Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie has faith put to the test by Bear Grylls in wilderness adventure

Six cast members from the gospel-inspired series The Chosen have been confirmed to join Bear Grylls on The Chosen in the Wild.

The adventure series features the survivalist and Christian zip-lining over canyons, jumping out of helicopters and eating deer tongue with six stars: Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus, as well as Mary Magdalene actress Elizabeth Tabis, and Luke Dimyan, who plays Judas. Paras Patel, who plays the apostle Matthew, and Noah James, who plays Andrew, also takes part alongside series director and creator Dallas Jenkins.

The six swap their biblical set for some of America’s most rugged terrain for the Prime Video series, produced by 5&2 Studios which makes The Chosen, to be pushed out of their comfort zone and have conversations about their faith.

Settings include Utah’s Castle Valley and Canyonlands, the Colorado River, the Great Basin Desert, the Ausable River and the Adirondack Forest.

The six-episode series is airing on Amazon Prime, and sees contestants “leap from planes, scale cliffs, eat scorpions, zip line over canyons, and navigate some of the country’s most rugged terrain”.

Speaking about the episode with Roumie, Grylls told USA Today: “It had been a life dream to do one with Jesus, and I guess this is about as close as I’m ever going to get.”

“There wasn’t an actor from ‘The Chosen’ who at the end of this didn’t say, ‘That was one of the hardest days of my life,’ and I love that… That’s what the show is,” he added.

Bear’s Christian faith has become an increasingly central part of his work in recent years. He describes his latest book, The Greatest Story Ever Told, as “the proudest thing I’ve ever done”.

Not dissimilar to the premise of The Chosen, it is a fictionalised retelling of the gospels, observed in third person, with dialogue based in scripture. Bear told Premier Christianity Magazine that The Chosen “does a great job” of bringing the gospels to life.