LEWISTON, Maine — A Discovery Channel show pits humans against the force of a grizzly bear. When producers first asked Mixed Martial Arts fighter Jesse Erickson to compete on "Man vs Bear" he thought it was a joke - until he found himself in a tug of war with a 1,400 pound bear named Bart.
"They were getting ready to film the first challenge of the day, the tug of war one, and they brought Bart the bear out and he slaps the back of his trailer and he's like, 'RAWR,' and they said, 'Oh, he's feeling playful today!' and I'm like, 'That's playful?!'" Jesse jokes about his first encounter with one of three grizzly bears - who are the real stars of the show. "I'm like, 'Hey I remember you from Game of Thrones.'"
According to the Discovery Channel, the three bears on the show; Bart, Honey Bump, and Tank all live at a sanctuary in Utah, which is where the show is filmed. Two of the bears were orphaned cubs found by a state trooper in Alaska.
We sat down with Jesse at his gym in Lewiston, Central Maine Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where he does a lot of his training for MMA. "I've gotten a lot of really cool experiences just from being involved in martial arts," Jesse says, admitting that the chance to be on 'Man Vs. Bear' is just one of those cool experiences.
Man vs Bear airs Saturdays at 8pm.
Jesse Erickson has a fight in Portland on Feb. 8th, for information click here.