He's on wheels.
That's insane!
It's like something out of the Thunderbirds.
This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.
LOUIS CHUCKLES
How are you, Louis? How you doing?
I love this.
Welcome to north Wales!
I've got a hand here if you need a hand.
There you go, look at you. Like a pro, like a pro.
Are we ready? Yeah.
Hold on to your trousers, here we go!
On an amphibious vehicle off the coast of north west Wales,
I was en route to Bear Grylls' private island.
And that's it, you've arrived on the islands.
The adventurer and TV presenter
had invited me to spend time with him,
getting to know the man behind the globe-trotting,
wilderness-surviving myth.
Are we standing? No, we're sitting. OK. I love it!
Just lie down. This is awesome!
Yeah, it's so much fun. This is so good! If this isn't au naturel...
Welcome to my world.
So, did you finish Never Give Up? Of course!
You're so kind. Oh, yeah, that reminds me, where are my copies of...?
I want to have that, cos... I'm so touched you read it.
I read the shit out of them, if you'll pardon my French.
Down there. "I read the shit..."
BEAR LAUGHS I'm so overprepared, it's...
"I'm so overprepared!" I'm serious.
BEAR LAUGHS
Tell me when we're ready.
GULL CRIES
GULLS CRY
So it's a little bit of a climb, but it's good.
I was reading you do half an hour of cardio,
running around... What - running around the island?
Well, I'll show you...I'll show you where I go.
So the run up and down the hill is deceptively hard,
because it goes on quite a long time, but, er...
I have my pull-up bar down here.
OK. Be careful. Watch yourself coming across. Watch your steps.
Is there a pull-up bar there? Here you go, there's the pull-up bar.
Oh, jeez! You actually would do pull-ups on there?
Yeah. How do you get down there?
Well, I sort of scamper down...scamper down this bit.
I mean, it's nice when it's a day like this,
it's when it's, er...it's when it's slippery and wet
and pouring with rain. But, yeah, this is a pull-up bar.
I'll come and help you.
Oh, jeez! You fall down there and you're brown bread.
How often do you get on the pull-up?
Every day. Do you? Every day.
Yeah. I done it this morning. Every day?
I have the words ringing in my ear of a Foreign Legion Sergeant who used to go,
"A man who can't lift his own body weight is dead weight!"
And I've always remembered that... What accent were you just doing?
Well, he was an American in the Foreign Legion. "A man who can't..."
He was an angry American.
How many do you do? 25, I can do.
You'd do well in prison. Yeah. Yeah, thank you.
That's what they do all day in prison. Yeah. Yeah. I mean...
Hopefully it never happens. Yeah.
OK, let's bring you back across here, without you...
without the rock collapsing.
Bear Grylls is TV's international survival superstar.
Take your T-shirt, and then just pee on it.
Try to capture as much of that fluid as you can.
With a multitude of successful death-defying formats...
Argh!
..where he sometimes takes celebrities and statesmen
out into the extreme wild.
Why wouldn't the bear finish this? Well, because...
This looks like a nice-looking piece of fish.
And often eats disgusting food. Eurgh!
He is a global mega brand,
with businesses and endorsements that play off his rugged TV persona.
Mask the smell of fear.
Survival's all about keeping your cool.
But Bear's also had the odd stumble and moment of controversy.
BEAR EXHALES
At his private island, where he relaxes for a few weeks a year
with his wife Shara and three boys,
I was hoping to reveal all.
The start of your journey, you had, um... you'd climbed Everest,
one of the youngest people ever to do so,
you'd been in the SAS reservists,
and I think you were kind of gliding into a life of being
a writer adventurer who would sometimes give talks.
You'd written a book or two, right?
And the TV thing slightly blindsided you.
A TV producer approached me out of the blue and said,
"What about we do a show where we drop you in difficult places
"and you show us how to get out of there?"
And I was kind of nervous of doing that.
And I think it was really confidence.
I kept saying, I'm not a TV presenter. I'm not...I'm not...
I'm not so articulate like that.
And the more I said that, he kept going,
"We don't want that. We just want to follow what you do.
"We'll drop you in these places."
Then eventually, Shara goes,
"Well, why don't you try and give it a go? It might be fun."
And, er...we went to the Rockies and filmed our first-ever show,
and, you know, it never really felt like TV.
We just...gunned it and went.
You know, climbing cliffs and jumping into the rapids
and doing all the fun stuff.
I mean, I remember there was a lot of danger in the early days.
There were so many narrow escapes.
You know, bitten by snakes, caught in rapids,
parachute failures, avalanches, you name it.
