Russell chats to world-renowned adventurer Bear Grylls, whose extreme survival skills have helped him navigate harsh terrains on ‘Man Vs Wild’ and ‘The Island’. Now he's ‘Running Wild’ with his latest series on National Geographic. He talks about his new series, leadership, survival, hustling, faith and more.WATCH the Full Interview on RUMBLE: https://bit.ly/3PVhazw FIND OUT MORE ON BEAR GRYLLS:Running Wild: https://www.natgeotv.com/ Festival: https://gonewildfestival.comAdventure: https://www.beargryllsadventure.comJOIN OUR LOCALS COMMUNITY for early access to watch interviews, weekly meditations and behind-the-scenes meetings: https://russellbrand.locals.com/NEW MERCH! https://stuff.russellbrand.com/
Thanks for joining me today for Stay Free with Russell Brand, only on Rumble.
Of course, this initial period, we are on YouTube, but after the first 15 minutes or so, we exclusively switched to add the home of free speech, our mothership, Rumble, not so that we can propagate hate speech.
We've got no interest in that.
So that we can propagate free speech.
And today I am privileged to be speaking freely with a world-renowned adventurer, a great man, a survivor, a man who has taught himself and others how to overcome challenges, who knows about leadership, who knows about the military, who knows about extreme situations, who knows how to master the body and conquer the self.
And I'm going to be introducing him in just a moment.
You know who he is.
I know I'm trying to build it up because we've already posted on social media.
It's not like, who's it going to be?
Also, later in the show, in Here's The News, we're going to be looking at the digital dollar.
About, oh, you like cryptocurrencies now, do you?
Now that you can control them.
I thought Bitcoin was evil.
Now that we can control it, digital currencies are a good thing.
We're going to be investigating that and just how much power that grants the establishment the ability to shut down bank accounts, to control economies.
It's Extraordinary how fast this is moving.
Over 50% of the countries of the world are trialing and preparing for CBDC.
So I have to make sure I get that acronym right.
Now, it is my privilege to be able to introduce a man you will know from shows like Running Wild, Man vs. Wild.
His latest show is on National Geographic, and he's had me as a guest, so he's been pushed to the very limit.
It's Bear Grylls.
Hello, Bear.
Welcome.
Hey, Russell.
Pushed to the very limit.
It was a privilege.
Listen, I tell you, out of all the episodes and journeys I've done over the years, that one will stay with me to my dying day.
I loved it.
It's been a lovely friendship since.
Nice to be with you.
Thank you, Bear.
Thanks for joining us.
Even when you're on a Zoom call, you look like you're in an outrageously rugged situation.
You must be hanging off the edge of a cliff or dangling from a helicopter.
Thank you for joining us in an appropriately rugged environment.
Like, over the years, with some of my favourite guests, I've, like, really enjoyed watching the Obama episode.
I loved some of the early shows you did with British stars, like Jonathan Ross.
One of my favourites was Alex Harland, the free climber, and I know that was a Big one for you.
How do you deal with it when you have to survive with people that, uh, let's put it like... Like, when I was asked to come on your show, I thought, like, this is how I categorized it.
Like, some people did really, really well and, like, were like, oh my god, that person could actually survive in the wild.
Like, and then there are some people that you have to cosset a little bit and cotton wool and kid glove and mollycoddle.
Where do I fall?
On that scale, Bear, of like, you know, this is a person I can go into battle with, and this is a person I'm going to have to carry on my back in a knapsack.
You fall into both those categories.
I would go into battle with you any day, but there might be a few moments where I might have to carry you in the knapsack, as you call it.
I would say.
I think for me, the really fun part of running wild is that 99% of the time, the people I take away are wilderness rookies, so to speak.
They're totally out of their comfort zone.
Even the sort of alpha male adventure stars, even the guy like Zac Efron or Channing Tatum, somebody who's physical and fit and strong and loves that sort of thing.
Often though, They've never done stuff off the beaten path.
Even Zach, I remember him saying to me, I love hiking, love being out there doing this stuff, but we never really go left or go right from the trail.
I think Running Wild thrives on going left or right off the trail.
