Bear Grylls has a new show coming to NBC on Monday the 28th of July. Called Running Wild with Bear Grylls, the adventurer’s first guest is Zac Efron. Zac has graced many of the promo bits that have aired for the upcoming show, and much is being made about his shirtless state.

As everyone knows, Zac Efron is handsome–and yes, he has some amazing abs–but when you see the promo clip you are left wondering why both Efron and Bear Grylls needed to remove their shirts in order to go rappelling. You’ll soon realize it serves no real purpose whatsoever, except perhaps for the show’s impending ratings.

“We reached out to him and he kindly said he was a fan of the show and that he was in 120 percent,” Grylls said in an interview with People. “He asked for the biggest, baddest adventure and it was an honor to oblige.”

Bear Grylls chose a spot in the Catskill Mountains where special forces in the 1800s held training drills. In addition to rappelling, Grylls convinced Zac Efron to jump off a cliff with him, too. He did use a bit of coercion, however. He threw their backpacks into the water first.

“I can’t believe how high this is,” Efron said before taking the plunge.

“I like to think he got to use his muscles to their max through the adventure,” Grylls said.

.@ZacEfron and @BearGrylls Tear Off Their Shirts and Rappel Down a Waterfall (Video) http://t.co/EymihFTCpe pic.twitter.com/S9CJwDK92o

— TheWrap (@TheWrap) July 19, 2014

Ben Stiller, Channing Tatum, NBC’s Tamron Hall, and Deion Sanders will join Bear Grylls in subsequent episodes of the new show. Do you think they will all remove their shirts, too (obviously with the exception of Tamron Hall)? Or is that simply something Zac Efron did to help get Bear Grylls’ new show off on a high note?

Image via Wikimedia Commons