In your book, you say there were 21 times, you think,
maybe in the early days, when you narrowly escaped death.
Yeah. And there was... It would happen...
It was starting to happen all too regularly.
You know, the shows, we got to push the boundaries and it's got to be bigger and better.
And, you know, I've got three young boys, who were...
The boys were super young at this stage.
And it's like, I wasn't... You know, "Why am I doing this?"
So I've got my inner voice going,
"Don't. Be smart.
"Make your own decision on this. Make your own calls."
And then I've got this sort of winning format of a show.
And that was a tension.
I remember first seeing your programmes. I really loved them.
They were kind of like low-key...
I don't know if comedy's the right word,
but there's a sort of level of humour in seeing you suffer
and doing things that were somewhat illustrative of survival,
but were also just enjoyable as TV.
And a little sort of...a little kind of gratuitous and crazy.
And at the time, it was new.
When I grew up, the only survival stuff on TV
was always quite kind of bland.
The thing is, textbook survival is quite boring.
Textbook survival said, "Don't take any risks,
"stay put, wait for rescue".
That is a correct thing to do in an emergency.
It's good that we could put that message out.
We could put that message out now.
There you go! Stay put, don't take risks, wait for rescue.
But what happens if nobody's coming to look for you
and all you've got is a broken knife and one boot?
And that was kind of the new style of shows.
It's not textbook, but it just might save your life.
And drink your pee, or not?
Certain circumstances maybe.
What are the scenarios where drinking your pee is appropriate?
Well, only if you're really well hydrated
and you've got limited resources of water.
So if you're super dehydrated and you're peeing brown pee,
drinking that is not going to help you.
It's all quite tenuous. It's the same with jellyfish stings.
You don't pee on jellyfish stings...?
Well, there's more and more research that comes out that says actually, that's not very goodadvice.
The one, um...the other one I want to quickly mention,
because I read about it in your book,
was you're out in somewhere in the Australian outback
and you have an Aboriginal guide
who says that he once heard someone say in folklore
that Aboriginal women would kill snakes by biting their heads off.
Number one, be very suspicious of local folklore.
He hadn't even said he'd done it, he'd never seen it.
He'd heard that maybe someone once did it hundreds of years ago...
Yeah, but of course... And you're like, "Good enough...!"
Yes, but I'm with the crew and everyone's going, "Be that'd be epic!"
And like, you get carried away, and before you know it,
you've got a snake in your hand and you're thinking,
"Hold on, this is suddenly less fun".
Suddenly, is this a good idea? But, um...
But I remember putting that snake's head in,
and then you just hope when you clamp down, it's not going to open his mouth
and try and strike at the back of your throat.
Anyway, I did it. Actually, it worked amazingly,
and snapped the snake's neck instantly.
I took it out and we had it for dinner.
Whoa! Good-sized one!
Be very careful doing this
so you don't get bitten yourself in the process.
And the way to do is quickly in and out, and the neck's broken.
Bear's fast and loose survival style won him legions of fans.
Turning him into a household name and TV fixture.
Stop talking and open your mouth. Oh!
AUDIENCE LAUGH
But there were also a few critics of his treatment of animals.
I'm going to jump. But before I do, I want to check the water's deep enough.
And of his teaching of techniques
that some fellow survival experts declared reckless.
No hesitation, we just go for it.
In 2007, newspapers reported that his shows
had been economical with the truth
in order to heighten the drama.
I'm going to show you how to survive the hard way.
All I'm taking with me is a water bottle,
a cup and a flint for making fire.
I was curious about his attitude to all the controversy.
You talk a little bit about feeling bruised by criticisms.
Obviously, there was a high-profile set of articles alleging fakery.
It was definitely sort of hurtful when, you know, there was one summer
when there was a whole bunch of negative articles.
And it was the first time I'd really been in the newspapers,
and it was all pretty nasty.
And I was like, "Oh, I knew this was a bad idea
"doing a public kind of job".
And I was also kind of defensive, I felt, for the crew.
My first reaction was, "I want to take these journalists out
"and get them to trog round the jungles and the swamps
"and the deserts with us and see it".
But, you know, it's fine.
It's going to come with the territory a little bit.
They were saying, "Oh, he says he's going to stay here overnight,
"but actually, he stays in a hotel".
Or, "He says these are wild animals,
"but maybe they're not as wild as he says".
I mean, it's like the premise of the programme really, was,
"Oh, am I going to get out of here alive?"
But you're not going to starve to death
because you've got a team around you. Yeah. And that's...
And we... You know, and at the time, what they then did
was added a disclaimer at the front going, you know,
"Survival situations are presented to Bear",
you know, "to show you what you would..."
So it was sort of even clearer that this isn't like, you know,
one man on his own, you know, unlikely to make it out,
but let's see if he can, you know.
This is, we're making a survival entertainment show.
And at the time, it was...it was hard.
In fact, one of our boys, the other day, found some YouTube clip
and, er...and it's of me going across some volcano
and super dangerous, and I'm going,
"You've got to be super careful on this".
Really careful crossing these,
just cos you don't know what's solid and what's hollow underneath.
And then, somebody's obviously gone back and found this exact place in the middle of this volcano.
It's a rift, and then it turns out the rift ends,
and there's just like...you could just walk across.
Yeah. So our boys were going, "Look at this one!"
And you can see in the distance, and cars going along.
I've seen that, it's on TikTok.
And I think my response to the boys was,
"They built that road last year". THEY LAUGH
And, you know, there are a ton of things like that.
Some is unfair, some is justifiable.
You know, some I look back and made mistakes. But do you know what?
You got to just try and keep doing your job as well as you can,
and where you've made mistakes, own it, and...
and just, you know...
That's kind of it, I think, isn't it?
Your taste for the extreme, right, clearly, there's a part of me
that wants to psychoanalyse that and figure out,
what is it in him that craves that?
You know, that term "adrenaline junkie".
I mean, have you ever stopped to think about
what part of you craves that sort of a rush?
Yeah. That's a sort of primal part that,
I kind of...I know I'm OK in those moments.
And I struggle with so many other things in life,
but I know that when we're in that jungle
and the rain's coming down, it's all going wrong,
you know, I kind of thrive in those moments.
And there's a little part of me that kind of keeps pulling me back to those.
Also, that I've learnt over the years how to deal with fear.
And I know that to keep that edge,
I've got to keep doing the difficult stuff.
It's not that I kind of want the adrenaline,
I don't want to decay, you know.
Nothing in nature stands still. It's either decaying or getting stronger.
And I kind of... I approach life like that.
It's why I keep training, it's why I keep trying to do the difficult things,
to keep that inner muscle kind of pumping and going strong.
And it's the only real way I know how to do it, I think.
So this is where we train.
Can I try and do this? Yeah, go for it.
Oh. I'm holding it the wrong way round, I think. You're doing great.
Oh, that's not going to happen, is it?
BEAR CHUCKLES
Oh! Hang on!
LOUIS STRAINS That's a lot.
LOUIS STRAINS
No, that was a joke. I wasn't...
No, that's not going to happen.
Maybe it is. No, maybe it isn't.
BEAR LAUGHS Maybe it...
Maybe it is. Go on, go on! No, maybe it isn't.
Never give up! Never give up!
Never give...! OK.
Oh, look at him - man mountain! Man mountain. There he goes.
Good strength. Shall I drop it?
Yeah, forward. Forward? Yeah, here we go.
There you go. Well done.
Oh! Well done. BEAR CHUCKLES
Oh! That was a hell of a workout.
That's going to take a few days... Something went.
GULLS CRY
I read last night you're quite a cook.
I would describe it as enthusiastic. Yeah.
But I love cooking, like,
massive, you know, things of steak and liver.
And, er...with honey and a whole bunch of eggs.
You can't be having that every night.
Steak every night, yeah. Really? Twice a day, yeah.
But I don't have a lot of vegetables, a lot of fruit. What?!
Vegetables.... Veggies?! Well, listen, I always think if you're in nature,
if you're a broccoli growing in the ground,
how do you defend yourself?
You haven't got claws... Right.
You know? You have all these things that don't want you to eat it.
Defence chemicals.
I think you may have just made your statement
that's going to get you cancelled, Bear.
Bear in mind, I was also vegan for a long time. Were you?
I wrote a book on how I thought it was great,
but my health really tanked. Did it?
And, um...and I certainly couldn't do 25 pull-ups. Huh!
Most orthodox nutritionists would advocate
eating five vegetables a day.
I listen to that and I question it.
LOUIS LAUGHS
One word... Hmm.
..lentils.
Terrible. Terrible for you.
I used to have... I used to break wind all the time.
I haven't broken wind in years now. Yeah.
You say that like breaking wind's a bad thing.
I don't think breaking wind is a great thing, no.
I think it's a sign your gut's not very happy. Really?
If you're farting all day, I don't think that's a happy place for your gut.
This is the office. NPU. Here we go.
NPU, right. Sit here.
About the only place on the island that has cell reception...
Is here? Yeah. And I have...
And then the dogs can sit with me.
So, do you...? What do you...?
You make a couple of calls and be, like...?
Yeah, I do my calls, do my emails, do my stuff.
I've written a ton of books in here. Really?
Yeah. I mean, it's like, you know, what is an office?
An office is in here and in here, really, isn't it, nowadays?
I suppose. So, yeah. And, um...
I suppose. That to remind me to keep going and then, this...
What does that say? My Soul He Does Restore Again.
Which for me, sums up what the island is - a real restoring place.
Is it a biblical quote?
I think so. Isn't it somewhere in there?
Probably. I think so.
Yeah. Bear in mind, this gets a lot of use,
cos it's normally like...rain, wind. Yeah?
Um... And, er...yeah, you know where to find me.
Book an appointment. BEAR CHUCKLES
And that's it - there's not a mansion on the other side of the island,
that's the dwelling, is it, Bear?
That's your dwelling? What are you saying?
I'm saying it's quite... Not small, but
it's winningly down-to-earth. Get out of that, Louis.
It's winningly down-to-earth. What - with the broom?
Mm-hm. Yeah. And the hot tub. And the hot tub.
Yeah, the 200-quid inflatable hot tub, winner!
Jesus! Weren't we in some kind of...?
Chickens. Chickens...
We're having a humility contest. That's a paradox.
Yeah, ex...! BEAR LAUGHS
Is there another level below?
No.
That's it?
What are you saying? I'm saying, that's it, that's the house.
What...what does it sound like I'm saying?
My favourite line is going to be... The whole thing is going to be like,
"Is there a hidden mansion somewhere?"
Actually, what happens, once you leave, the whole...
it all opens out... Thunderbirds. Remember that?
Do you want to come and say hello, Shara?
My love?
Louis... Hi, Shara. ..Shara.
Hi, Louis, hi.
I'm sorry for invading your island.
That's OK, that's OK. This is the most glamorous part of the island...
Louis. Nice to neet you. Hi.
I'm reading Bear's two autobiographies,
and many of the things that I think you as a family, er...
grapple with or deal with, or they're just part of your lives, are very familiar.
Like which bit? Well, so many things, but a big part of it is
me going away a lot.
So that...that sort of tension,
which exists in a lot of relationships.
When he used to come and go a lot when they were younger was quite tricky,
but if he goes away for, like, a few weeks at a time, it's sort of easier.
It's the coming and going which was the hard one.
And I think it's always harder coming back,
you know, because you, as...as
the person who's left behind with the children, you get into your routine, don't you?
And then, they come back and they just mess the whole thing up. Yeah.
I think it's doable. I think over six months, I think,
is really tough, when you hear of people...
You know, I always think, when people go, "Oh, poor you, Shara, he's away so much!"
I go, "He's not in the army, he's not, you know,
"he's not going on tour to Afghanistan and those..."
You know? It's his choice, it's our choice.
And he's not going away for months and months on end, so it's OK.
How did you meet, the two of you?
We were staying with a friend in Scotland, a whole group of us,
and he was one of the people there.
Ten boys, ten girls. And he was about to go off to Everest.
Well, it was a terrible time to fall in love.
You know, right before going away for three months.
But then I remember, yeah, you lived in the next street
and we raced each other back from Scotland.
It was about sort of
Got home, had a bath, got into my pyjamas and everything,
and then he turned up at the door that evening and he said,
"Can I take you out for dinner?" I went,
"Oh, gosh, you're so sweet, but I'm not...
"Just give me a minute. I'm not dressed."
And he went, "No, no, no. Just put a coat over you!"
And then got to the restaurant, and then they took my coat off,
and I remember I was wearing white pyjamas
and I was a bit sort of self-conscious.
I went, "Oh, OK. Um..."
I thought, "She's a keeper!"
She's gone out for a first date in her pyjamas.
You know, you can't hide true beauty.
That was a great moment.
What did you see in Bear that you liked?
Um...
he...he just had a really great sense of fun.
He was quite mysterious, which I thought was quite attractive.
He was quite evasive. When I asked questions,
he sort of wouldn't really answer me properly,
which I found quite intriguing.
You know, life wasn't going to be boring, so there was always
going to be something to do and something to be, you know,
to have fun and... Positive, can-do... Yeah, completely.
I mean, slightly tunnel vision, which can be quite exhausting,
but... Yeah, just never going to live in a normal place,
you know, just always going to do... Everything's slightly different.
Wow!
Nice!
In Devon, Bear Grylls' annual Gone Wild Festival was under way...
CROWD URGES HIM ON
Go on, lad! Go on!
THEY CHEER
..a weekend of family friendly activities, music
and heavy weaponry.
Oh, wow! You got a little sight and everything.
Got a range of about 800 metres.
Squeeze, squeeze! Good lad. Can I go? Yeah, lay down.
Are you doing the documentary for Bear Grylls?
Yes, I am, yeah. When is he coming?
Bear Grylls? Yeah. Er...
I think in an hour or so. Why?
I really want to meet him. I love... I love him.
My motto is, "Never give up," just like his.
Is it? Yeah. High five!
Whoa! LAUGHTER
That was loud! Nice!
The highlight of the weekend was an appearance from the man himself
to spread a little stardust.
Thanks so much. Take care. Have fun, guys.
How you doing? Nice to see you.
For me, it was a chance to see Bear in his public-facing role...
OK, we're going this way.
..amidst a crush of adoring fans.
Sign your T-shirt, buddy.
Right...
Thanks so much, everyone!
CHATTER
I've got to stay with Bear.
Right, guys, we're coming through! Will you do my T-shirt?
I came here from India.
Oh, really? He's come all the way from India.
No way! To be at the festival? Yeah. Are you serious?
Let's do a photo with him.
Why am I in it? I'm... HE LAUGHS
HUBBUB
For the festival finale, Bear would be appearing on the main stage
to deliver an inspirational message.
This is it. This is it. Big moment.
Can I give you that one? Yeah. Don't lose those.
Would you like any water? Oh, I'd love so, yeah. Would you mind?
Louis, would you like a glass of water?
No, no, I'm fine. Thank you. Thank you.
Do you...?
Are you one of these people who likes going on stage
in front of people? Erm...
It's a love/hate thing. What about you?
Hate it. No, you don't.
I promise you, I really struggle with it.
Which part of it?
Just the...
Even at this sort of thing, I struggle.
I sometimes wish I was an ant and could just watch it all,
just watch it all, cos I love...
This, for me, is heaven - loads of families, kids -
but I struggle with all the... I struggle with the eyes,
you know, kind of everyone looking... On you? Really struggle.
And that's actually got worse over the years.
Why? I don't know.
I think in the early days, it was like, "Gosh!"
- Now I don't... - We want Bear...!
Anyway, slightly ironic, slightly ironic conversation!
We want Bear! We want Bear! We want Bear...
What's the fear? What do you worry about?
I don't know. I feel... I feel...
If I'm honest, I feel I'm not as good sometimes,
not as brave or strong or great...
Well, you've created a brand. You're a superhero.
And that's what kids want to believe. I'm just being honest.
That's what... But kids don't want to hear that.
You know, this for me takes more courage than any, you know...
Go. CHEERING
Thank you, guys. Wow!
What a... What an amazing, amazing and beautiful sight.
Honestly, for me, it's a privilege to be among you.
CHEERING
So, Bear, we've got loads of families here
and kids that look up to you hugely.
What's your message for them as potential adventurers
of the next generation?
Oh, I...
What, a message for young people?
Gosh, I would say, first of all, life's scary.
You need to be... You're going to need to be brave at times.
Courage is quiet. Courage is facing the difficult stuff.
But number one is courage.
You got to... You've got to find it. It's in here.
Number two, kindness.
It's no good reaching the top of your mountains,
becoming the boss, becoming whatever your goals are
if you're not kind to people.
And then finally have that "Never give up" spirit.
You know? It conquers everything.
When you're in those difficult times, going through the storms,
you've got to keep going. Have that "Never give up" spirit.
So, courage, kindness, never give up.
CHEERING
I was struck by Bear's sense of his own shortcomings,
a man of adventure who grappled with the gap between his view of himself
and how he was seen by his admirers.
Thanks, guys! We'll see you at the music later as well.
I'll be around. Take care! CHEERING
Bear's taste for the wilderness was something he learned as a child
on expeditions with his dad, a Royal Marine and Conservative MP.
Mum was a secretary and later a homemaker in a family
that was traditional upper crust.
After Eton, he dropped out of university,
deciding he'd rather qualify as a civilian for the SAS.
Then, aged 23, came the successful Everest ascent.
We're already in what they call the death zone,
which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence!
Pray for a safe, yeah, up and down, and then home
and then families and stuff.
Behind it all was a formative early experience.
You were sent away to boarding school aged eight.
It must have been very difficult.
For me, it wasn't a choice
and it was much more a culture of, like, "You left."
You don't go home for, you know, however long.
"We'll see you, we'll see you in four weeks' time..."
Because that's just what people did who were of that class?
I don't know. I wasn't involved in the decision.
For me, it was like, "You're going to boarding school."
And I really struggled with it. I struggled being away from home.
Do you remember that moment? Do you remember the day... Yeah, I do.
I remember really well being dropped off,
and I remember seeing my mum and dad bawling their eyes out driving away.
And I remember thinking...
I couldn't figure out what part of nature thinks this is a good idea.
You know, I'm crying, they're crying.
You know, I'm not seeing you for a long time.
It's so young, isn't it? I have a seven-year-old.
I just can't imagine... Yeah. ..sending him off. Yeah.
It was definitely a tricky time for me
and I don't think I dealt with it particularly well.
I think you sort of develop survival sort of mechanisms
to deal with the upset and deal with the fear.
And there were definitely sort of bullies
at some of the schools I went to.
And you know, again, I don't want to overegg...
It wasn't terrible, but it had definite moments.
And I think. looking back, I was too young to be able
to deal with that sort of fear.
And actually, ironically, I remember eventually...
At the end of SAS selection,
you go through this resistance to interrogation phase.
You know, you're there naked, curled up in a blanket, shivering,
and at the end of it, when it's finally finished,
they put you with a psychiatrist and you have a chat,
and he goes, "It's all over. How was it and what are you feeling?"
And I said, "It's weird because I haven't felt
"that sort of feeling of raw fear and vulnerability
"since I went to prep school, age whatever."
And I thought he would sort of laugh or whatever, and he goes,
"Oh, I can't tell you how many times I've heard that from people
"going through this process."
When you say... You said you don't think you dealt with it
particularly well. What do you mean?
Well, I think you internalise a lot of your way of dealing with fear,
and it's why I became quite shy, especially in those years.
I definitely went into myself a lot more and was hiding away.
And you'd see people being bullied
or, you know, if ever the eyes came onto me, it'd be like,
"Oh!" You know, "Hide, go, escape!"
And I think those are survival mechanisms
that you shouldn't have to be learning aged eight or ten.
And I think it's why it took me a long time
to develop the confidence at not always hiding away.
Did you ever talk to your parents about it?
About, like, "Why did you do that?" Or just...
Yeah, I think a little bit.
I mean, my dad then died, you know, when I was pretty young after school
and I never really got the chance to ask him that.
But, you know, the thing is, he was the most lovely dad -
cosy, kind, loving - and same with my mum.
And I think it was... You know, I've got to understand
that was hard for them as well.
And I think genuinely, there's a whole generation of our age
and older and before that just thought that was...
..that was how you made a man.
I have the sense that you're very close to both your parents,
you had adventures with your dad,
but also that your mum occasionally resented you going off
with your dad. Is that what it was?
When you're young, it's so hard to know what's going on always.
My mum's... You know, she's amazing.
She's a true... She's a character. Yeah.
And I think as she gets older,
I'm sort of gentler with her eccentricities
that growing up were sometimes harder.
It sounds like at times it was really difficult.
Yeah, she's quite unusual, my mum. She's a strong flavour.
And she had some, definitely some, you know,
mental health issues going on.
But I think Dad shielded us a little bit maybe from that. Shielded you.
I think he definitely shielded my sister and me a bit from, you know,
some of my mum's more unusual sort of episodes.
There were quite a few eccentricities
and most of them super harmless and wonderful.
I'm nervous of saying too much about that,
because I think also as my mum's got older,
she's softened so much.
She's been an amazing mother.
You know, she really has.
Did she take you to see self... American motivational speakers?
Well, those I'm always grateful for.
Who was it? Those times weren't her eccentricity.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, she would take us...
That was part of her brilliance and her genius
is at age 15, 16, she'd take us to motivational conventions.
"You can do it. You've got it inside."
Who would it be? Tony Robbins? Yeah. Yeah, I did.
So we've really got Tony Robbins to thank for Bear Grylls?
But we went to a whole bunch of them and they were...
I was always like this. Any other ones? You know.
Zig Ziglar. Zig Ziglar.
Zig Ziglar, who was... I look back on now, who was a legend.
He was, like, a business guru, was he?
He was all about,
"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe,
"it can achieve," or something like that, you know. Right.
And I was like, wow, you know, and it was... Was he also...
"Beware of stinking thinking."
Stinking thinking. Yeah, exactly.
And I always say that still to this day to my family, you know.
It's like I don't call it an alarm clock,
I call it an opportunity clock,
you know, and it's a family joke.
But I don't want to be woken up alarmed.
Right. You know, I want an opportunity.
I'm always... You know, and a lot of those old phrases
that I have for me go back to those days.
But my education was all about learn the verbs, learn Latin,
do your maths, learn, and I wasn't very good at that.
And suddenly at 15 to be told that the real life skills
are about building great teams, pick the path less trodden,
never give up, be kind along the way,
face your fears,
it was like, that I can get an A in,
because I can, you know, go for this. Yeah.
And so I really have my mum to thank for those sort of times.
You know, she's dealt with the fact that she's had to be on her own
for the last 20 years without, you know, my dad as well and...
How did your dad die?
Out of the blue one day.
You know, he had a pacemaker fitted,
because they needed to fit a pacemaker,
and I remember going down for the operation
and I saw him come round and I said,
"It's all great, Dad, and well done you," you know.
"Smashed it. It's going to be great."
He was discharged and he woke up the next morning,
sat up in bed and my mum was there just bringing in something to eat
and he just went...
Done, done, and never, never...never woke up.
I look back and there's so many things I wish I'd said to him
of, like, what a wonderful dad he'd been for so many years.
And, you know, I wish I had said thank you more.
Erm...
You know, but I do believe, you know,
I believe I feel his presence still to this day.
You seem to speak more openly now about faith.
I'm less nervous to be able to tell the truth,
you know, of what...of things that have helped me in my life.
And I'm not particularly churchy,
I'm not very religious like that,
but my Christian faith is...it's in here and...
Do you literally start the day on your knees... I do, I do.
..next to the bed with a prayer? I try to, yeah.
I find it starts the day
reminding me of my place in the world
and say thank you and say sorry for things I've messed up
and ask for a bit of strength for the day ahead, job done,
and then stand up and do my exercises.
And those are two anchors in my life.
INDISTINCT CHATTER
THEY SCREAM
In South London,
Bear was making a flying visit to a local scout troop.
Bear is the chief scout for the whole of the UK,
a role he's very proud of.
They're going to be so excited. What's the routine?
You go in there and razzle-dazzle them?
Well, I'm not sure there's much razzle-dazzle!
Hi, guys. Hi.
Have you ever done crate stacking, Louis? No.
Oh, Jeez. It's already quite wobbly.
OK, Louis, you need to focus on the crates, not the rope.
Oh, God. Oh, God. God help me.
What's happening?
Louis, just think, you could be, like, in America
with some crazy Ku Klux Klan people having a great time. Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
I'd be more relaxed.
Go on, Louis. Go on. Come on, Louis. Come on!
Come on, last one.
CHEERING Oh, oh!
APPLAUSE
After proving my scout metal,
I got a chance to see Bear among his young proteges.
I think you all know who Bear is.
How many of you have seen him on TV?
Yeah. I used to watch him religiously. Yeah. All the time.
So sweet.
I think you ate a placenta one time with a celebrity.
I saw that on YouTube. I saw it on YouTube.
Let's just get this right,
I didn't eat a celebrity's placenta.
LAUGHTER
And how did it taste, the placenta?
Once you'd cooked it, it was probably all right, wasn't it?
Do you know, it's all a blur.
A sort of blur of bad, sort of, you know...
I've learned basically if you try and cook anything
and burn it over a fire long enough,
it will taste basically like a badly cooked scout sausage.
I remember you slept in a camel.
Well, that was an interesting one.
I remember sleeping there and the head of the camel
was, like, here.
And because I was on quite strong antimalarial drugs at the time,
one of the side effects is it gives you pretty wacky dreams.
And I remember waking in the night thinking the camel's come alive
and the whiskers were, like, sort of brushing my cheek
and I was hallucinating all sorts of weird thing.
But it worked and we survived the night, so, yeah.
Live to fight another day.
SHOUTING
One more shift, Frankie. Let's go.
Knees. Kick away. Let's go.
Across town, Bear was making a second stop-off
in his role as an honorary colonel in the Royal Marines.
Are you getting through it? Yeah. Yeah, it's going well, sir.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well done. Yeah. Oh, good job.
Well, stick with it.
Bear's love of the military is well-known.
MAN SHOUTS COMMANDS
There you go. Welcome to the Royal Marines, Louis.
You don't need to be here.
Do you? I mean, in terms of... you've got a busy schedule.
Why is it important to you to be here? Well, I-I love it.
It's the same with the Scouts,
it's that sense of amazing, incredible, unsung heroes who give
so much, who are so dedicated.
I mean, there are a few families in the world that really
have my heart,
and the Royal Marines, I think, is truly unique.
Every day, every session I spend with them, you know, and it's only
every now and again, it's, you know, once a month maybe.
But it's a real, genuine privilege and something I love
and I never take for granted.
Amidst the discipline and tradition I reflected
on the old-fashioned virtues Bear seemed to embody,
and how they sat alongside Bear's more human qualities.
The question I was going to ask, what's the key
to understanding Bear? That would have been an embarrassing...
Here we go. He's off. He doesn't like hearing himself talked about.
Have you noticed?
QUITE CHUCKLING He's gone.
Did I embarrass him?
No, he's just, he's, you know, he's not making it up -
he is humble and he doesn't like the spotlight, you know?
Come and have a quick look at this.
It's a good way to finish your visit here.
Here we go.
So that's the Commando spirit - courage, determination
and the unselfishness. So, simple old values.
But you know what? Yeah.
Young guys come from regular backgrounds, diverse backgrounds
all over the world, and they come and they get unified
by this kind of sense of Commando spirit.
One place I'd love to show you is the cliffs at the other end.
I would love it.
OK, we're going this way.
Why are we going this way? Because it's fun.
It's just... We NEVER go this way.
OK. Watch yourself.
Isn't that lovely?
Is this safe for me to do this?
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah, that's something else.
So, could you just go down and... if you were to just have,
like a beach day on the island, would you do it down there?
I'd go off from the jetty.
Very nice.
OK. OK. We're going this way.
So this is our cliff jump on the island, Louis.
Would you jump that? Yeah, I have jumped.
And how was it?
I wouldn't do this again. I've done it once.
Took me a week to recover. Really?
Yeah. Well, we're not doing that today. You've got to be careful.
You've got to be careful.
Anyway, another good, fun place on the island.
Louis sits down for an interview, he goes, "I'm just so well prepared.
"I'm so over-researched."
I said, "I've read the shit out of your books."
There's a lot of books.
I thought it was a bit cheeky. He says
he's written 90 books, and some of them were colouring books.
Just because you got a photo...!
I'm calling a colouring book a book!
Can't we get the numbers up a bit? What about the colouring books?
The sticker books? Put those in there!
Well, they are IN there! Yeah, exactly.
Guilty as charged, in that case.
You're huge, like not just in the UK and America, but you've got
this almost unique quality among Western presenters
that you've managed to create a brand that goes
across India and China.
How important is it to you to build the business and to kind of create
a...um, well, to make a lot of money apart from anything else?
I think money's never been the number-one motivator,
but it's easy to say that once you kind of have earned a bit.
In the early days, it WAS a big motivator.
I thought, you know, when we did that first show, it's like,
this is great, I've earned more from doing that than, you know, touring
around the Women's Institutes doing those early talks.
But, you know, I'm not a flash car sort of person.
You know. You're a parachute guy,
apparently. I spent a lot of money on parachutes! Boats and parachutes.
Parachutes and paragliders and outboard engines.
But, you know what? There could be worse things.
Is your main business making TV or...? TV earns the most, you know,
but money, fame, glory, that's never going to satisfy.
It's never enough for people.
I see it all the time chatting to these stars, you know,
and they know it often as well.
But it's a hole that can never be filled,
and therefore, don't chase that stuff.
Do what you really love. Follow what you really love.
And it might work out and you might end up successful,
you might end up famous, you might end up rich. You might not.
It doesn't matter. Those things are the dressings. I don't know
if people are ready to hear that from multimillionaire Bear Grylls.
Well, that's a fair point. It sounds a little bit hollow.
It's a fair point.
With a global mega brand.
Yeah, it's a fair point. But the thing is, it is the truth
and it is what I've learnt from it.
But, you know, I think for me, though, the focus is, especially
with a young family, it's like go and do the work, do the main thing,
keep the main thing the main thing. Do the programmes, take these people
into the wild. But otherwise, I'm really happy.
I'm at my happiest when I'm with the family together, hanging out.
You know, before you guys arrived, I ran down the hill with Huckleberry,
dived in the sea, you know...
Happy, happy place.
That's someone delivering the groceries.
Amazon delivery. Pizza.
Can you sign for the package?
Oh, my knee!
Louis's done. No, no. His leg's long gone.
So, Louis, before we leave.
Yeah. Big swim.
I mean, it's end of day.
Yeah. Little cold wind in the air, but...
Yeah. And the sea is looking a bit more Welsh compared
to when you arrived.
Guys, you're looking at the Scout crate-stacking champ.
Are you ready?
Here we go.
Three... Three... Two... ..two, one. Here we go.
Woo!
Where is he?! Woo!
Cheers. Stay safe. Never give up.
Stay safe. Never give up. I got it!
Live a life of adventure.
Dream big.
If you dream it, you can achieve it.