TV survivalist Bear Grylls reveals what really happened in a new book

He’s the TV survival expert whose life is one great celebrity adventure. Former special forces reservist and Britain’s youngest ever Chief Scout Bear Grylls has given lessons in bushcraft to some of the world’s biggest stars on his TV shows.

Whether he’s flying into deepest Africa with Julia Roberts in a plane full of chickens, weathering an Icelandic hurricane with Jake Gyllenhaal or swigging rum under the brilliant night sky of Sardinia with Cara Delevingne, every day is a cascade of thrills for Bear – he’s even taught Prince George how to eat live insects. 

But perhaps nothing will ever top the day he dined on salmon with President Obama. What’s so dangerous about that, you might wonder? The fish had been caught by a real bear! Here he recounts some of the most astonishing tales in his new book…

BEWARE OF THE BEARS MR PRESIDENT  

Bear Grylls recounts the bushcraft lessons he has given to some of the world’s biggest stars in a new book. Pictured: Barack and Bear dine on the half-eaten salmon

I check my watch once more. Still 10:53. My radio crackles with static. It makes my heart jump. I have to remind myself I’m surrounded by a ton of snipers and close protection officers – none of whom I can spot. That’s their job. It’s not a comforting thought, though.

And then, suddenly, everything goes strangely still. I can feel it. Flanked by ten Secret Service agents clad in black, weapons ready, the President of the United States emerges from the trees.

We had just two weeks to prepare for this moment in 2015. The White House had contacted my production team out of the blue to announce that President Obama was a fan of my survival show Running Wild and wanted to shoot an episode with me in Alaska.

During the hours before the President arrived, his lead Secret Service agent had flagged the anti-bear spray I was carrying. He’d told me my suggestion of showing the President how the deterrent works was a bad idea. But some rules are meant to be bent.

So the first thing I told the President was that we were in grizzly country and should always carry anti-bear spray. These can be sprayed up to 25ft at a charging bear and give us a chance to escape. I always find it tempting to give things like that a quick test blast. I said so to the President. He smiled and said, ‘Sure.’

‘Mr President, grab this, hold the can facing forward, and blast it downwind… Oh, and watch out for the Secret Service guys,’ I added with a wink. The man with the earpiece and the gun holster glared at me through his mirror sunglasses and shook his head. 

Bear (pictured) said the prayer that featured in his episode with President Obama wasn't meant to be in the final show

Bear (pictured) said the prayer that featured in his episode with President Obama wasn’t meant to be in the final show

The President gave the canister a blast downwind, we both chuckled, and then set off towards the glacier. Within a few moments the wind changed and I got a waft of powerful anti-bear spray in my eyes. 

Immediately tears started streaming down my face. The Secret Service guy looked at me, smiling. Now who was the idiot? As we stood there waiting for the camera and security teams ahead to be ready for us, I told the President how especially dangerous it can be if you disturb fornicating grizzlies. 

He said he understood that one entirely. I had also been told there was no way the President would eat the half-eaten salmon we had found the day before on the river bank. 

It was the remnants of a grizzly’s lunch, and I had it stowed in my backpack, sandwiched between two clumps of moss to keep the fishy carcass together. The President’s chef prepared a salmon to be ‘swapped in’ with the half-eaten one. 

At the appropriate moment the chef would step in and do the switch. We reached the snout of the glacier and I’d shown the President how to walk on ice with his socks over the outside of his boots, and how to light a fire with a flint. 

I produced the bear-kill salmon and started cooking. I could see the chef behind the camera holding his silver platter covered with tinfoil, with the pre-cooked salmon waiting underneath. But it turned out the President was game to eat grizzly leftovers.

Together we wolfed it down, and he even shared a water flask with me – strictly against protocol. At the end of filming we hugged and I said a prayer for him. The moment was never meant to be in the final show. But in the end the prayer was included, and it aired.

A SCARY SNACK FIT FOR A PRINCE  

Bear said he and Prince George (pictured) ate ants together after a yacht race during the Cowes Week in 2019

Bear said he and Prince George (pictured) ate ants together after a yacht race during the Cowes Week in 2019 

In summer 2019 I was invited by Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge to skipper a yacht in a charity race during the Cowes Week regatta. That’s only nine miles from where my mum lives and where I grew up on the Isle of Wight. 

