04

Issue #90September 12 2008

16 30TENNISAndy Murray goes close in US Open

FOOTBALLRyan Giggs on the Champions League

FORMULA 1Preview of the Italian Grand Prix

PROFILEPetra Liskova, Czech mate...

50

The UK’s best sport magazine

THE BORN SURVIVOR STAR GOES BACK INTO THE WILD

BEARGRYLLS

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

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INTO THE WILD

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Adventure crackpot Bear Grylls has spent three years in the SAS, scaled Mount Everest and flown

a powermotor 29,500 feet above the earth. But, to most people, the star of the television survival series Born Survivor: Bear Grylls will always be remembered for one thing – the rancid stuff he shovels into his gob.

Whether it’s gnawing on chunks of blue-raw zebra flesh, sucking the water from a lump of camel dung or swigging on a canteen full of his own urine, we just can’t get enough of that agonised expression on Bear’s face.

“It must be a British thing,” he tells Sport, shaking his head. “The Americans go on about the fact I always take my clothes off, but I don’t! Over here, it’s the stuff I eat. Survival requires movement, but movement requires energy – and energy requires that you eat.”

Given the fact he’s got his shirt off when we meet – having just been for a jog – maybe the Yanks are on to something, too. Of course, even when beshirted, it’s easy for us normal chaps to feel inferior in front of a rough-handed, alpha male SAS-sort like Grylls. But, when he starts talking about Zambia, one of the locations for the new series of Born Survivor,

which premieres on the Discovery Channel on September 23, we reckon we can get him. He says he scaled a 100ft waterfall with no ropes and acute diarrhoea. “We broke our arm in Zambia!” we retort. “And it really hurt!” He says he got ill after swimming through the lethal Zambezi rapids and feasting on puss-filled rhino beetle lavae. “We fell down a hole!” we reply. “At a hotel!” Bear simply grins.

With the jungle hierarchy reconfirmed, we move on. But, away from the camera, Grylls seems strangely normal. “I’m quite a fussy eater,” says the man who once munched on a sheep’s eyeball. “I like baking cakes at home,” says the guy who once slept inside a dead deer.

Bear has also overcome great challenges in his personal life – from breaking his back in a parachuting accident in 1996 to that motel scandal last year, when he was found to have slept in a cosy lodge instead of roughing it. “Controversy is always pretty horrible, especially when it’s personal,” he says. “But it’s important to remember this is a show about how to survive – and a lot of fun, too.”

Anyway, after you’ve read about what he’s been up to in his new series, you wouldn’t begrudge the old boy a good night’s kip...

Born Survivor star Bear Grylls has been busy wrestling alligators and eating snakes for his new television series. Sport hunted him down to find out if he’s actually insane

‘I’M QUITE A FUSSY EATER,’ SAYS THE MAN WHO ONCE MUNCHED ON A SHEEP’S EYEBALL

INTO THE WILD

Just to clarify, this ramshackle hut is not a hotel

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in scars, thoroughly worn out, used up and shouting: “Yahoo, what a ride!”’”

Your new series starts this month. We’ve seen you eating zebras and drinking your own pee already, so what the hell are you doing this time?“We really tried to push the boundaries in this series. For example, we wanted to do an alligator encounter in the Louisiana swamps – to wrestle, then kill this thing and eat it. The briefi ng we had before was: ‘Don’t go for anything over fi ve foot, because you’ll end up coming a cropper.’ But then, on the last day, we saw a six-foot one and I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be great?’ So I was waist-deep in this swamp, and I could just see these eyes looking at me. The way they kill is side-on; they hit you with their tail – whack! – into their mouth and these teeth just close up. Then they roll, and down you go. Simon, my cameraman, is normally right here next to me, but I looked round and he was about 20 yards away! I remember getting this knife and holding it behind its head and I was thinking: ‘When this goes in, it’s going to go absolutely ape!’ There was blood everywhere. I skinned it, used the hide to make a camp, used the fat to make mosquito repellent and then ate it.”