I would say 99% of the time, the people I take are rookies.
I think, though, The kind of fun for me is taking absolute real rookies, you know, and therefore I know you were sort of, you know, a little apprehensive before doing it, saying I've never done anything like this, this is really out of my comfort zone.
But in a way that's sort of, I love that, because it's honest, it's fun, you know where you're starting from.
There's a sort of vulnerability that always then excels on the show, because I think if somebody arrives Knowing too much.
You're kind of thinking they're, you know, wanting to prove themselves physically too much.
In a way, it takes a while to break through that.
Where if you take somebody like you, who just kind of arrives saying, Bear, I trust you, I'm all in, here we go.
It's kind of like, my heart sings at that, because it's like, here we go, this is going to be so fun.
Sure enough, by the end, look at you.
You were smashing it.
Your eyes were even brighter than ever and big smile on your face.
All of the crew at the end of our one with you said, what a lovely, lovely, honest, strong, kind, family-centered, determined, vulnerable as well.
You were so honest about so much of your journey.
What a cool guy.
You should be really proud of how you did and we all loved it.
Thank you so much, Bear.
I loved the experience myself.
What I can say is it's 100% authentic that you are 100% authentic, that you actually can do all those things, that it was exposed to me that I undeniably have challenges doing.
I did things for the first time on that trip with you, man.
Like the raptoring and the climbing.
There were moments in the show where I was actually genuinely terrified.
If you're watching us on YouTube, we'll be available for about 10 minutes.
Then I'm gonna start asking Bear about how we're gonna survive
the inevitable and eventual apocalypse.
However you approach that idea politically.
What's important to me about Bear and Bear's work, there are many things,
but one thing I really identify with, or excuse me, find appealing about Bear's work
is the ability to be independent in this world.
The ability to survive, the ability to look after yourself,
the ability to be at home in nature, the environments that we evolved to live in
that now seem so detached from us.
In a sense, one of the things that I learned from going on Running Wild is,
oh my God, I'm evolved to live like this, and I can't do it.
I mean, Bear, I told you at the time that straight after experiencing
some of my challenges climbing, I went to near where I live in High Wycombe,
and went to like the climbing wall there, and thought, I've got to be better at climbing.
I cannot be as bad at climbing as I was on Bear's show, because that's unacceptable.
So I subsequently went and learned climbing.
If you have a question for Bear, or any ideas for Bear, for example, if you're watching this,
you might want to tell us who you'd most like to see on Running Wild, or any other questions,
press the red button and join us on Locals.
That's where I'm watching the chat, and where we've got questions like this one from FCDT.
What wild antic have you done, Bear, that you would never do again?
So I'll just give you that question now, Bear.
As they say, adventure only really happens when things start to go wrong.
I've been in so many, Situations where things have gone wrong from parachute failures to hidden whitewater rapids, crevasses, avalanches, rockfalls, bitten by snakes, you name it.
I think, you know, if I had to pick one, what was the other one that I would never want to do again?
Like you'd never do it again, even though you deliberately did it.
Well, I think one of the early expeditions that people don't really know about, but I took a team of five of us in a rigid inflatable boat, essentially an inflatable boat with a little engine, and across 3,000 miles of the Arctic Ocean from Halifax, Nova Scotia, north across round Greenland, and eventually dropping out of Iceland and Scotland.
And we got caught in some, you know, this was, we got caught in horrendous storms, 500 miles offshore in the night.
Waves the size of houses crashing on top of us, icebergs everywhere and we were very lucky I think to come out of that one alive.
All of us were pretty shaken three weeks later and the sea is, well the wild is a humbling place but I think big mountains and the sea especially are incredibly humbling.
You know, I always remember this guy saying to me, Mother Nature's It's like your mother, you know, if you respect her, she'll treat you right.
If you disrespect her, she'll teach you a lesson you're never ever going to forget.
Mother Nature taught us a lesson that day that was, well, that month, but I'm very grateful to have got out of that one.
Still every year to this day, the guys I was with will send me a text on the day and the night of this worst storm, Force 9 Gale we had, you know, for You know, it lasts for about 48 hours and they sent me a text saying, this time, X number of years ago, we thought it was, it was game over.
