'Running Wild With Bear Grylls' to Film on Lake Champlain With Likely Guest Shaquille O'Neal

July 02, 2016

Jason Balmer, petty officer first class, at the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Burlington. - MOLLY WALSH

Molly Walsh
Jason Balmer, petty officer first class, at the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Burlington.

Stand by for a Shaq attack.

Ex-NBA great Shaquille O'Neal is expected to perform a stunt for a reality TV show filming an episode next week on Lake Champlain.

A producer for the NBC show "Running Wild With Bear Grylls" visited the Coast Guard station on the Burlington waterfront Thursday to ask them to participate in the event, said Jason Balmer, a petty officer first class who met with the producer.

The producer said the 7-foot-1 legend, who will be inducted this year into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, would likely be a guest on an episode to be shot Friday or Saturday on the New York side of the lake, according to Balmer. It would be filmed near the town of Willsboro, about 30 miles south of Plattsburgh. The episode will involve an aquatic derring-do, maybe involving a helicopter and a drone.

Producers asked the Coast Guard to "be in part of the show," Balmer said. "The Coast Guard would assist Bear Grylls by getting them out of the situation, getting them out of the water."

Balmer said he didn't know exactly what the stunt would be: "It's something to do with their show — a survival-type thing."

The request has gone up the chain of command outside of Burlington and higher-ups are deciding whether or not the local Coast Guard officers can take part, Balmer said.

"That's all being handled well above us," he said. "We'll get notification fairly soon whether we can participate or not participate."

NBC spokeswoman Erika Lewis declined to discuss details Friday but said she might have more to reveal by Tuesday.

"Wild" features host Grylls and various celebrity guests as they paddle through crocodile-infested waters, scale cliffs, wander the desert and swim through pounding surf. Past guests include President Barack Obama — who appeared with Grylls in Alaska — actor Zac Efron and actress Michelle Rodriguez.

O'Neal is listed as a guest on Season 3, which premieres July 11. His stunt, it seems, will include a "Wild" thrill on Lake Champlain.

"That's what we're told," Balmer said. "That's what it's looking like."