“Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush stepped out of his show-biz comfort zone when he journeyed to Nepal for the National Geographic special, “Chasing Rhinos with Billy Bush,” premiering Sunday (9 p.m.).
The trip was an eye-opener for a guy who’s used to dealing with that hard-charging species known as “the celebrity” — and, thankfully for Bush, the one-horned rhinos he encountered were not accompanied by obnoxious publicists.
“People ask me if the trip was life-changing for me. No. I’m still me,” Bush says. “But it was life-affecting. I learned about a different part of the world.”
Bush, 41, spent 10 days in Nepal last April for “Chasing Rhinos,” produced in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund. The special’s goal is to underscore how the one-horned rhino — which Bush describes as a “3-ton living tank” — is on the verge of extinction due to illegal poaching.
“After spending the first day in Kathmandu we went to a national park and took a ride in a truck looking for tigers and rhinos,” Bush says. “We stopped at a bend and as we were talking the guide says, ‘Rhino!’ We look over to the side and in the tall grass we see two eyes and a horn. It was 15 feet from the truck and could easily have taken three steps and knocked the truck over,” he says of the rhino. “But the guide said, ‘He’s not going to bother you — he’s a vegetarian. He doesn’t want you.’ There was that complete moment of sheer terror followed by complete awe. The rhinos are ugly, but beautiful.”
I asked Bush what spurred his interest in traveling halfway around the world.
“I thought long and hard about that, I really have, and I think it comes down to giving back to my beloved mother,” he says. “My mom [Josephine] is a conservationist and is on the board of a nature conservancy. She always taught us that if nature is out of balance the world is out of balance.”
‘Captain’ has write stuff
Books: Veteran actor Gavin MacLeod’s “This Is Your Captain Speaking” is out Oct. 22, recounting the veteran actor’s life and career — including his battle with the bottle, depression and “near-suicide while working on ‘McHale’s Navy’ ” (MacLeod’s been sober for 39 years). He’s best known for playing wisecracking Murray on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and Captain Stubing on “The Love Boat.”
More: Simon Singh has written a book about the subconscious math included in “The Simpsons.” It’s called “The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets”; Singh will have a signing Friday, Nov. 1 at the Museum of Mathematics (E. 26th).
Last, but not least
Married power agents Richard Leibner and Carole Cooper will be among the “Giants of Broadcasting” feted Oct. 16 (Gotham Hall) in a benefit for The Library of American Broadcasting . . . Wednesday’s premiere of “American Horror Story: Coven,” snared a franchise-best 5.5 million viewers on FX with stars Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates . . . NY1’s Budd Mishkin celebrates 10 years of “One on 1” Saturday and Sunday with a retrospective special (6:30 and 9:30 p.m.) featuring past guests (including Yoko Ono, Mike Wallace and Sean Combs.)