And I don't know, I think kind of there's a, there's a bonding isn't there about going through scary situations together.
And there's an element of that always on Running Wild.
And I love that.
It's been the thing that's always been the appeal for me of the wild is the bonds you create with people in difficult and scary moments.
But that was one of them.
That's a beautiful example.
One of the things I reflect on continually in my own journey of personal evolution is how uprooted and detached we've become from nature and from our own power.
And when you speak about the bonds between people that experience that kind of adversity, It speaks to a kind of a tribal connection, a kind of mutual initiation, a sort of strength in the unity of knowing that nature is all-powerful, but that we are part of nature, that we can draw upon resources in ourselves.
One of the things that struck me during that experience, and I'm very glad to note that that experience was of, you know, confronting the gale and the oceans and the element was not as traumatic as being, as wearing traditional
Scottish dress, a kilt with me, and not having underpants, because believe me, I've got
some memories from that experience, Bear, that we'll be talking about, but we won't be talking
about that on YouTube, we'll wait till we're exclusively on Rumble, where we also have a clip
of my appearance on Running Wild, we'll show that, so if you're watching us on YouTube, join
us over on Rumble, and if you're watching us on Rumble, press the red button right now to
join us on the chat and pass on a question.
There's a question here from Sherman Tank, asking about your diet.
I understand, you know, I'm a vegan, you mostly eat meat, I understand, Bear, and I can certainly see some of the side effects of that when I was abseiling down beneath you and looking up your kilt.
Certainly seems that there are some benefits that I would like to explore.
But for now, I want to say that one of the things that struck me is that a lot of your crew were ex-service people, like the people that have been in the military, people that have been in the police force.
I feel people that have been in elite service positions.
I know that you're a former SAS.
Is that important to you to work with people that have had that kind of experience in the military, and particularly in elite forces?
And what is it that you find uniquely working with men and women that have that kind of service experience, Bear?
I trust that trust and those bonds, you know, and I don't take those for granted. And I
think one of the things I really missed after the military was that camaraderie. And I think
what we what I've really worked hard over the years to create is to build that team
back up to put that a team, so to speak, back together.
And we employed so many former guys that I served with and friends from the Royal Marines and also different, you know, service branches, but people who've always got a connection.
It might be one or two away, but people with, you know, all the wider team work with and trust and love.
And I think that That's always come before skills, you know, and same on expeditions.
We've always hired on character and people we like and trust before the skills.
The skills you can teach, loyalty and humility and kindness and selflessness, those sort of qualities are harder to teach.
And I think a lot of people talk a good game on them, but I think you develop a level of Connection and trust when you serve with people in whether it's the police or military or whatever that it's hard to recreate so my first port of call when we started the TV shows was to go to my best buddies and who I'd served with and we started small and we've grown from there but
Now having sort of done it for a while and it's kind of grown and I think one of the things I'm most proud of are those friendships that have endured.
The terrain has changed.
I mean our crew always say it's not bad guys chasing us, it's us dodging the bad animals.
We're not having incoming bullets, we're having Dodging the snakes and the crocodiles and the typhoons, but it's the same spirit, isn't it?
It's a different terrain, but the same spirit, which is you're going to work hard.
You've got to have each other's back.
You're going to have to dig deep.
You're going to have to trust each other with your lives most days, which is certainly true in our case.
But at the end of it, we get home, we get back to the family and we will laugh and we take the mick out of each other.
I don't know, that part is as important to me as the working hard in the moment bit.
I think when you start a job in the media, as you know, everyone's always very polite and nice.
I like the banter, I really do.
I really value that, those old friendships that can still laugh at ourselves.
It's the thing I'm most proud of on our show, the connections and friendships that have endured through so much and are still going.
I was really struck by the vibe of your crew and that it was run like a military operation at points.
And I feel like I have to candidly say that, because I talk about it all the time on Stay Free, I'm deeply, deeply cynical about establishment authority.
For example, the military-industrial complex and many of the private interests behind it.
Absolutely nothing but respect for people that have served in the military, that are willing to put a higher purpose in front of their own safety.