Did you pick up any nasty illnesses this time?“I got diarrhoea up a rock face in Zambia! I ate this huge bug and it nailed me. The next day, I was doing a 100ft waterfall climb but just crapping and vomiting everywhere. I was halfway up this rockface and I just had to go. I said to the cameraman: ‘Just turn the camera off.’ He said: ‘No way, this is going to be great!’

BEHIND THE SCENES W ITH BEAR GRYLLS“It takes us six days to make a show. Before we fi lm, I speak to all the local rangers to get briefi ngs on local plants, dangerous animals and stuff. I feel a bit like a cook: I know how to cook, but when I go to Italy it’s nice to pick up a tip on the carbonara. So I’ll go to Alaska and get some good Inuit tips.

We have a four-man crew – a cameraman, a sound man, a director and a safety guy. He is an ex-SAS man and helps get crew up to where I am, carry a rifl e and deal with emergency communications. He’ll often go: ‘Bear, hang on, I don’t like this.’ The camera won’t see that, but there are lots of those moments.

Ray Mears takes fi ve weeks to do one hour – we do it in fi ve days. It’s hard work. When I’m out at night, the crew will stay a few hundred metres away in a tent, or they’ll leave me a little camera and go back to base camp nearby. Other times, I’ll stay with them in the base camp.

The camera guys have become real mates. It feels like an extension of what I had in the army, like a four-man SAS team. But, instead of bad guys chasing us, we’ve now got bad animals trying to eat us.”

THE BEAR NECESSITIESBear Grylls found his hardcore image softened in July 2007, when The Sunday Times reported that he had been staying in a Californian lodge instead of roughing it in the wild – and that a scene in which he tried to lasso ‘wild mustangs’ had been choreographed using tamed gee-gees from a trekking station.

The Daily Mail labelled him “the adventure equivalent of a cheese souffl e – a lot of hot air and not much substance”. But none other than the legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes jumped to his defence, claiming that special forces membership requires “distinctly non-cheese-souffl e people”.

Critics panned him, fans said he still does all the stuff anyway, so what’s the problem? The result is that the show now runs with a disclaimer that says the crew “receive support” when necessary and “situations are presented to Bear” so he can demonstrate survival techniques. Channel 4 emphasise: “Born Survivor is not an observational documentary series, but a ‘how-to’ guide to basic survival techniques.”

Was Bear embarrassed? “It wasn’t nice, but we were the number one show in America and you’re going to get the odd torpedo,” he tells Sport. “You either give up or keep doing your job. Now, we’re just a lot more transparent, but at the end of the day the show is explaining how to survive – and, along the way, it’s a rip-roaring adventure.”

Stars in Escape to the Legion on Channel 4, demonstrating what it takes to join the French Foreign Legion in Africa.

2005Leads fi rst team to cross the frozen north Atlantic Arctic Ocean in a rigid infl atable boat.

2003Bear and Shara’s fi rst son, Jesse, is born.

June 2003Grylls performs his fi rst television role in an ad for Sure For Men.

2002Marries Shara Cannings Knight – and, in the same year, leads the fi rst circumnavigation of the UK on jetskis.

2000Aged 23, enters the Guinness World Records as the youngest Briton to scale Mount Everest (29,029ft), reaching the summit at 7.22am.

May 26 1998

Bear wasn’t happy when the photographer said Ray

Mears could do better

Stars in Escape to the Legion on Channel to the Legion on Channel to the Legion4, demonstrating what it takes to join the French Foreign Legion in Africa.

2005Leads fi rst team to cross the frozen north Atlantic Arctic Ocean in a rigid infl atable boat.

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Bear after being stung by a swarm of bees

– it ain’t make-up

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For an exclusive web Q&A with Bear, and

clips from the new series of Born Survivor,

visit WWW.SPORT-MAGAZINE.CO.UK

BEAR GRYLLS THE STORY SO FAR...

Edward Michael Grylls is born in Bembridge, Isle of Wight, and lives in a cottage with mum, dad (the late ex-Marine and Conservative MP Sir Michael Grylls) and older sister Lara, who nicknames him ‘Bear’.

June 7 1974Following his time at Ludgrove School, Bear attends Eton College.

