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Wild child

Through the television series “Man Versus Wild” (on Discovery Channel), Bear Grylls has gained a reputation for daredevilry. He gets into situations most people cringe from.

With just a pen knife, he allows himself to be stranded in some of the most inhospitable parts of the world. The fact that the camera is trained on him does not make his adventures less real. He had a narrow escape recently. “Two weeks ago, I found myself on the back of a seven-foot alligator in the Louisiana swamp. To leave the waters alive, I had to make the best use of a pen knife made blunt by overuse. I managed to kill the alligator, but I should admit I was scared. I don’t allow fear to rule my mind, but use it to sharpen my ability to tackle difficult situations,” says Grylls. “Filming for a desert island show off the Indonesian coast, I was free diving down a coral reef. Seeing a stingray had me on the horns of a dilemma. ‘Should I get this stingray or bypass it?’ I could not help thinking Steve Irwin was killed by one. I dived down and speared it and it was my meal for the night.”

Grylls is gastronomically adventurous too and his list of exotic meals staggers the imagination. Grylls clarifies, “To be honest, I really don’t relish yak’s eyeballs or a goat’s testicles. But when you are faced with hunger and have few options, you have to swallow your prejudices. I am not like this at home. I subsist on normal food.”

Did Grylls attract the name ‘Bear’ because of his love of the wild? “I was christened Eddie, which became Teddy. And finally, it became Bear!”

With a father who was determined to make an adventurer of his son, Bear was born to do the kind of stuff he does. Does he see himself doing the same well into old age?

“I don’t know. I was into adventure much before television cameras came. I guess I would be doing the same much after they are gone.”

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