Cowes Week fell in the middle of my family holiday, but Mum is a true monarchist, and there are as many photos of royal babies and weddings around her bed as there are of our family.

Mum is now 79 and moves around the village on a mobility scooter. She often texts me after she has taken her scooter out down to the sea to watch the moon on the water.

She says she likes the night-time as it’s so quiet and she can feel God’s presence. Who am I to argue with that? As she said to me, I couldn’t refuse my future king: ‘It would be churlish,’ she warned.

After the yacht race, I met Prince George and, as I stooped down to shake his little hand, I noticed a trail of ants marching across the paving in between us. Prince George stared down at them too, then looked up at me, eyes wide with trepidation and excitement. I knew that look well. I smiled at him and said, ‘Have you ever eaten an ant?’

He shook his head nervously. ‘You want to? Just you and me?’ He looked around, then back at me, and nodded. I grabbed one ant for him and got him to hold it between his fingers, then got one for myself. ‘One, two, three, and in it goes… ready?’

He looked more nervous now. I smiled reassuringly. ‘It’ll be fine. We can do this… OK? One, two, three, here we go!’ I will never tire of that wonderful grimace on people’s faces as they eat something from the survivor menu for the first time. 

Whoever they are, it’s always priceless. But I don’t think I will ever see wider eyes than Prince George’s, nor a broader grin. It was a fun moment that I hope, when he is king one day and I am an old man, he might still remember. After all, who can ever forget eating their first ant?

THE VERY BEST OF BRITISH

Bear said Mel B (pictured) was brilliant and he will never forget her urinating on his hand after he got stung by a jellyfish

Bear said Mel B (pictured) was brilliant and he will never forget her urinating on his hand after he got stung by a jellyfish

Mel B was really game for an adventure and brutally honest about her life and struggles. Those are key elements of my show’s success – willingness and authenticity. 

She was always going to be a fun guest, and it is a nice change to film with fellow Brits. However much fun I have with big Hollywood actors – and we have had so many laugh-out-loud moments when filming with US stars – there is always something special about filming with British guests. 

It’s the banter and the subtle mickey taking that is so good to be around. Mel B brought it in spades. She was brilliant. I will never forget her urinating on my hand after I got stung by a jellyfish. 

You’ve got to laugh at life sometimes, eh? And then what’s not to love about ending any adventure with a jet ski being dropped off by helicopter for us as we emerged from a sea cave to swim out to it and ride off… great moments. 

Bear said Kate Winslet has remained a good friend since they ventured to the mountains of North Wales. Pictured: Kate Winslet abseiling in North Wales

Bear said Kate Winslet has remained a good friend since they ventured to the mountains of North Wales. Pictured: Kate Winslet abseiling in North Wales

Another time, we brought Kate Winslet to the mountains of North Wales. We finished the shoot on an amazing peninsula of wild terrain that I had purchased with some friends a few years earlier, to protect the headland from ever being built on. 

For us to abseil down the cliffs of the headland and swim out to our inflatable boat was special. Kate loved it all and has remained a good friend. 

Our adventure was like camping with Mary Poppins: she was relentlessly positive, brave and good-humoured – all such strong survivor traits –and I would have her on my team if we were stranded in some jungle any day.

MY REAL-LIFE HOLLYWOOD HEROES   

Bear said Will Ferrell almost died while joining him in the Arctic for his first expeditions with Hollywood celebrities. Pictured: Bear with Will Ferrell

Bear said Will Ferrell almost died while joining him in the Arctic for his first expeditions with Hollywood celebrities. Pictured: Bear with Will Ferrell

My first expeditions with Hollywood celebrities, for a format that eventually became my series Running Wild, threw up some of the toughest conditions I’ve ever encountered. Will Ferrell came all the way up to the Arctic to join me, and it almost killed him. 

It was -30°C all day and night, with deep snow, steep mountain terrain and just a Twinkie bar for supplementary food. Only his undying humour and quiet fortitude got him through, and my respect for Will grows every time I catch a clip of it on air.

