TV action man Bear Grylls tells why favourite Scots beach tops Everest

Oct 5 2008 By Steve Hendry

TV WILDMAN Bear Grylls has conquered Mount Everest and explored some of the world's most exotic locations - but his favourite place is a beach in the Highlands.

The 34-year-old survival expert trained to become the youngest Briton to scale Everest at Kinloch in Sutherland.

And he revealed it remains his most treasured spot because he met his wife Shara there.

Bear, who achieved the record-breaking feat at 23, said: "It was New Year's Day and I was skinny-dipping in the sea.

"My clothes got washed away and I was running around trying to pick up my socks and hat.

"She was laughing and that was when we met. I love Sutherland and Tongue. It's a special place.

"It's where I still go every year for training."

Bear, who has two sons - Jesse, five, and Marmaduke, two - with former teacher Shara, 34, stars in a new series of Born Survivor on Channel 4 this week.

But he says leaving his family behind is the worst part of his adrenaline-fuelled day job so he tries to limit being away from home to a couple of weeks at a time.

He said: "I find it very hard to be apart. But coming back is always the highlight of a trip."

In his latest adventures see him facing man-eating crocodiles and surviving on a stomach-churning diet by skinning and eating vipers and sucking moisture out of a yak's eyeball.

In the first show, he travels to the Skeleton Coast of Namibia where he meets the San Bushmen and goes on a dangerous porcupine hunt.

He also visits the desert canyons of Mexico's Baja Peninsula where he is virtually blinded by killer bees.

In another episode he wrestles a seven-foot alligator to the death in the swamps of Louisiana.

Bear said: "We planned to do a big alligator encounter but the rangers said not to go for anything over four or five feet.

"On the last day we saw a seven-foot one and I thought it would be great to try it. Waist deep in swamp, I was trying to get behind it which wasn't easy because it knew it was vulnerable.

"But there comes a moment when you have to go for it and I got on its back and put a knife through its neck.

"Alligators are hunted professionally by people there so I just took on their role for the day.

"I made a camp out of its hide, rubbed the fat all over my skin to keep the mosquitoes at bay and ate the meat.

I always make sure any killing is swift."

Bear admits the dangers of his working life often make him question what he is doing.

He said: "I have those moments all the time. In the new series I was hanging off a cliff in Zambia and had bad stomach upset and heatstroke.

"I had to go to the loo so had one hand holding on and the other trying to get my trousers down. I went to the loo in mid air, with a cameraman filming.

"You think, 'Is nothing sacred?' But it's what makes the show popular and it's the good, the bad and the ugly, which is what survival is all about."

Bear has had to face up to criticism that his previous shows were faked - thanks to revelations he sometimes stayed in hotels rather than the hostile environments he was in on camera.

He said: "The controversy stuff is always hard, especially when you are risking your neck.

"We film something over six days and when I'm out for three of the nights, I'm out properly. When I'm not, I'm back at the lodge or a jungle camp with the crew. We now show more behind-the-scenes stuff and if anybody helps me I acknowledge it. You just have to take the rough with the smooth."

TV rival Ray Mears also had a pop recently, calling him a "Boy Scout".

But Bear said: "Ray does a great job and we cater to different markets - mine's a bit more extreme. And I love the Boy Scouts."

Bear also revealed that one of his toughest foes is the Scottish midge.

He said: "It is a fearsome creature.

They are bad around the world but the Scottish midge rivals most of them.

"Now here's perfect and Scotland is worth the odd scratch with a midge."

Bear Grylls: Born Survivor is on Channel 4 on Sundays at 5.45pm and on Discovery on Tuesdays at 10pm.

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