And the men and women that I worked with on your show are such a great example of that.
In particular, obviously yourself, but also Uh, Scott, who seems to have a Scotty there, who has a very particular role on your show.
It seems to be like that he's ensuring that there's safety.
I remember when I asked what his job was, everybody laughed, so there must be some sort of ongoing joke there.
But I feel like Scotty, who's got background in the military, background in the police force, he's such a laugh to be around.
Fantastic stories, not all of which are appropriate for broadcast, but all of which demonstrated the kind of camaraderie and good humour that you talk about.
And yeah, I felt that like that.
It's an important thing for me to make clear that, you know, I always will get whenever I get the opportunity.
So I really respect people that are willing to put themselves in the front of danger like that, because sometimes you have to iterate that that complexity so people don't think you're disrespectful
towards people that are willing to put their lives on the line, man. I wonder what you feel
about that, how to balance that kind of complexity.
Well, I love hearing that.
Those guys I work with are due so much respect.
They'll not only be best friends, but also we've been through so much together over the years, on and off TV.
They really are the unsung heroes.
When I say that, I don't pay lip service.
They work way harder than me.
They're way tougher than me.
Way more competent in so many ways, you know, they carry all the gear they do everything I do but backwards and And yeah, so for me best friends unsung heroes and I love hearing Hearing sort of guests really value that as well because I think often, you know, often guests sort of, you know, they don't know what to expect when they arrive on Running Wild.
Sometimes they go, wow, I really thought there'd be a hundred crew and it'd be sort of craft catering and it will be sort of well organized and then they turn up and it's sort of six of us and a coil of rope and a rough idea of where we're going but pretty rough.
But by the end, I often find the guests love that because it's sort of so, The opposite of what they've experienced in Hollywood, which is everything so controlled and so measured and every box is signed and signed off and every harness double checked by this.
And I think what I've learned over the years is that big numbers of people and a lot of box filling doesn't necessarily equal safety.
You know, safety comes down to competence, and experience, and trust, and a lack of ego in the big moments, and a familiarity working together, and a never-get-complacent spirit.
You know, those sort of things hold real currency and value in my world, where, you know, I'm putting superstars' lives on the line like yourself, you know, every week, and you've got to get it right every time.
So, we take this safety very seriously, but it's rooted in In the friendships, I think, first.
There were moments making Running Wild with Bear Grylls where I was genuinely and actually scared.
And I, in my life, often sought comfort from the fact that there is a camera present.
I think, if there's a camera present, I cannot die.
This is television.
I must be safe.
But there were points making this show with Bear where I was actually like, oh no, I'm having a genuine experience.
I'm not in control.
It must be visible on my face.
As a result of that, I have not watched back this footage yet.
We've got an exclusive clip to show.
If you're watching us on YouTube, we're going to be exclusively broadcasting now on Rumble.
So click the link in the description and join us.
Join us now over on Rumble.
In addition to this exclusive clip, I'm going to be asking Bear about the phenomena of doomsday
prepping, preparing for a post-civilization world.
A world that, what?
One of the things I kept thinking making the show is, Bear will be alright.
Bear and his family will be okay.
I've already seen Bear basically throwing his 16 year old kids out of airplanes and
stuff.
The Grylls family are going to be able to deal with it when the ATMs stop watching.
How are your family going to be?
Also, we asked in a poll earlier, how long before the apocalypse?
Five years?
Ten years?
Or are we going to be fine?
We'll be discussing all of that and much more as well as showing my clip over on Rumble.
So if you're watching this on YouTube, click that link in the description and join us there now.
See you in a second, you Awakening Wonders.
If you're watching this on Rumble, why don't you press the red button where you can ask questions for Bear, and I'll ask them after this clip.
Now, I've not watched this clip back yet because of...
Frankly, shyness, because I know I was scared a bunch of times, so I'm not even sure what this clip is.
This is an exclusive moment from my time with Bear on the inner Hebridean Isle.
Presumably I'm wearing a kilt.
We'll discuss what was going on underneath those kilts in a minute.
Let's have a look at the clip.
(exhales)
Looking good.
