>> it's entirely possibly that lion wasn't real. it's entirely possible the whole thing was staged but the way the story was created, the way it played out and the way the online video portion of it was distributed you could only think wow, this is really something different and sfeshl. >> special? >> if it's fake i would go shoot somebody. how could you be so cruel to make that up is what i would say. i'm hoping it's real. let's put it that way. >> no need to worry. the video is real. but the true adventure of christian the lion was first told in a documentary that became the source of the viral video footage. the unlikely love story started in singen london in 1969 when our two heroes, john rendall and ace burke went shopping at harrod's department store and bought a lion. >> so ace and i went up to the pet department there were two lions, lioness and the cub that we subsequently called christian and he was totally, totally