1987-1992

THE BRIEFING WAS NOT TO GO FOR ANY ALLIGATOR OVER FIVE FOOT – BUT THEN I SAW A SIX-FOOT ONE AND THOUGHT: ‘WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT?’

Bear, your TV show is, of course, all about survival. So where did you learn all your fancy skills?“I did masses of this growing up with my dad – we climbed and went camping. I didn’t like being cold, wet and scared up mountains, but it was my way of hanging out with him. Then I joined the army, and my job was to teach combat survival and do climbing and skydiving. Much of it is common sense: this is what I’ve got, some zips and this jumper; and this is what nature has given me, some plants or wood. How can I combine it together to

make one and one equal seven? Necessity is the mother of all invention. If you really need to climb a tree and all you’ve got are your shoelaces, you’ll fi nd a way to do it.”

You can kill a snake and make a bed out of a dead deer. What are you not very good at?“The more I do, the more I realise I don’t know. When I started, I was so wet behind the ears. I wish I had a better brain! If you look closely at the programmes, you’ll notice that, when I’m talking about names, that’s always done in voiceovers. I know that if you cut that tree like this, you will get this milky sap – and, so long as it tastes sweet, that sap is going to heal a cut. But I can’t ever remember the names.”

You broke your back in a terrible accident in Africa back in 1996, when your parachute split at 16,000 feet. After spending 18 months in rehab, how did you hop back on the horse? “Sometimes it takes a real knock in life to make you realise what is important. That was a really dark time. The doctors didn’t know if

I was going to be able to walk properly again. I look back now and wonder if I’d have ever done all these other things if that hadn’t happened, because it taught me to fi ght. I failed my SAS selection the fi rst time; I had spent a year of my life training every day and gone through blood, sweat and tears to do it. The next time, 180 started, four people passed and both me and my best buddy were there. Life doesn’t reward the brilliant – it rewards those who persevere.”

Approximately how many injuries, scars, tropical diseases and cuts have you sustained in your life?“It reads like a medical report, from dislocated vertebrae, knees and hips to broken fi ngers and toes and dislocated shoulders and cuts. But I don’t try to get them! I’ve got a new book out which starts with the quote ‘life should not be...’ Er, what was it? ‘Life should not be a journey with the sole intention of arriving in a well-preserved, well-kept body. Rather, you should aim to skid in sideways, body covered

After 18 months in rehab at Headley Court, Grylls becomes the youngest Briton to climb Mount Ama Dablam (22,349ft) in the Himalayas.

1997Aged 21, breaks his T8, T10 and T12 vertebrae in a freefall parachuting accident in Africa.

1996Serves with British TA SAS, trained in unarmed combat, desert and winter warfare, combat survival, medics, signals, parachuting, evasive driving, climbing and explosives.

1994-97

Bear tackling the Sahara – you’d think there’d be only one winner, but no

time at Ludgrove

make you realise what is important. That was a really dark time. The doctors didn’t know if

British TA SAS, trained in unarmed combat, desert and winter warfare, combat survival, medics, signals, parachuting, evasive driving, climbing and explosives.

1994-97

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spear and I went down above it and – whack! – I got it absolutely bang on. But it was aiming its tail up, and I came out with this thing swinging around. That was hairy.”

You obviously have safety guys with you, but what’s the closest you’ve come to snuffi ng it in the show?“Er… I jumped on top of a 16ft man-eating tiger shark once. I was on my raft and I’d been fi lming sandbar sharks, which are harmless, but as I jumped in the water this big 16ft tiger shark went straight under the raft. I had one of those split-second moments; I went bash and hit it, and it shot away. It was just circling the raft. I felt sick. It was terrifying.”

Is it tough to do all this stuff when you have a wife and two little boys back home?“Everything has a price. The price is that you’re away a lot, living all over the place and doing dangerous climbs and being near dangerous animals. I defi nitely have an awareness that I need to get it right.”