Okay, we're getting to the edge.
Keep going, keep going.
That's great.
I'm right with you here.
You're doing great.
Straight and wide.
Straight and wide and leaning back.
Yeah, solid.
Really good.
Keep them straight and keep them wide.
Beautiful.
Keep edging it out.
Keep leaning back.
Trust the system.
The more you lean back, the easier it will be.
There you go.
Keep leaning back.
Wide stance.
Have a little look under you now, you'll love it.
Yeah, love it!
There you go, smashing it.
Brilliant Russell, well done.
Total control, super calm, nice wide stance.
Trust the system.
Trust the system.
Oh God, it's very clipped.
Oh, the axe!
Were you winding me up?
Kept saying, like, the thing you were using to comfort me through that moment when I was raptoring, or descending, or abseiling, or whatever it's called.
You kept saying, trust the system.
Trust the system.
My main number one defining characteristic is I cannot trust the system.
I was so genuinely scared in that moment.
And what about the bit when you go, Bear, have a quick look down?
That's just cruelty!
Cruelty!
That's funny, no.
You're the wrong person to have said trust the system to.
I do, I do.
It's the only time those words have ever come out of your mouth.
You go, trust the system, I've got it.
The other thing that springs to mind is true pity and apologies to the crew who were underneath you on that cliff face, who'd rappelled down moments earlier.
I don't know if you can see on that clip, but Russell and me are wearing Scottish kilts, which traditionally is worn without underpants.
The crew definitely were.
I got texts for weeks afterwards going, still in therapy from that cliff face.
Still in therapy, still recovering.
Yeah, not only was it a kilt without underpants, but of course I was also wearing a harness.
So it's like I was so proud of it.
So it's like a harness around my naked genitalia.
It was like that moment after we got out of, because at the moment, like I don't want to spoil too much of it, but it's available now if you, I guess, do they release them simultaneously on Disney?
No, my episode's out in August, I think, but some of the other episodes are out now.
But we jumped in, I just want to make this clear in case an accidental shot snuck in.
The first thing we did was jumped in very, very cold water.
The second thing we did was take off our underpants and put a kilt on.
Like, even before we'd done anything dangerous, I was absolutely terrified.
But I do now feel much more confident surviving in the wild, and certainly my ego was reduced to its minimum size, along with everything else.
So, Bear, how, like, is that, and my episode's gonna be out on August the 6th, by the way.
Bear, how do you feel about, like, is it, do you ever consider, is it, how much of the forefront of your mind is it, the idea that you can survive in the wild?
I know it seems a slightly ridiculous question, but do you ever feel that that's something that might be actually necessary?
Is that the sort of thing you reflect upon, the fact that, oh, things may not always be like this, we may not always be cosseted by systems of comfort?
I do.
That's a really interesting topic conversation.
I've got lots on that.
All I say is before we get onto that, just to wrap up Running Wild with you, I look back and I think, I wonder actually what Russell learned from his time on the show.
One is how to tie a man's skirt, basically.
How not to get his testicles caught in the climbing harness, and how to get thrown out of a seaplane at 40 knots before it takes off again.
I'm not sure how relevant those three skills are to the modern apocalypse, but all I say is it's a start, isn't it?
It's a start.
Yeah, I now know how to be humiliated in front of ex-service people when I think my genitals have been shrunk to their absolute minimum capacity and now I've got to climb up a mountain.
I mean, there were just so many moments in that show where I felt like I've got no choice but to absolutely surrender.
I mean, obviously one of my key Spiritual principles that I've been taught is you must surrender, you must surrender, and on that shoe I feel like I've got no control, I don't know what I'm doing, I was genuinely frightened a number of times, and thank God that I have a religious and spiritual faith because I don't think I would have got through it without that, so thank the Lord for that.
But Bear, on this subject of survival you mentioned that it is something you've reflected upon, the idea that it might at some point be necessary to utilize these skills, Not for entertainment and to demonstrate the capacity that human beings have that is unexplored and unexpressed, but simply because we have to survive.
So what do you make about that?
Well, I think survival is in our DNA, isn't it?
It's been the key part of our evolution for hundreds of thousands of years.
