Bear Grylls

Man vs. Wild star Bear Grylls had built a long history of accomplishments in the outdoor sports and adventuring community long before he earned stardom showing off his survival skills on television. Although his show has been the target of some criticism, he has also won several accolades, including becoming the youngest Chief Scout in British history.

Being a survivalist is not an easy job.

Born in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland, as Edward Michael Grylls, Bear spent most of his childhood on the Isle of Wight. He earned his nickname Bear when he just one week old. His family has been heavily involved in British politics. His father was Tory MP Sir Michael Grylls and his grandmother Patricia Ford was an MP with the Ulster Unionist Party.

Grylls attended Britain’s exclusive Eton College and later University of London where he graduated with a degree in Hispanic Studies, though he only attended classes as a part-time student. As a young man, he learned to sail and rock climb and became a dedicated student of martial arts.

Post college, Grylls took some time out and hiked the Himalayan Mountains while he weighed up his options. After coming close to joining the Indian Army, he decided instead to join the British Army Special Forces. He served two tours in North Africa. In 1996, Grylls was involved in an accident in Kenya. During a sky dive, his parachute ripped at 1600 feet and he fell the rest of the way without deploying his backup chute. Three vertebrae were crushed and doctors believed he wouldn’t walk again. His recovery took 18 months, a time during which he resolved to climb Mount Everest.

Bear Grylls is married to Shara Cannings Knight and has three children: Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry.

In 1998, Grylls made it to the top of Mount Everest. The climb took four months, and at the time, he was the youngest British climber to ever reach the summit (this record has since been broken).

Grylls has been involved in a long list of other expeditions, many of them for charity. Some significant expeditions include:

Along with a crew of five friends, Grylls crossed the dangerous North Atlantic in an inflatable boat without a cover. They had to face extreme storms, including gale force winds. The crossing was completely unassisted.

Grylls was involved in two record-setting paramotoring expeditions. One was over Angels Falls in Venezuela, which is the world’s highest waterfall. The other was over the peak of Mount Everest.

Man vs. Wild, (Born Survivor, in the UK), debuted in 2006. On the show, Grylls is left in an extreme situation and must find his way out of the place he has been stranded and back to safety. The show has filmed all over the world, from a river in Zambia to a swamp in Louisiana to the Highlands in Scotland.

Although a ratings winner, Man vs. Wild has been the subject of a great deal of criticism. The show creates the impression that Grylls is left alone in these situations and films himself coping with situations as they arise. It emerged that Grylls has a crew with him on located and that most of the events are fabricated. Further, Grylls does not always stay in the locations. The UK’s Channel 4, creators of the show, have confirmed a series of circumstances that did not occur as presented to viewers, including:

• A volcano scene was created using coals and a smoke machine.
• Instead of staying on the desert island he was supposed to be stranded on in Hawaii, Grylls spent nights at a hotel.
• A raft that Grylls supposedly built himself without using any tools was assembled by the production team.

For his part, Grylls has stated that certain creative licenses are necessary to make sure the show comes together and that events to make the show exciting actually occur.

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