''Man vs. Beast'' is a series of sensationalistic

television specials A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

aired in the United States by the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

in 2003. The shows were produced by Brian Richardson and directed by Bob Levy. They involve a variety of challenges in which people and animals compete against each other. Although the initial special, ''Man vs. Beast'', was panned by critics and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

groups, Fox commissioned a sequel, ''Man vs. Beast 2'', which aired on February 20, 2004. In 2003, ITV commissioned

Granada Productions ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broad ...

to re-create the American special for British audiences. A six-part series was filmed, hosted by

John Fashanu John Fashanu (, born 18 September 1962) is an English television presenter and former professional footballer. In his former career, he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995, most notably in an eight-year spell at Wimbledon in which he w ...

. However, owing to heavy lobbying by animal rights groups, transmission of the series was postponed indefinitely.

Competitions

The competitions included the following matchups: * Professional eater

Takeru Kobayashi , also known as Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, is a Japanese competitive eater. Described as "the godfather of competitive eating", Kobayashi is a six-time champion of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and is widely credited with popularizing the spor ...

lost a hot dog eating contest against a

Kodiak bear The Kodiak bear (''Ursus arctos middendorffi''), also known as the Kodiak brown bear, sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, inhabits the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. It is the largest recognized subspecies or population ...

that did not know it was in an eating competition. *

Scott Helvenston Stephen "Scott" Helvenston (June 21, 1965 – March 31, 2004) was a United States Navy SEAL. He was working as a security contractor for Blackwater Security when he was killed in the 31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush within days of arriving in Iraq. ...

, a

US Navy SEAL The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, won a race against a chimpanzee through an obstacle course. * A group of 44 dwarfs lost a race against an

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus '' Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in ...

to see which could pull a

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the Douglas DC-8, DC-8 for long-Range (aeronautics), range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; i ...

jet a certain distance first. *

Shawn Crawford Shawn Crawford (born January 14, 1978) is a retired American sprint athlete. He competed in the 100 meters and 200 meters events. In the 200 meter sprint, Crawford won gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics and silver at the 2008 Summer ...

, a world-class sprinter, won a 100-metre race against a

giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, '' Giraffa cameloparda ...

but lost against a

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. ...

. * A

Sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a '' rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring ('' dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by ...

wrestler lost a

tug-of-war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a cert ...

against a large, female

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the gen ...

References

External links

*{{imdb title, id=0360776, title=Man vs. Beast (2003)
''Man vs. Beast''
synopsis and scheduled listings at FoxReality.com 2000s American television specials Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Sports entertainment 2003 television specials 2003 in American television