And I think There's a disconnect and suddenly the rapid pace of change that humanity's gone through over the last couple hundred years and actually even just the last ten, twenty years where it's been just not like a ripple of change, it's been a tsunami.
And then to suddenly find yourself bereft of skills that have been passed down for so many generations.
You know, I think it's no surprise that there is a disconnect and an anxiety in people because it is in our DNA to be able to look after ourselves, to be able to look after our family, to know how to survive.
And obviously, in the modern world, survival takes many different You know, it looks different to how it looked 100 years ago, but I think the smart people blend both of it.
So you're not just, you know, a modern survivor in terms of technology, you know, but you've also got the skills to be able to, when things go wrong, and even when things don't go wrong, I meet so many men who come up to me and they go, Just teach me a knot so I can tie the roof rack.
Or, teach me one simple thing so I can navigate if I haven't got my phone.
You know, it's like, this isn't apocalypse stuff.
This is like, my phone does work, I just happen to be in an area outside cell reception,
so I still need to tie that roof rack, I need to know that knot, I need how to start a fire
because I haven't got any fire lighters or whatever.
These aren't apocalypse skills, these are like just everyday skills
that many men I find come up to me and feel bereft of.
And obviously it's not a man thing, but I think it's been traditionally something
that men want to feel that they can provide and protect.
And therefore I think it's hard when, if you're brought up in a way
where you have none of those things, whether you're a man or a woman,
if you're brought up in a way where you're taught no practical skills,
I think it leads to a place of quiet anxiety where you go, I can do my job.
But I'm a little bit embarrassed that I can't do the knot, or the navigating, or the fire, or whatever it is.
So I think smart survivors blend all of this.
We never lose touch with what's behind us, but we always keep our eye on where we're going in the future.
But it is interesting how you can't get rid of Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution in a generation, you know, why is it I can sit the most powerful people in the world, you know, the most, you know, biggest superstars or Hollywood actors or presidents or prime ministers sit down and teach them how to make a fire and they're happy for the first time in a long time to sit and not talk and just watch the fire and think and breathe and feel.
And stop.
And just, you know, why is that?
I mean, there's like, because it goes back so far.
It's deep in here.
Why does it light us up in a way that, you know, the blue light from a screen doesn't light us up?
Something's going on there.
And I think we lose that at our peril.
You know, we're not all going to have to go back to being You know, woodsman.
But you want to keep a connection with the land.
Keep a connection with the ground.
Keep a connection with risk.
Keep a connection with adventure.
You know, all of these things.
You don't need to climb Everest to be a risk-taking and adventure spirit.
These things are state of mind.
They're how we live every day.
How do we approach life?
How do we approach our job, our relationships, adventure?
It's a state of mind.
I try and live with that and always remember the past and keep moving forward.
That bear that you described of quiet anxiety, I sometimes feel that defines my life.
This understanding that we have become captured by systems of comfort, knowing that I don't know
how to capture or in the case of me as someone who doesn't eat meat, acquire and prepare food,
adequately prepare shelter, essentially survive. I think it's unnatural, in almost the most literal
sense. I feel that it's bearable.
Beyond emasculating, because I recognise that that's a word, oh no, it needn't be specific to gender in fact, it's disempowering.
It's disempowering to feel that you are reliant on technology, that you are reliant on pre-packaged food, that you're reliant on forms of medicine, that everything sometimes starts to feel disconnected.
That there's, I believe, a correlative between spiritual disconnection and Like not knowing that there is a sort of a deeper reality that we can access that can provide us comfort and a disconnection from nature.
You know, that when you're, like a lot of people, and let me know in the chat if you agree with this,
if your phone stops working, you feel like you don't know what to do anymore.
If you're lost and you can't use the map on your phone, you don't know what to do.
And I think it's very difficult to feel empowered in this world and present in this world
if you don't have those skills.
And when we live, as I believe we do, in a mental health epidemic,
where people are suffering from a great deal of anxiety, a great deal of depression,
where addiction's gone through the roof, particularly in the last few years,
where a lot of people have felt a lot of, a deep sense of loss of control.
