Bear Grylls is hanging from a helicopter by one hand above the Costa Rican jungle. ‘Let the hunt begin!’ he yells.
Then he falls backwards, skydiving until his parachute opens and he can drift down to meet the dozen celebrities who are to be his prey in new Netflix series Celebrity Bear Hunt.
His co-host Holly Willoughby smiles at all this macho stuff and says to the viewer, in her matey way, ‘Bit much?’ And so begins what Bear calls the biggest and most expensive adventure reality show Netflix has ever produced.
‘I take a bunch of celebrities, train them how to survive in the jungle, unleash them into the wild, then track them down, one by one,’ he says.
Bear is, of course, the Old Etonian adventurer who served in the SAS, climbed Everest aged 23 and found fame on shows like Born Survivor for survival skills like sleeping in a camel’s carcass and drinking his own urine.
He is huge in America, where President Obama is the biggest of many stars to have roughed it on his show Running Wild. But even he had to conquer his fears to film the start of Celebrity Bear Hunt.
‘I broke my back in three places in a free-fall accident when I was in the Army, so making a jump like that is one of the hardest things for me,’ says Bear, whose parachute failed to open during a training exercise in 1996.
‘I lay in that hospital hardly able to move and said, “I will get stronger again and from now on I’m gonna live on the front foot with a smile on my face and be so grateful for every day, because I shouldn’t have it.” I should be paralysed but I’m not and I’m never going to take life for granted ever again.’
Bear Grylls and Holly Willoughby flying in a helicopter in first look images for Netflix’s new competition series Celebrity Bear Hunt

Bear Grylls is pictured riding a motorcycle while filming for Celebrity Bear Hunt, which launches on Netflix on February 5

Celebrity Bear Hunt will be arriving on Netflix next month and the star-studded lineup has now been confirmed
It was the end of his SAS career, so Bear, who was Chief Scout for 15 years until 2024, has marketed himself as a modern-day hero with apps, books, speaking tours, a survival school and reality shows, amassing an estimated £20 million fortune.
This son of a Conservative MP met his wife Shara on a beach in the north of Scotland in 1998, when he’d been skinny dipping but had lost his clothes and was wandering naked. They married two years later and at first lived on a houseboat on the Thames.
They now own an island off the coast of Wales, as well as homes in London’s Battersea and in the Wiltshire countryside. The latter is where he has come from today, abandoning a car and driver because of heavy traffic and arriving, not a bit breathless, on a fold-up bicycle.
‘I have plenty of fear,’ he tells me, surprisingly. ‘I have doubts and struggles in terms of confidence, just as much as physical fears, but I’ve learned that you’ve got to be all-in.
‘Every time one of the crew puts a hand on my shoulder before that aircraft door opens, they know that’s a hard thing for me, but I’m like, ‘Come on. I know this feeling. I’m used to this. It’s OK, just do it.’
Has that got harder as he’s got older? ‘The fears get heavier, that’s just natural. You pick up more scars. You fail more. The thing is, don’t retreat,’ he says.
At 50, his face carries the deep lines of someone who has spent a lot of time squinting into the distance, telling a camera how tough things are about to get.
And in Costa Rica, for a dozen soft celebs, tough is the word. Spice Girl Mel B, former tennis player Boris Becker, flamboyant interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Strictly judge Shirley Ballas are among the contestants sharing a beach shack by the waves.

Bear Grylls (left) with Neil Laughton on the summit of Mount Everest

Bear Grylls on the mountain Rosablanche in the Swiss Pennine Alps
‘We put the camp on the beach because it is out of the trees, so there’s a better chance of not being overrun by snakes,’ explains Bear.
The stars are given properly scary tasks, like crossing a rope bridge with half the slats missing far above a ravine. But unlike some of his rival hosts, Bear is not trying to break anybody.
‘There are so many shows that are shouting at people. That has never been our DNA. I think the jungle does that for us. The jungle is a super-tough environment if you’ve never been before. Everything is out to sting you, bite you, intimidate you.’
Those who fail to impress go into a valley called the Bear Pit, from which they must escape before he catches them, and they face elimination.
‘I’m very clear with them: ‘You’re entering an alien, tough, unforgiving environment. Don’t f*** around in there. Focus, remember what I’ve taught you and you stand a fighting chance.’
He’s world class at tough talk, but is the danger that real? ‘Yes. There is a lot of risk. You’re essentially on your own. Even though each celeb has got one camera person with them it’s still hard. There are snakes.’
Costa Rica has some of the world’s most dangerous creatures. ‘I was always diving over something and finding a snake. There are a lot of hazards: not just the creepy crawlies and the baboons and the fallen logs, but rivers and twisted ankles. There were crocodiles in that lake. I can assure you they were not tame.’
So what precautions did they take? ‘You’ve got to have good health and safety plans, because it is a hostile environment. We had medics on standby with anti-venom for snakes. We had people with rifles for the crocodiles.’