He really is an amazing man to whom I owe just so much. Without his courage to come along on that first-ever, one-on-one celebrity adventure, the rest of my career would no doubt look very different.

As for Jake Gyllenhaal, we went to Iceland in winter. Jake is without doubt one of the gentlest, smartest guys you’ll ever meet, and he’s also got the adventure bug in spades. But just halfway through that trip we were caught in the worst winter storm in Iceland for over a decade.

Hurricane-force winds high up on the glacier meant that for the first time ever we were forced to stop filming and start surviving for real. Jake just kept smiling and kept going.

At one point Dan Etheridge, our cameraman, suddenly got picked up by these hurricane winds and blown across the freezing tundra. He was still holding on to his camera as he flew like tumbleweed across the ice. I grabbed hold of Jake and we cowered against the wind. He was loving it.

DICING WITH DEATH

Bear said he has lost count of the many helicopter trips that left him cold inside and amazed to be alive. Pictured: Bear hitches a ride on a helicopter in 2018

Bear said he has lost count of the many helicopter trips that left him cold inside and amazed to be alive. Pictured: Bear hitches a ride on a helicopter in 2018

Bear said the cliff face he abseiled with the actor Warwick Davis has since collapsed. Pictured: Warwick Davis on the cliff face that later collapsed

Bear said the cliff face he abseiled with the actor Warwick Davis has since collapsed. Pictured: Warwick Davis on the cliff face that later collapsed

I should have died many times in my early adventures. Like a character in a video game, I’m getting low on ‘lives’, so I have to get smarter, wiser and more risk-averse – or one day I simply won’t come home. 

I have just heard that the cave we filmed in with comedian Rob Brydon, and also the cliff face I abseiled with the actor Warwick Davis, have since collapsed. Both incidents would have killed us and the crew.

This is why, having made it out alive from so many close scrapes (often small, unseen, forgettable moments, but ones that could so easily have gone the wrong way), I finally consider myself a bit smarter. I like to say that my knowledge now is the sum of all my near-misses. And on that basis, I can call myself ‘experienced’.

I have lost count of the many helicopter trips we took that left me cold inside and amazed to be alive. I particularly remember a tiny single-engine, two-seater chopper that took me back to civilisation after we finished a desert shoot once in Morocco.

We flew over a huge mountain range being buffeted by the worst and most violent desert winds I have ever encountered. It was like being in a bad horror movie coupled with an even worse rollercoaster. 

The pilot was ashen and sweat was pouring down his face as we were thrown around like rag dolls in this tiny toy machine, with a barrel of extra fuel tied to the skid beside me.

I genuinely didn’t think the machine would make it, and I mentally prepared myself for the end. Strangely I was at peace, just annoyed my life was over when I was still relatively young.

PRETTY WOMAN IN A HEAP OF DUST, HAY AND CHICKENS

Pictured: Julia Roberts gets down in the dirt to help Bear fix a flat tyre in Kenya

Pictured: Julia Roberts gets down in the dirt to help Bear fix a flat tyre in Kenya

The scouting for our episode with Julia Roberts, shot in rural Kenya, was not exactly straightforward. The crew at one point had to deal with coming under small-arms fire between two warring tribes. That always spices up anyone’s day, to find yourself in a desert gully with gunfire going off all around.

We had firmly decided not to mention firefights to any of Julia’s team. But we didn’t provide her with any luxuries. I collected her in a bush plane that looked like it had been mothballed in a farmyard for the last decade. 

Our crew had ripped all the passenger seats out, and filled the back with crates of chickens and bales of hay, to make it appear as rickety and rustic as possible. As we took off, the dust was blasting everywhere, the plane was shaking, the chickens were going crazy inside and hay was blowing all over the place.

Julia had one hand on her hat and was screaming with a dizzy mix of horror, fear and delight. I bundled her through the hatch, gave the pilot the thumbs up, and as the plane hurtled down the runway the G-force threw us back into a heap of hay, chickens and boxes.