One way of getting it back is through learning these skills.
And I know that you have programs to help kids that wouldn't have access to these skills,
help people with mental health challenges.
What are those programs and what kind of impact do you see when people get to grips with some of the skills
that you present them with, Bear?
(swoosh)
Well, we run what we call the Bear Grylls Survival Academy.
We run it all over the world for kids, for corporates, for families, all sorts of things.
But what I see is that the fundamental principle of these is that nature is our best healer.
And there's always going to be a disconnect when, you know, it's all great when everything works, you know, when that cell phone works.
And the same with the spiritual as well.
When everything's going great, It's all great but what happens when the cell phone doesn't work or when you do find yourself in life on that back foot and struggling a little bit you know then to me that is when adventure happens and it's when life gets interesting but you've got to have a place to go you've got to have some some skills to fall back on and in terms of faith I think it's the same you've got to have somewhere to go apart from just maybe yourself so we try and teach a lot of self
In terms of wilderness stuff, self-adventure skills, self-reliance, how can you do it if nobody's coming for you, if it's all gone wrong?
You know, because traditional survival was always quite boring.
Traditional survival was always like, if it's all gone wrong, sit down, do nothing, wait for rescue.
And that was always going to make quite a boring TV show, so I always liked it.
What happens when it's all gone wrong, but nobody's coming to look for you, and you've got nothing apart from A roll of gaffer tape, you know, a couple of coat hangers and a broken water bottle, you know, for me it then gets interesting.
So we try and teach the things that is about being resourceful in life and just stopping and thinking and being smart and, you know, all of this sort of spirit, the sort of spirit that so many people I think, lack because everything's always done for us or we're
always given these convenient things and the cell phone always works. And you know, resourceful
is just a muscle. It's a muscle.
You know, how do we train it? We use it. But if you never practice being resourceful...
You can't expect to be a brilliant MacGyver when that cell phone does work, or when you're lost with your family, or your car breaks down, or you're on their back foot.
You know, you have to practice these things.
So, our Survival Academy is very much the practical arm of that, and they do an amazing job, and I love that.
But I think it goes much further than that.
It's much more You know, we are mind, body, spirit and emotion, aren't we?
And I try and do stuff that speaks to all of that.
That's why I did a book called MindFuel, which is exactly that.
I did a book called SoulFuel, trying to provide spiritual stuff that actually helps people when they're on the back foot.
MindFuel is about when we're experiencing that anxiety, what can we do to help us end?
Always try and do things, even in Running Wild, that empower people.
Like you say, so you're not disempowered by life.
And all of the systems that you talk about, you're right in so many ways, because whether it's intentional or not, but so much of modern day life is out to disempower you and to get you to be inoperable.
Without them.
And it's easy to let happen.
And we're all guilty of that.
But it's at our own peril.
And we've got to, you know, yes, use things.
Yes, use convenience.
Yes, use all that stuff.
But keep Keep something in the back pocket in that arsenal.
Train yourself.
Be mentally resilient.
Be spiritually smart.
Know how to not just do the practical stuff, but have an adventurous spirit in life.
This is trying to give people back power rather than always just having The system, or whatever you call it, always taking power.
And I think a lot of modern life does do that.
I'm not saying it's always intentional, but I do think it is a byproduct of modern life.
And that covers everything that you champion and talk about so powerfully, from pharmaceutical to big government.
It's all the same stuff.
The reason I find you a great leader and a great teacher is because you are able to instill, in a very graceful way, important principles that are applicable.
When I went to that climbing wall in High Wycombe, having been on Running Wild and found myself falling short, there was a moment where, just on a climbing wall, where you know that you can't really die, you're in a managed environment, with a rope and stuff, with a guy at the bottom, And I was nearly at the top where it said, you know, when you reach this white grip, that's the finish.
And I actually got frightened, like, oh, I can't do this anymore.
And then I remembered, I think it's the title of one of your books, Never Give Up.
I almost saw your face, Never Give Up, like a lunchbox image of Bear Grylls.
I'm gonna get to the top of this climbing wall!
It was absolutely practical.
And I feel in my own life, like, I know how to hustle.
