Meet the New Hosts and See What's in Store for Season 7
Discovery Communications has announced that its hit survival show, Dual Survival, will be getting two new hosts when the new season starts on January 13. Bill McConnell, a wilderness survivalist and Grady Powell, a former Green Beret and star of Ultimate Survival Alaska, will be replacing the previous hosts, Joe Teti and Matt Graham. While Discovery has justified the cast switch as a way to get “new perspectives” on the show, there is apparently a lot more to the story than that!
“We’re always trying to get new perspectives, techniques, and insights on how to survive these scenarios,” a rep for the show told a fan on the official ‘Dual Survival’ Facebook page, when asked what happened to Joe and Matt.
In a report released last fall, Radar Online revealed that Joe was not only secretly fired from the show, but also banned from setting foot on the property where Discovery Communications has its offices!
Back in May 2015, TMZ reported that an incident had taken place during filming that led to Joe’s firing. According to the site, Joe allegedly injured or killed a dog while filming the final episode of Season 6 (which aired last fall).
“Joe was shooting one of the final scenes when some stray cats ran across the set … apparently fleeing from a dog,” TMZ reported at the time. “We’re told the dog actually got one of the cats in its jaws, and that’s when Teti went after the canine. We can’t get a straight story from the various sources, although everyone agrees at the very least Teti injured the dog while saving the cat. But some of the sources say he killed the animal.”
The Ashley cannot confirm or deny this story.
(It should be noted here, though, that TMZ reported that ‘Dual Survival’ had been cancelled by Discovery. In May, the network circulated a press release stating that the show was done, but the network has since overturned that cancellation.)
Anyway, Radar reported that, around the time of the alleged dog incident, Discovery sent around a security email to that office’s employees. The email reportedly read, “Information: Joe Teti is a Discovery talent, starring in the reality show ‘Dual Survivor.’ The network is currently evaluating the series and has requested that Teti not be admitted to any Discovery office during this evaluation. If seen: Do not grant access. Call Security and the office manager immediately.”
The office staff was allegedly told to call the police if Joe, a former special operations veteran, arrived and refused to leave the property or caused trouble.
Joe, who is very vocal on his official Facebook page, has not made any mention of the incident, or the new season of the show, for that matter.
This is certainly not the first time the show’s hosts have caused controversy. Back in 2014, popular survivalist Cody Lundin was fired from the show over what Discovery called “differences over safety and health concerns on the show.” At the time, the network claimed that Cody had left voluntarily, but Cody later revealed that he was actually fired. He later threatened legal action against the network. (You can read all about that scandal by clicking here and here!)
In addition, host Dave Canterbury was fired after the completion of Season 2 filming for allegedly falsifying his military record. (Joe Teti has also been accused of falsifying parts of his military record.)
While the alleged dog incident may have been the cause of Joe leaving the show, it is not known why Matt Graham will no longer appear. As far as The Ashley can tell, he does not maintain any sort of social media account and has not made a statement on why he left the show.
It appears that many of the show’s fans are tired of the merry-go-round of hosts that they have seen in recent years.
“I am not watching anymore because as soon as you start watching it the next thing they do is change the people in it,” one Facebook fan wrote. “I am so tired of them doing that.”
“Going to mess with the show until nobody watches it!” another wrote.
The new season of ‘Dual Survival’ with Grady and Bill premieres January 13 on Discovery Channel. The first episode will feature the new guys heading to Chile.
Courtesy of The Ashleys Reality Roundup.
