Bear Grylls
![Bear Grylls](/assets/img/authors/bear-grylls.jpg)
Bear Grylls
Edward Michael "Bear" Gryllsis a British adventurer, writer and television presenter. He is widely known for his television series Man vs. Wild, originally titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls in the United Kingdom. Grylls is also involved in a number of wilderness survival television series in the UK and US. In July 2009, Grylls was appointed the youngest-ever Chief Scout in the UK at age 35...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionReality Star
Date of Birth7 June 1974
CityDonaghadee, Northern Ireland
To get ready to climb Everest, I did a lot of hill running with a daypack on and a lot of underwater swimming. I would swim a couple of lengths underwater and then a couple above. It gets your body going with limited oxygen.
I think it's fun running with dogs. They're always so fit and fast.
Exercise helps my back. If I don't exercise, that's when it starts to hurt. The pain is a good motivator to run and exercise.
In the British Special Air Service, combat fitness is all about running.
I started to get so many letters from unlikely people; a single mum going, "I watch your show, I'm not into survival, but I hold down four jobs and I get it when you say it's about persistence and putting a positive attitude into things during difficult times." That for me was a great liberator to realize that the show isn't about me running around, jumping off stuff and flexing muscles, it's about inspiring people. That makes me really happy.
There's no magic to running far or climbing Everest. Endurance is mental strength. It's all about heart.
Unless you have shelter, fire is going to be very hard and if you have fire, but no water, you're going to die. They're all super important.
Scouts should be progressive and should be adapting. If you're gay or not it's irrelevant, Scouting values respect.
I'm probably going to be the scruffiest Chief Scout you've ever had and my health and safety policy is non-existent.
I didn't want to do eight seasons of How To Build A Fire. The intention was to make something fun and dynamic and about self rescue, not about whittling.
As a society, we've become terrified of failure, but you can't grow without risking it.
I think fire is so critical in the wild. You can cook with it, you can make tools, you can deter a predator, you can dry your clothes and you get that element of morale that matters so much when you're stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Nothing inspires people more than reckless acts of courage.
I grew up on survival shows and they were always just so...anoraky.