Holly Willoughby protected by ex-military guns for hire on new Netflix show filmed in country hit by rise in kidnapping
NETFLIX will throw a £1million ring of steel around Holly Willoughby on her new show Bear Hunt.
Host Holly, 43, co-star Bear Grylls and at least ten celebs are due to fly to Costa Rica this month.
Ex-special forces and former military guns for hire will protect Holly from drug gangs and kidnappers.
The streaming service has set aside £10million for Bear Hunt host Holly, co-star Bear and at least ten celeb contestants.
Bosses will spend another £1million on security in the jungle of Costa Rica, where mob murders, assassinations and attacks on bystanders are on the rise.
Gangs have been experimenting with growing coca in the central American rainforest, and are increasingly turning to the brutal tactics of Mexican cartels.
A TV insider said: “Netflix are investing huge sums in creating a show which can rival ITV’s I’m a Celebrity, by bagging big names and choosing a tropical location.
“But keeping Holly and everyone fully protected in Costa Rica is the priority.
“That means hiring specialist teams of guards, many of whom will be ex-military and special forces experts.
“They’ll also need specialist vehicles, safe accommodation and a secure location in which to film.
“That won’t be straightforward or cheap in a country which has a very luxurious tourist trade combined with a dangerous underbelly.”
Stars will fly out later this month and filming is expected to take place through May.
The finished show is expected to drop around January 2025.
Ex-Little Mix star Jesy Nelson is the only name linked to Bear Hunt so far but the final line-up of competitors is expected to be high calibre.
They will try to evade capture by ex-SAS trooper and survival expert Bear.
Holly quit ITV’s This Morning in October after police told her she was the target of a murder plot.
By January it emerged she was set to sign for Bear Hunt.
Between 2022 and 2023, Costa Rica’s murder rate rose by over 41 per cent to 17.2 per 100,000 people.
That compares with 25.7 murders per 100,000 people in Colombia, and 1 per 100,000 in Britain.
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RAINFOREST ALSO A KILLER
By Matt Hellyer, ex-SAS jungle instructor
THREATS facing Holly and Bear range from snake bites in the jungle to soaring murder rates and kidnappings linked to Costa Rica’s crack cocaine trade.
A security team will recce where they will be living long before they get there.
You have to understand all the risks.
The last thing Netflix wants is to stumble into a narco camp in the middle of a rainforest.
And the environment is a killer: snakes, spiders, mosquitoes and diseases.
If Holly or Bear need an emergency evacuation they might have to chop down trees to create a helicopter landing site.
And that’s if they manage to raise the alarm.
Satellite phones don’t work if you can’t see the sky.
I would install communication hubs to ensure there was a comms bubble over the area.
Have emergency cars on standby and an on-call air ambulance.
I’d also make sure the celebs’ dedicated close protection officers are not just providing security, but also medically trained to work in that environment.