Holly Willoughby, 43, will also host the action-packed show in Costa Rica alongside adventurer Bear Grylls, 50, next month

Billed as ‘the ultimate survival challenge’, the Netflix programme sees a group of unlikely celebrities get dropped into the Central American jungle as Bear’s prey
Even so, we still see Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen in trouble, on his back in an oxygen mask. ‘What you can’t show on screen is the heat and the humidity and how draining that environment is,’ says Bear. ‘Throw adrenaline and fear into it and people get really tired, really fast.’
But he insists Celebrity Bear Hunt is not about shredding anyone’s nerves for entertainment. ‘I’m trying to build people. I want them to have an empowering experience.
‘The right people were there at the end: brilliant, determined, positive, kind, resourceful, quick-thinking, seat of their pants, with good wits about them. It was an epic last episode.’
Not that he’s seen it. ‘I actually can’t watch. In the early days I was excited but as I’ve got older I have to leave the room. My family will watch and I’ll go for a walk.’ What’s going on? ‘Maybe my confidence. Maybe I’m more self-critical than I was.’
That’s the second time he’s mentioned confidence. He is involved in projects to help men open up. ‘You can’t just focus on the physical. Having mental, emotional and spiritual good health is part of our arsenal. Spirituality has been a quiet backbone in my life.’
That and careful image control. His people have ordered that I do not ask about religion, which is ridiculous when you consider he has published books about his faith and famously prayed with Barack Obama. I ask anyway and he says, ‘I don’t mind talking about faith, I just don’t want to get dragged into weird things.’
I take this to be a reference to the baptism of Russell Brand, the comedian accused of sexually abusing several women. Last year, Bear was photographed hugging a friend and Brand in the River Thames, as Brand was baptised.
Bear has said about that day: ‘First of all, I didn’t baptise. I never judge and [Brand] was a friend through Running Wild and he’s had a real journey in his life.

Russell Brand is embraced by TV presenter Bear Grylls and a friend following his baptism in the River Thames last year

Russell Brand, left, is pictured with Bear Grylls on the latter’s reality TV show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls. The pair became friends through their television work
‘You know what, whoever it is, you can’t only stand beside people who have had perfect journeys. It was for him a moment of humility and repentance and genuine heartfelt finding of quite a faith in his life.’
Now he says, ‘I was brought up a Christian, my faith has always been something I spoke about openly. I try and keep it on love, kindness, never judging, and family. Then beyond that, I keep it quite private, quite personal.’
How does he square that desire for privacy with having his face on churches across the country as poster boy for the Alpha study course, which is definitely out to gain converts? ‘I think that’s OK. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it means faith can’t be private and personal.’
Bear does make a surprising admission though. For all his public association with the wealthy, influential Evangelical church Holy Trinity Brompton, he is seldom seen in a pew.
‘Such a key part of having good mental health is being able to share difficult stuff and have the support of good friends,’ he says.
‘And to me, that’s what church is. I don’t go to church very much, but my church is those few great buddies that are there every day in the good times, as well as the crisis times, and can have your back and pray for you and support you.’
He used to try to convert people to veganism but now calls it ‘an error’ and eats like a caveman. ‘I start the day with six eggs and a steak and end it with probably another six eggs and a steak. I have a bit of fruit and yoghurt and honey in between. I feel stronger and fitter than ever before.’
Why has he made this change? ‘As a young teenager, our eldest Jesse was really battling with skin, gut, mood, everything. His tummy was terrible.

Bear Grylls pictured while filming a scene from Celebrity Bear Hunt, which launches on Netflix on February 5

Holly Willoughby is seen walking in the Costa Rican jungle during filming for the survival series
‘We went to nutritionists that Running Wild guests recommended and they all said the opposite of the advice from the government: ‘Eat natural.’ Look at what the lions do. They go straight for the blood and the organ meat. They’re not getting ill from that.’
Bear says he was convinced when his son tried the diet. ‘I went away filming for three weeks and when I came back Jesse looked transformed. He had colourin his face. His eyes were bright, happy. He was frying two steaks.
‘He showed me stuff and we started researching it together. We’ve lived like that for five years now, the whole family.’
His sons, Jesse, 21, Marmaduke, 18, and Huckleberry, 16, are choosing their own paths, he says.
‘Jesse’s an artist and I couldn’t be less artistic. He paints beautiful pictures and is selling well and is happy. Marmaduke loves rules and institutions, I’m much more maverick than that. He wants to join a cavalry regiment and be an officer. Huckleberry is quiet and sporty.’
So how have he and Shara lasted so long? ‘We made a conscious decision to put family first. We’re not gonna do a lot of the fluff and the parties and the premieres. We’re gonna be cosy, close ranks. Then we go out and face the world and do battle again. That’s why we have a really tight, close family. I’m more proud of that than any Emmy.’
Jesse did go to Costa Rica with him, though. ‘He’d walk through the Bear Pit and give me ideas, like a right-hand man. It’s so nice to have a family member around who’s smart, knows my stuff and is survival adventure trained.’
It’s also nice to watch Bear with a co-host who has the confidence to undercut the tough guy talk. ‘We can take the mick out of each other. [Holly] was always our number one pick. She’s gentle, she’s true to herself, she’s tough as nails when it matters. She’s sensitive and loved by so many people.
‘I think those celebrities valued having that sort of person around that they could unload to a little bit.’
I wonder if the celebs wanted to talk about the slightly shocking way he smashes them to the ground when he catches them, even tying them up. Is that really still allowed? ‘Yeah. I think in a few years, the answer to that will probably be no, but while we can we’ve got to embrace it. I’m like, ‘Welcome to the jungle!’
He’s smiling, but as ever there’s a serious intent. ‘I’m careful not to hurt them. It’s a hard rugby tackle. If you’re all-in, everyone’s fine. That’s like life, isn’t it? If you’re tentative, you get hurt.’
Will he still be doing all this in a few years’ time? ‘Well, my body hurts more nowadays, but that’s OK. I don’t want to arrive at the end of my life in a perfectly preserved body. I’d say that’s a waste. If you’re on your deathbed at 85 and you’ve never broken anything or got any scars, what have you been doing?
‘Life is meant to be an adventure. I want to come skidding in sideways, beaten up, with my scars, screaming, ‘Yahoo, what a ride!’
Celebrity Bear Hunt, from Wednesday 5 February, Netflix.
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