IT WAS JUST ANOTHER grand adventure, really. Like when Bear Grylls became the youngest Brit to summit Mount Everest or when he drove an inflatable boat across the North Atlantic or when he jet-skied around the UK. An offer to host an American survival show that would constantly put the veteran of the British special forces in harm's way? Good fun, that!

And it was. Man vs. Wild debuted in November 2006 and quickly became one of the Discovery Channel's most popular shows. Millions tuned in to the hourlong episodes to watch Grylls get dropped in the middle of nowhere and make his way out with only a knife, water bottle, and flint. He braved whitewater, navigated jungles, and ingested things that would make the Jackass guys blanch—live snakes, raw zebra, water squeezed from elephant dung. Then there was Grylls's engaging instruction: Boy Scout enthusiasm tempered by Eton College refinement. Monty Python meets MacGyver: It's merely flesh from a zebra!

Then, suddenly, it wasn't so fun. This past July, England's Sunday Times reported allegations that Grylls had stayed in hotels when he claimed to be sleeping in the rough, presented tame horses as wild mustangs, and needed to be coached on how to build a rudimentary raft before he could pull it off for the camera. American media quickly reported the controversy and forgot about it, but news sources in England attacked. One story claimed producers had used hot coals in place of real lava. The Daily Mail called Grylls "the cheese soufflé of the adventure world."

The Discovery Channel said they had learned that parts of some episodes were "not natural to the environment" but stood behind their star. They promised the show would be "completely transparent" in season two, which kicks off November 16. Meanwhile, Grylls, on vacation in Wales, wasn't talking, which left him open to even more criticism: Was he the real deal?

This fall, in an exclusive interview with Outside, Grylls broke his silence. His take? Yes, some scenes were staged. But in their rush to take him down, reporters overlooked the very real risks he takes to make the show. Here, Grylls and his colleagues, fans, and detractors talk about what makes him so watchable, how we define reality TV, and where Man vs. Wild is heading next.