What do you crave when you get home after fi lming an episode? A nice solid Weetabix?“Good proper food, a nice bed, a nice sit on the loo. I love hanging out with my kids. I take time to train for a disciplined couple of hours a day – run, circuit train, yoga, practise skills like paragliding or climbing – but the rest of the time I’m very cosy. I don’t go to any of these smart parties in London. My life is much less spectacular than you think.”

MARK BAILEY

The new six-part series of Born Survivor: Bear Grylls starts on the Discovery Channel on September 23 and Channel 4 on October 5. A new book, Bear Grylls: Great Outdoor Adventures, is published by Channel 4 Books and out soon. The Bear Grylls clothing range is available at www.craghoppers.com

New six-part series of Born Survivor: Bear Grylls starts on the Discovery Channel. The show will be screened to over a billion people in 150 countries.

September 23 2008Completes the longest ever indoor freefall by staying in the Airkix wind tunnel for 97 minutes – the equivalent of falling non-stop for 242 miles.

July 18 2008

BEAR IS DISCUSSING SURVIVAL TECHNIQUES IN EXTREME AND DELIBERATELY STUPID SCENARIOS. PLEASE DO NOT CLIMB THE LONDON EYE, MURDER POOCHES OR SLEEP IN A BUSH. GO HOME TO YOUR WIFE, SIR.

Bear, we’re walking down Oxford Street on our way to buy some new pants when a giant, savage poodle tries to maul us to death. What should we do to survive?“I was always told in my army days to just whip your shirt off, wrap it round your arm to protect it, offer it that, let it go for it and then jam your fi ngers together straight into both eyes. Then squeeze together into its brain, hold it there, and it will release you and die. You’re safe.”

We’re ice skating on the frozen Serpentine and then – crack! – the ice breaks and we plunge into the freezing water. We don’t want to die wearing ice skates, so what should we do?“The fi rst thing is don’t panic. You can die from the gasp refl ex when the shock makes you breathe water into your lungs, so you need to control your panic. Turn around and look at where you fell in – you know the ice is good to get out from. Break the ice, then ease your weight up and wriggle like a seal, kicking hard and spreading your weight. When you get out you need to get warm, so take your clothes off and start doing press-ups.”

We’re on the London Eye and it’s really hot – bloody global warming – but it gets stuck, the sun is baking through the capsule and the air conditioning is screwed. How do we stay cool? “Have you got a window in there? (“Not sure,” we say.) Well, that’s very hard. Dehydration is a real killer. I’ve been in deserts where it’s so hot they say that, if you don’t have any water or survival skills, you’re dead in three hours. Smash a window, get a bit of airfl ow through and, if nobody is ever going to get you, you’re going to have to climb down. I’ve often thought about climbing the London Eye. I’ve examined it – it looks quite straightforward.”

A bear has escaped from the zoo and is standing in our kitchen with its nose in a jar of peanut butter. We’re angry, but scared. What do we do so your namesake doesn’t eat us?“Even large animals fear humans. They will only attack as a last resort, so your best chance is to avoid eye contact and adopt a submissive posture. Back away slowly and turn side-on, asa full-frontal posture could be seen as aggressive. Never run; the bear will think you’re prey and charge. If attacked, throw yourself to the ground, protect your neck and throat and play dead. If you have a knife, stab at the eyes and mouth.”

It’s been one hell of a day Bear, so we get hammered at the Below Zero Ice Bar and pass out behind a seat. When we wake up, we’ve been accidentally locked in. How do we stay warm?“You can do like they did on that famous Ernest Shackleton expedition. Stranded on an icefl oe, Shackleton knew that if he stopped moving he would die – so he marched around the icefl oe all night. The real discipline when you’re cold is to keep pumping your fi ngers and toes – so make sure you keep moving all the time.”

It’s now nighttime, and we realise we’ve lost our keys, our wallet, our phone and, crucially, our Oyster card. Where do we seek shelter in London? “Newspapers are very good. Grab yourself some newspapers, fi nd a park and get under a bush. You need to get protection from the weather; the biggest killer is the wind, so get out of the wind, get a bit of cardboard to keep the rainwater off you and huddle up in a ball. If you’re with someone else, hold each other real tight. Or you could just go to the nearest pub.”

