Bear Grylls goes into the wild with a new batch of celebrities, from Bradley Cooper to Rita Ora

NEW YORK — For his latest role, Bradley Cooper leapt onto a hovering helicopter, rappelled down a 400-foot cliff and pulled himself across a 100-foot ravine in one of the harshest climates in North America. Cooper is one of several celebrities — including Benedict Cumberbatch, Cynthia Erivo, Russell Brand, Troy Kotsur, Rita Ora, Daveed Diggs and Tatiana Maslany — who put their survival skills to the test in a new season of Nat Geo’s “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge,” premiering Sunday. “When there’s real tough weather with fun people, it’s often really compelling TV.” The series pairs Grylls with a celebrity for 48 hours in a harsh environment. “Almost invariably when I ask stars, ‘Where does it come from?’ they go, ‘Oh, my dad was amazing when I was really struggling at school.’ Or, ‘My mum was just such inspiration holding down three jobs.’” “Running Wild with Bear Grylls” is only one of several shows the adventurist is juggling. On TBS this year, he debuted “I Survived Bear Grylls,” a competition series that bridges the survival and game show genres by having regular contestants recreate some of Grylls’ stunts — like digging through poop or drinking urine.