After challenging the wild for several years, Bear Grylls is back with a new series where he pits himself against real-life dangers faced by ordinary people. He tells Karan Bhardwaj that he lives each day as it comes
What can one expect in Bear Grylls: Escape From HellIJ
It’s about people who had real-life experiences of going through hell, whether lost in the Amazon or in the Australian Outback. In some cases, these guys were lost for seven weeks and it was brutal. I travel to those places and relive parts of their struggle for survival, showing what they did right and wrong, and along the way I give cool tips that could have made a difference.
How was your experience of meeting the survivorsIJ What did they tell youIJ
One story that stands out for me is of a guy called Eric leMarque, a former ice hockey player whose life had spiralled out of control because of drugs. He got lost snowboarding in the Sierra Nevada and spent eight days in the frozen wilderness. He was lucky that people found him, though it cost him both his feet because of frostbites. He had a real life-turning moment when he ditched his crystal meth so he could use the bag to carry water. He realised it was the crystal meth that had got him into that mess. That was a turning point for him. It gave him the determination to pick up his life, get out of there and start again.
When was it first that you spotted that ‘adventure streak’ in you where you can eat and survive anything and everythingIJ
My late father always used to say to me that what matters is to follow your dreams. It had been my dream since I was a little kid to climb big mountains and have a job where I could be covered in mud and grime all day. It’s brilliant. It’s what I completely love. As I said, it’s genuinely one of the few things I can do in my life that I’m good at and that really excites me. So it is hard work. There’s no doubt. It’s full on and it’s 24 hours a day when we’re on it. When we did the first couple of shows, I remember thinking, ‘Man, I am beat. I can may be do a couple more of these, but it’s going to be hard to sustain.’ But we’ve done several shows now and if anyone had said that to me three or four years ago when we started, I’d never have believed it. However, I take life a day at a time, and I try and stick with doing what I love and what inspires me.
What is the craziest experience you ever had in the jungleIJ
In the series I got into a sticky situation in a rapid (yes another one), getting caught in a submerged tree — but in the past there have been many times where I thought I might die, whether close calls with nasty snakes, sharks and salt water crocodiles. I have been in deserts where they have said if you don’t get water in three hours you are going to die. I also broke my back in a free fall parachuting accident while serving with 21 SAS and was told I wouldn’t walk again...that was one of the hardest times in my life.
How were you as a childIJ
All I really wanted was to climb trees and get muddy and to be a soldier. I got lucky I guess and somehow it has worked out. But I never chased the fame or money and I think it is so important for kids to understand that what matters is to focus on the goals and not the fluff around those goals because fame or money are very hollow masters. My dad always used to say: adventure begins when the plan goes wrong. I like those times, they keep us sharp!
Are you afraid of anythingIJ
Every single stunt I do, I’m always nervous about doing it. I think that’s the nature of the show. I’m trying to put myself in situations that are potentially life threatening if you found yourself in them, and this is how you get out of it, and I wouldn’t be a human being if I wasn’t nervous about those things. The truth is, I spend most of my life probably being nervous. I try and use that. I always look at fear as something to be used and it’s there to sharpen us. I’m definitely human and consider backing out of stuff. But I tend not to.
How does your family react to the risks and your adventure, especially your wife and kidsIJ Are your sons also like youIJ
They tell me to be careful more often. Adventure has always been my job. My wife has had to deal with a lot of injuries over the years with me from broken backs to broken shoulders and evacuations or incidents from Antarctica to the Arctic. I like to classify her as an angel! She does though trust me to make smart calls and to be careful despite the obvious dangers. I got told off by my son the other day for being reckless, which I thought was a bit the wrong way around, but they have never asked me to quit.
My late father always used to tell me that what matters is to follow your dreams and look after your friends. That was life to him in a nutshell. I hope to do the same with my three boys, although if they wanted to then climb Everest with a one in eight chances of dying I might be a bit less enthusiastic. I have seen the raw end of those statistics and I am not sure I would want my kids to go through that themselves.
Any plans to come to IndiaIJ
There are so many wild, difficult places and India has it all. They have every sort of environment you can imagine, and some of the toughest environments as well, so we’re definitely going to come there. We had plans to film there and for various reasons, it didn’t work out in the end, but it’s definitely in the plans in near future. I’ve got a big meeting this week with all the producers to try and work out the locations, India is definitely one of them. And I know there’s a really big viewing audience in India.