Eugene Levy is very vigilant and explores the world for his travel show

There are celebrities who can’t wait to show them where they’re from, push their physical limits, and go out of their way to find the perfect recipe on TV travel shows. Eugene Levy.

The “Sitts Creek” star admits that he doesn’t like cold or heat very much. He doesn’t really like to eat strange things and insects freak him out.

“Not only do I not like to travel, but I have a very low curiosity,” he said in an interview. “I have no sense of adventure. And I’m actually thinking, well, isn’t that what it takes to host a travel show?”

Apple TV+’s “The Reluctant Traveler” doesn’t have to be, but it’s welcome. This is an unlikely wedding between a zany and discreet host and some of the most beautiful places on earth.

In the eight-episode series, Levi swims in a frozen lake. Finlandroam Utah’s slot canyons and explore rainforests Costa RicaHe has also traveled to Italy, Japan, Maldives, Portugal, South Africaand even go on safari to enjoy a gin and tonic.

The more obnoxious he looks, the funnier the show becomes. “I’m more of an indoor type,” he jokes to his guide. Costa Rica’s forests are home to thousands of animal species, which he calls “little threats to life.” While ice fishing in Finland, he wryly remarks:

“I hope this will appeal to experienced travelers who will giggle at this,” he said later in the interview. Have that sense of adventure, so to speak — they will see me as a comrade. “

“The Reluctant Traveler” was initially a show pitched as a way to feature hotels with great views, but Levy left the hotel to enter the culture he visited, transforming it into a hotel that really shines when it changes .

In Utah, staying in an elegant property overlooking the Colorado Plateau, a room costs over $3,000 a night, but visiting a Navajo guide’s modest homestead is a real spiritual touch.

“For me, it’s generally the people I’ve met that are unforgettable,” says Levy. “I hope this will be one of those shows that has a great kind of different personality.”

In Finland, Levi rides snowmobiles, ice fishes, ice swims, eats reindeer and tries husky dog ​​sledding. He asks—and ice swimming. He thinks Finns deserve the reputation of being some of the happiest people on the planet. “I’ve never met a happier person, and I don’t know if vodka binge drinking has anything to do with it,” he jokes.

Levi got the job by talking himself out and trying to get him to quit. Executive his producer David Brindley recalled that he and his Apple executive Alison Kirkham were on the phone trying to lure Levy to host a travel show and how he I heard him explain why he wasn’t the right fit for the job. They were seams.

“We all have fears about certain things, we have things that scare us, and we wish we could do something about them, but we never do.” I have just surrendered myself to,” said Brindley. He has become a slightly different person. “

76 with bushy brows and round glasses in a crowded field of celebrity travel hosts, including Zac Efron, Jose Andres, Chris Hemsworth, Will Smith, Stanley Tucci, Macaulay Culkin and Ewan McGregor A year old actor joins in.

“There are so many traveling shows around the world, and it’s no surprise. They’re gorgeous, they’re escapist, they’re beautiful,” said Brindley, chief creative officer at production company Twofour. “But when you launch something new, you want to find something that has a unique selling point, an opportunity to do something a little different that grabs people’s attention and makes them feel familiar.”

So in South Africa, viewers will be thrilled to see Levi react nervously to wild animal calls and see his first warthog. — and play golf among hippos. He collects poop samples from tranquil elephants and feeds baby rhinos with charming bottles. “It was a very, very cute experience,” he says.

To keep Levy fresh, he and his team visited two locations at once, spending a week in each. We then took a break for a few months before reuniting for another visit.

Levy said he consulted on a list of possible locations for the first season, getting more adventurous each time. “I was rolling punches as the series went on,” he says. “We’ll see how the audience takes it.”

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits