Bear Grylls, 32, is an adventurer, motivational speaker and TV presenter. As a
soldier in 1995, he broke his back in a parachute accident and was told that
he would probably not walk again. Three years later, at the age of 23, he
became the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest. In 2003, he led the first
team to cross the North Atlantic in an open inflatable boat. Two years ago,
he ate dinner at a table suspended from a hot-air balloon at 24,750ft
(7,540m) — a world record — and in the same year fronted a Channel 4
boot-camp series, Escape to the Legion, in which he trained for the
French Foreign Legion.
In his latest series he demonstrates survival techniques in hostile
environments. Here, his directors provide notes from their diaries on
working with Grylls around the world.
GRAHAM STRONG (Pacific Ocean)
It is one hour before sunrise, and I find myself drifting in the middle of the
Pacific Ocean with Bear and a TV crew on a bamboo raft lashed together with
bark from a hibiscus tree. I’m relieved that our raft is handling the 10ft
swells just as our expert had said it would. But we haven’t a clue where we
are and our best hope is to be spotted by a passing ship or plane. By
daybreak, Simon the cameraman is very seasick, but refuses to relinquish the
camera. Bear, of course, is as happy as a sandboy out here, and we swap
childhood stories of mucking about on boats.
With very little shelter on the raft Bear decides to go for a swim to cool
off. We have a diver on hand who confirms that there are about 25 sand-bar
sharks, which are luckily the least aggressive, in these waters. But
suddenly, and with Bear still away from the raft, four 17ft tiger sharks
approach. Everything goes into slow motion as Bear seems to take forever to
get back aboard. Within seconds the tigers start to circle, bumping the
raft. We jump around, beating the raft and screaming, which is what you do
to scare them off. We are all absolutely taken aback by the shark attack.
And it’s the first time I’ve heard Bear swear. But we’re all alive, and
we’ve got another amazing sequence for the series ( right).
MATT DICKINSON (Amazon rainforest)
The humidity and tropical heat reduce our work rate to a crawl. The crew is
dehydrated and listless. The camera gear is soaked through, the batteries
kaput and the sound equipment covered in mildew. Howler monkeys heap
derision on us from the tree tops above. Bear is as upbeat as ever, looking
for jaguar tracks. Or trying to catch a poison arrow frog — I’ve rather lost
the plot. Tiny bees are buzzing round my eyes, sucking on my sweat. A thorn
spider has taken a sizeable piece of flesh out of my neck. Soldier ants have
invaded my armpits and groin. Up ahead Bear is crouching — jubilant — by a
rotting log that he has ripped apart with his fingers. And there they are —
palm maggots. As thick as bananas and four inches long. Squirming,
pulsating, with little armoured heads. “I think I’ll eat some,” Bear smiles.
“Local tribes eat them all the time.” He pinches the offending grub between
finger and thumb and bites — revolting yellow juices squirt out. He
swallows. Even the cicadas shut up as the sound of Bear chewing maggots
fills the jungle. Bear grins. There are slimy trails of maggot intestine
smeared across his chin. I retire behind a balsa tree and am discreetly and
violently sick.
SCOTT TANKARD (Florida Everglades)
Within 20 minutes of arriving in this featureless world, we see two
rattlesnakes and a cottonmouth — all absolutely deadly, of course. Welcome
to the Everglades!
Although it’s quite close to Miami, this is a wild environment that feels a
million miles away from civilisation. We are standing waist-deep in water,
the whole place completely flat and featureless, apart from the cypress
trees that grow from the water. You are never on solid ground here and it’s
a moody feeling place. Bear stays overnight in a shelter up a tree.We’re
close to the areas that the tourists buzz around in air-boats, but if you
break down here you are lost. Even with a mobile phone, how do you describe
exactly where you are?
The water is teeming with alligators, too. Bear is crossing over a stretch of
open water, using a tree knocked over by the hurricane. As he shimmies under
the trunk, he looks down to see two alligators waiting expectantly below.
Later he has to swim across a river. We’ve seen alligators on the banks so we
know they are around. We find a stretch that we think is clear and wait.
Gators can stay underwater for only 45 minutes, so after the coast is clear
for an hour Bear decides it’s time to swim across. Apparently the secret is
to swim underwater — if you swim on the surface the alligators think you
might be a turtle and have a chomp to find out. It’s the most nervous I’ve
seen him. We do everything we can to prepare, but sometimes Bear will take
calculated risks — you just can’t stop him.
MATT DICKINSON (The Alps)
It is 6.15am, five degrees below freezing, and I’m 2,400m (7,870ft) above sea
level. We are gathered, shivering and nervous, next to a frozen lake. Bear
is going to look for thin ice. He wants to show us how to escape this
potential death trap. The main camera has just blacked out with frozen
condensation on the lens. I can feel the mucous linings in my nose crackling
every time I take a breath. Inside my Gore-Tex suit I can feel my bones
chilling fast. Bear strips off to his T-shirt and walks out on to the ice.
There are ominous cracking noises, but Bear is unconcerned. He looks like a
chap off for a Sunday-afternoon stroll. My digestive tract kicks in with an
request to defecate. Request denied. Ravens gather like vultures on an icy
pinnacle above the lake. Bear takes the leap. There is an explosion of
fractured ice as he plunges into the water. He starts his piece to camera. A
minute passes. Bear’s lips turn blue. I can see blood welling from the
scratches where the ice has lacerated his arm. Hypothermia is kicking in and
his speech slows. I’m worried we may be filming Bear’s last moments. Then
he’s kicking out. Serious muscle power is called into play and Bear
scrambles up on to the ice. He stands shaking, a quivering mass of
superchilled flesh. “How was that?” he asks. “Can I do it again?”
SCOTT TANKARD (Alaska)
Sitting in the relative comfort of our helicopter hovering above the 9,000ft
peak of a mountain near Valdez in Alaska (where the oil tanker sank), I have
to check again: “Bear, you can ski, can’t you?” He says yes, but then he
says yes to most things. We drop him off and then follow at a distance as he
skis beautifully down thousands of feet of mountain — it is almost worthy of
a James Bond title sequence. What he can’t see on the ground, but is very
clear to us from the air, is that he is narrowly avoiding huge drops on all
sides by what seems like tiny margins. We watch, and film, with our hearts
in our mouths. Of course when he gets to the bottom Bear is exhilarated —
although I wonder how thrilled his wife will be if she sees the footage.
SCOTT TANKARD (Mexico)
We are filming in Copper Canyon, about 200 miles south of Texas. The gorges
here are absolutely vast, and up to 1,000ft deeper than the Grand Canyon.
It’s a very beautiful environment, but an incredibly tough place to live,
with very few animals to hunt. The local people, who are acting as our
guides, are the Rarámuri. They really do live as their ancestors have always
done. They are amazing runners: they can chase down deer and claim to be
able to run more than 100 miles in a day. You can see why they are such good
marathon runners.
The top of the plateau is barren and completely without water — although it
did snow here last week. At the bottom of the ravine it’s much warmer
because of the height difference, and there is a roaring river. Down here
it’s completely different, but equally challenging. One of the guide’s
relatives was washed to her death in a flash flood.
Bear tries some local soil, which is apparently full of minerals. He also eats
a live scorpion with its tail and pincers snipped off. Unlike most things,
which seem to taste like chicken, he describes it as being “like cheese
that’s been left out for three weeks — but worse”.
Born Survivor: Bear Grylls, Sat, Channel 4, 7pm
