When will Holly Willoughby’s Netflix show Bear Hunt be released?

Bear Hunt starring Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls arrives on Netflix in 2025

Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls
Bear Hunt starring Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls arrives on Netflix in 2025. (Getty/National Geographic/Ben Simms)

Fresh from a well-publicised split from the ITV show This Morning in late 2023, Holly Willoughby is back in Bear Hunt, a brand new Netflix series that pairs the host with another familiar TV face.

As most will likely remember, Willoughby left her hosting job at This Morning in October last year following an alleged rift with her co-presenter Phillip Schofield.

Read more: Which celebs will brave the jungle in Bear Hunt?

Her departure marked the end of a 14-year stint on the popular morning show and prompted TV fans to wonder where the star might pop up next.

While ITV viewers can still catch her on the channel as a presenter on Dancing on Ice alongside co-host Stephen Mulhern, Willoughby fans will soon be able to find her on Netflix in a wild new show featuring adventurer Bear Grylls.

What else do we know about Bear Hunt? Let’s take a look.

Holly Willoughby attends The Prince's Trust and TKMaxx & Homesense Awards 2023
Bear Hunt will be Holly Willoughby’s first new project after leaving This Morning. (Getty)

Bear Hunt will debut on Netflix at some point in 2025. However, an official release date has not yet been revealed. The series will be Willoughby’s first new project following her exit from This Morning in late 2023.

In the meantime, viewers can catch the star presenting Dancing on Ice which airs on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

Bear Grylls in the Sierra Nevada Desert Gorge
Bear Grylls will literally hunt celebrities in Bear Hunt. (National Geographic/Ben Simms)

Bear Hunt is a new competition show that will be hosted by Willoughby and feature a collection of celebrity guests forced to rely on their wits and survival skills to elude a master adventurer.

According to its official synopsis, Bear Hunt will see “a group of unlikely British celebrities dropped into the Central American jungle as prey for one of the world's most fearsome predators – Bear Grylls.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, those who can’t live up to this lofty task will find themselves in an even more precarious position. As the show’s description explains, “Bear believes there’s an action hero inside us all - even the celebs - but how strong is their will to survive?

"As Bear puts them through their paces, those who fail to impress will face the dreaded ‘Bear Hunt’ – a brutal game of cat and mouse where they’ll be hunted down by Bear himself and, if captured, eliminated from the show.”

Unfortunately, there’s no trailer for Bear Hunt just yet.

So far, all we know is the core concept of the show and the details of its stars. Hopefully, as production gets underway we’ll start to see some footage of this unusual TV show idea.

Mel B visits SiriusXM Studios in New York City
Mel B is rumoured to be starring in Bear Hunt. (Getty Images)

While the full line-up for Bear Hunt has yet to be revealed, that hasn’t stopped the rumour mill from wading into the woods and returning with some names.

According to the Daily Mail, The Saturdays singer Una Healy and Kate Moss’s half-sister Lottie Moss are the latest names to be linked to the Costa Rica-set adventure show.

These names join Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas who the Daily Mirror believes is also set to appear following the all-clear from a recent cancer scare.

Meanwhile, The Sun reports that Spice Girl Mel B will also appear on the show alongside former Rugby player Danny Cipriani, both of whom are reported to have negotiated hefty paycheques for their participation.

According to the Mirror, former tennis star Boris Becker is also lined up to appear on the show.

While this all sounds promising, it’s worth bearing in mind (see what we did there?) that nothing has been made official just yet regarding Bear Hunt’s full line-up.


Bear Hunt is coming soon to Netflix.