I like the idea of Jake Gyllenhaal. Really, I do. He’s a fantastic actor and seems like a really sweet and nice guy, but there’s also a great deal of the contrived about him. Truth be told, I never really bought his romance with Reese Witherspoon, and the entire Taylor Swift fakery was just entirely hilarious in its awful execution. Still, I’ve got nothing against the guy himself, but I find it rather strange that he’s decided to make an appearance on the upcoming season premiere of Discovery Channel’s “Man vs. Wild.” Why?

Jake Gyllenhaal is discovering his wild side!

The 30-year-old actor joins “Man vs. Wild” host Bear Grylls in the Icelandic wilderness for show’s upcoming season premiere on July 11.

According to the Discovery Channel, “Man vs. Wild” will test will test how the Prince of Persia star measures up to unpredictable and unforgiving Mother Nature. For two days, Grylls and Gyllenhaal embark on a survival experience neither will forget to an Icelandic landscape dominated by mountains, huge glaciers and some of Europe’s most active volcanoes.

“For me, it’s all about discovery,” Gyllenhaal said.

Grylls explained: “The wild is always very revealing — not only physically but mentally. You’ve got to smile when it’s driving horizontal hail and be able to face your fears and just get on and do it — and on both of those accounts, Jake came up strong.”

[From US Weekly]

Of course, the immediate question that springs to mind involves what sort of possible benefit will come to Jake as a result of this guest appearance. Jake could possibly be a huge fan of the show and just wanted to participate in the taping of an episode. Or he could merely desire to prove that he’s a real man by “surviving nature,” i.e., pretending to rough it overnight on top of a mountain in a threadbare tent while drinking his own urine but, in actuality, sneaking off for a luxurious stay in the nearest four-star hotel. Does Jake really want to cement the unintentionally hilarious vision of overwrought buffness from his Prince of Persia phase? Perhaps we’ll never know the reason why, but at least we can watch it all go down.

By the way, here’s a refresher course on exactly how well a “Man vs. Wild” can be faked:

And here’s Bear Grylls’ “Late Show with David Letterman” appearance, where he sort of weakly describes why he stays in fancy hotels while filming his show.

Photos courtesy of Fame, WENN, AllMoviePhoto