Matthew McConaughey is bringing out his adventurous side for the Season 9 premiere of Bear Grylls is Running Wild.
Joining British adventurer Bear Grylls on a glacier in Norway, McConaughey—known for his work in films like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Dallas Buyers Club—reveals that they have been trying to make this meet-up happen for nearly two decades.
When they’re not descending from tall cliffs, drinking out of clear-water ravines, and eating reindeer testicles, Grylls spends some time getting to know McConaughey, who proudly and profoundly speaks of his family, the day he scored his breakout role in Dazed and Confused, and his 30-year friendship with fellow actor Woody Harrelson. The two A-listers met on the set of EDtv in the late ’90s, and have worked on multiple other projects together, from True Detective to Surfer, Dude.
“He’s a constant reminder for me to stay young, because he’s a perpetual 8-year-old,” McConaughey tells Grylls of his Hollywood peer.
“I mean, you can’t get mad at Woody for showing up barefoot, three days late to your own wedding because you could show up three days late to his own wedding and he don’t care,” he laughs.
According to the Academy Award winner, he and Harrelson are so close that he has, on multiple occasions, woken up to the Cheers alum sleeping between him and his wife, Camila Alves.
“He ain’t ever gone through a front door in his life. I woke up next to him in my bed between me and my wife because he snuck through the bedroom window unannounced many times,” McConaughey says, before joking, “I always like to say, I think he has almost kissed my wife as many times as I have.”
McConaughey’s outing with Grylls kicked off a star-studded lineup for the FOX show’s ninth season. Tiffany Haddish, MGK, Elizabeth Banks, Uma Thurman, and Colman Domingo are some of the other celebrities who will be taking on the great outdoors with Grylls in the coming weeks. With any luck, they will find the daring experience to be as alright (alright, alright) as McConaughey did.
Bear Grylls is Running Wild airs Tuesday nights at 9/8c on FOX. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Hulu.