DELICACIES FROM THE SURVIVAL MENU 

I’m often asked what’s the worst thing I have ever consumed. It would be tempting to say camel intestinal fluids or the frozen Siberian yak eyeball full of blood, fluid and gristle.

Then again that New Zealand giant weta insect was off the scale. Or maybe it would be live scorpions, which are always terrible – full of some weird yellow goo – or the elephant dung, or the berries scraped out of bear faeces that had a particular tang, for sure. 

Skunk anus and rat brain were low points. But they all pale in comparison to the raw, swollen goat’s testicle that I once ate in the Sahara… 

From the plane we transferred to an old Land Rover, to get us closer to our final destination – the village where we’d be delivering vaccines. 

En route we got a flat tyre that Julia helped repair, with her rolling around in the dirt and dung of the bush. Then, when the track ended, we carried on by foot, trekking through the 40°C heat.

Despite the grime and fatigue, Julia was awesome, and was always laughing. It was Running Wild as it always should be: the team were in their zone and the star was terrified, exhausted and excited all at the same time.

An old hemp bridge crossing over a crocodile-filled river took Julia to her edge, but again, every good episode should have those moments. 

The dance is knowing how to get the stars into it without too much thought, and then to help guide them through it with kindness and encouragement.

Invariably, the guests are so proud of themselves when they conquer their fears, and rightly so. Massive cliff faces and deadly animals are always a little scary.

Julia did so well, and by the time we had made camp, built a fire and eaten the remnants of some old goat head that we sourced en route from a local Masai Mara tribeswoman, Julia was dead tired. The guests usually are.

The exceptions to that rule are occasional characters like actor Scott Eastwood or supermodel Cara Delevingne, who were only too happy to break into our crew’s ’emergency’ flask of rum, and sit and watch the moon and stars dance across the horizon.

I’M CHIEF SCOUT… BUT I WASN T MUCH GOOD!

Bear, pictured, as Chief Scout in 2013

Bear, pictured, as Chief Scout in 2013

One of my proudest achievements was becoming the youngest-ever Chief Scout, a position I’ve held for 12 years now. I hardly earned any badges as a kid in the Scouts, but I loved the spirit of it all. 

That sense of adventure and excitement. Putting on my uniform, being taught real skills for life, such as how to cook a sausage with just one match. Formative moments.

I’ll never forget sitting on the floor trying to figure out how the match was ever going to last long enough to cook the sausage. 

When a more experienced Scout taught me I had to use the match to light a fire, which I could then cook the sausage over, it was a lightbulb moment. Of course. How stupid could I be? I told you I wasn’t a brilliant Scout.

But maybe that was the point. Our youth should be seen as our training ground, where we try, and we fail, and we learn to get back up. Our young years are where we build our resilience and thirst for life.

ROGER FEDERER THE REAL ICE MAN

Bear said Roger Federer threw himself into everything. Pictured: Roger leads the way over treacherous ground in the Alps

Bear said Roger Federer threw himself into everything. Pictured: Roger leads the way over treacherous ground in the Alps

They always say don’t meet your heroes, but in the case of Roger Federer they were wrong. He was the consummate gentleman throughout… even when I tore his new Mercedes apart to gather supplies and fuel that we might need on our trip in the Swiss Alps. 

He threw himself into everything. Sometimes literally. The first thing we did was drop off this sheer mountain road, with the rope tied to the wheel of his car, descending down a frozen, vertical waterfall on crampons. Not easy for a rookie new to ice climbing.

Normally wearing these razor-sharp metal points fixed to mountain boots and navigating sheer sheet ice can be a recipe for some slips and gashed gaiters. But Roger had the balance of a bird, and picked up the technique so fast. Before we knew it we were down into this deep snow chasm and on our way.

Roger was definitely squeamish about pulling out the frigid remains of a fish from the side of a frozen stream, but he relished chatting around a little fire in a tiny cave, talking about life, his career and family. 

We even got to pee on the fire together, which, all things considered, is the ultimate bonding moment for any bromance.

Never Give Up by Bear Grylls is published on Thursday by Bantam Press, £20. © Bear Grylls 2021. To order a copy for £18 go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over £20. Offer price valid until 06/11/21.

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