URBANSURVIVAL

WITH BEAR GRYLLS!

‘You’re alright mate, it’s defi nitely water’

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WARNING!

WARNING!

WARNING!

A bear has escaped from the zoo and is standing in our kitchen with its nose in a jar of

to avoid eye contact and adopt a submissive posture. Back away slowly and turn side-on, as

WARNING!

WARNING!

WARNING!

London is a dangerous place but, with Bear’s help, you can survive the urban jungle

‘You’re alright mate, it’s defi nitely water’‘You’re alright mate, it’s defi nitely water’

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» »Bear’s TV

series comes under fire after reports that he was staying in a California motel instead of roughing it. The show promises to be more ‘transparent’ in future.

July 22 2007

So I was hanging off the cliff with one hand, pooing into free air – and he was filming me.”

Harsh. What is the worst thing you’ve ever eaten?“I threw up in the Sahara after eating a raw goat’s testicle.”

Presumably it was what was inside the said testicle that got you?“I’ll tell you what’s inside! It melts, like a massive scallop the size of a cricket ball – and, as soon as it hits your mouth, it melts into a mouthful of sperm! Cold goat’s sperm!”

Don’t you ever just think: ‘No way, I’d rather die than eat that?’“Well, I almost did with that grub in Zambia. I had just eaten a smaller grub when I lifted up the log and saw this gross thing. I had this flash moment of thinking: ‘Shall I just quietly walk on?’ But I just had to, because it was a

monster! But, like running marathons and climbing mountains, pain never lasts forever. Afterwards, you can laugh about it.”

Do they all taste like chicken?“No, that’s a load of rubbish. I wish they would. How nice! I find that grubs and scorpions have a nasty habit of always crapping as they go down my throat – it’s a last act of defiance.”

Bear, let’s be straight here – you’ve drunk your own piss. How on earth do you get the bottle to your lips?“I was thirsty! But it gets worse. In this series in Mexico, I get whacked by a load of bees and my face is all swollen up. There was a big snake I had to try and kill, but I couldn’t see very well because my eyes were so swollen. I got it, skinned it, ate it, peed inside the skin and tied it up and used it as a flask. The next day, I was drinking my pee out of a rotting dead snake. That was a low point.”

When was the last time you were scared?“We were in Yukon, Canada, in a gold mine that was collapsing, and I made three torches out of birch bark and old hessian sacking. I figured they had about half an hour of lifetime, but I got quite carried away, going deeper and deeper, and suddenly your foot would go through a shaft. Then I would get a rope and lower myself down to another shaft, and it was intoxicating. Suddenly there wasn’t enough oxygen and the torch went out, so I had to rely on the infra red on the camera. I did have quite a claustrophobic, scared moment then.”

And when was the last time you were in trouble with a massive, scary animal?“Well, I almost got whacked by a stingray the other day. I knew that was what had killed Steve Irwin and I thought: ‘Shall I go for it?’ I was spear-fishing and at first it seemed silly, tempting fate. But then I thought: ‘Oh, it would be good, let’s just give it a little go.’ I had this

I CAUGHT A SNAKE, SKINNED IT, ATE IT, PEED INSIDE THE SKIN AND USED IT AS A FLASK – THE NEXT DAY, I WAS DRINKING PISS OUT OF ITS ROTTING BODY

IT’S ON T VDISCOVERY CHANNELBear Grylls: Born SurvivorFrom September 23

Grylls becomes the first man to fly a powered paraglider higher than Mount Everest, reaching around 29,500ft. “I could see the curvature of the earth,” he says.

May 14 2007The first series of Born Survivor: Bear Grylls airs on Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel; it features Bear parachuting into inhospitable locations and showing how to survive.

2007Bear’s second son, Marmaduke, is born. His family homes include a 100-year-old barge moored on the Thames and an island off the coast of Wales.

April 2006Breaks record for highest open-air dinner party, scoffing a three-course meal while dangling under a hot air balloon at 25,000ft.

2005

And, just to clarify again, this is a waterfall – not

some huge beast’s slash

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