeamKhukuriWarriors

Team Summit (Spain)

Competitors: Emma Roca (TC), JukkaPinola, Fran Costoya, Albert Roca, David Rovira (TAC)

Team Hashtag: #TeamSummit

Team Endure (USA)

Competitors: Travis Macy (TC), Mark Macy, DanelleBallengee, Shane Sigle, Andrew Speers (TAC) 

Team Hashtag: #TeamEndure

Team Onyx (USA)

Competitors: Clifton Lyles (TC), CoreeAussem-Woltering, Sam Scipio, Chriss Smith Jr., Mikayla Lyles (TAC) 

Team Hashtag: #TeamOnyx