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LONDON – A Wednesday evening Discovery Networks International event here to promote new original series Bear Grylls: Escape From Hell caused a false fire alarm — and additional media attention, Radio Times magazine reported.
The event at South London’s Battersea Power Station, which included such attendees as Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav, started with Grylls showing off his survival skills by coming down the outside wall with the help of a rope while flames were projected onto the building. On the ground, fireball explosions were created.
The Radio Times report said that the projections were so life-like that BBC announcer Richard Bacon, who hosted the event, reported that residents on the opposite side of the Thames river had called the fire department.
“At least it shows they’re not still on strike,” Grylls quipped about the fire police. The report said the fire police quickly realized that it was all a publicity stunt and that they had been called in a false alarm.
A Discovery representative didn’t immediately have a comment beyond confirming the incident.
The international show launches in the U.K. early next month.
E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
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