Facebook orders Sacred Lies, Bear Grylls

Facebook’s Bear Grylls show will feature an array of celebrities

NATPE: Facebook has unveiled three commissions for its nascent Watch platform here in Miami, including a reality series with Bear Grylls and a scripted adaptation from True Blood exec producer Raelle Tucker.

Bear Grylls: Face the Wild, launching March 21 and produced by Electus, will see the survival expert and adventurer “surprise 10 of his most inspiring fans by inviting them on one-on-one adventures of a lifetime,” according to the social media platform.

The show will run for 10 weeks and will see members of the public following in the footsteps of notable figures such as President Barack Obama and actor Julia Roberts who have previously joined Grylls on his travels. Grylls and Delbert Shoopman serve as exec producers for Bear Grylls Ventures, with Chris Grant, Drew Buckley, Rob Buchta and Justin Dudek exec producing for Electus.

Elsewhere, Sacred Lies will see Blumhouse Television join forces with Tucker (The Returned, Jessica Jones) and two-time Emmy Award-winner Scott Winant (True Blood, Good Girls Revolt, Californication) to produce, a half-hour dramatic series.

The series is based on the novel The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes and the infamous Grimms Brothers tale The Handless Maiden.

Sacred Lies (working title) is being adapted and updated by Tucker, who will also serve as exec prloducer and showrunner, and is about a handless teen who escapes from a cult and finds herself in juvenile detention.

Finally, the social media giant has also commissioned a 10-part unscripted series called Fly Guys, which will focus on breathtaking stunts.

Launching February 2 and comprising 12- to 15-minute episodes, the Jukin Media-made show will follow a crew of European acrobats and professional stunt performers, highlighting their challenges and successes as they design, build, and execute gravity defying performances in locations throughout Eastern Europe.

These will include stunts at and over medieval castles, rock quarries, sheer cliffs and towering industrial structures.