Like, I remember from, like, being 15, 16 years old, if I need to use the London Underground and I can't afford a ticket, I'm gonna get where I need to go.
If I don't have any money and I acquire chemical support because of my addictions, I'm gonna find a solution to those problems.
Like, hustle is urban survival.
You know, but I've always, like, you know, known that I'm coming from a place of vulnerability and that there's been a lot of fear in it.
And I recognise that.
What I found so appealing about being in that environment was, this is going to make me a better father.
Because I have so much distrust in the system.
And me and you have had very different journeys, obviously.
We're from, in a sense, even though we're both sort of English and we're a similar age, we've lived totally different lives.
But when I was there, I felt such a strong sense of affection and friendship, but identification as well.
I asked you once, What is leadership?
And you said it's just kindness, really.
It's just kindness.
I thought, this guy has a good perspective on stuff that is absolutely applicable, even when I come from a position of, if not cynicism, I'm optimistic about life, but real scepticism about the nature of power.
I was very I'm surprised and heartened by how much common ground, and even hearing you speak now about empowerment, because I do believe there are many conscious and unconscious systems of disempowerment at play, where the role of the individual is increasingly becoming, you are a consumer,
You are using this service.
You will do this.
This is what... No, you're not invited to have personal autonomy and authority in your life.
And whether it's like your... the survival skills that you talk about, the way that you talk about Christianity and faith, or the health hacks that you talk about, I think you find... you provide so many useful tools.
I want to offer you my respect publicly for that, mate.
Could you tell us a little bit about, like, these health hacks we talked about before?
Because these are the kind of things that our Stay Free viewers love.
Well, yeah, that's the stuff.
First of all, I'll just reply to some of the other stuff you said, because leadership's so interesting, isn't it, at the moment in the world, you know?
The more I see of so many leaders, it's always like, look at me.
It's always about, look at me.
It's almost like, look at me.
That's actually the subliminal message.
And my experience from great leaders, from the military beyond, Great leadership is the opposite.
Great leadership is, look at you.
Look at what you can do.
Look at you.
It's always building other people up.
And I think kindness is a part of that, but there's a strength as well of great leadership, of taking it away from yourself and building other people up.
It's always powerful when you see and you talk about the never give up.
I remember you texting me when you were on that climbing wall and you said that.
My family would roll their eyes going, oh Papa, you're always banging on about never give up and everything's never give up.
But you know what?
I don't apologize for it ever.
It's the number one thing, because all of these skills, everything we've been talking about, all the Survival Academy stuff, these skills you can learn.
You can learn them.
They're just stuff.
They're skills.
I mean, look at me.
Any old idiot can learn these skills.
The key to survival It's that hustle you talked about, it's that resilience, that spirit, has many different names.
You know, fire inside, dogged determination, relentless like, never say die until you're dead, as Baden Powell said.
You know, that is, that never give up spirit is what conquers everything.
You know, that's a thing to pass on and to share with people and it's what you're about as well.
So, you know, keep doing your stuff because you're right in that zone.
To answer your question about health, it comes back to this again about you've got to educate yourself because life doesn't You know, school doesn't educate people brilliantly, life does, but it educates generally through failure, and I've been there so often, I've failed at so many things, and I've got so many things wrong, you know, and I've learned so many of these health things, I think, through experimenting and failing, but
I think you and me are pretty aligned.
Number one for me is let nature heal you.
You know, nature wants to heal you.
If you can just, if we can get out of the way, you know, just get out of the way of the medication maybe for a second and let nature.
I mean, listen, there is a place for medication.
I'm not saying nobody should have a day.
There is a place, as you know, but nature is always going to do it best.
And simple things for me I've learned.
And then, by the way, I'm mindful in saying what I'm about to say is This is for me, this is what's worked for me.
It's what's worked from experience for me.
I'm not, I'm very cautious of not telling everyone else how to live their lives.
People have to find this stuff out for themselves.
But what I have found is that I need to be outside for my, not just my physical health, but also my mental health.
I need to have that fresh air.
I need to have that sun on my face every day.
I need to take my shoes off.
And be barefoot as much as I can in a world that's always trying to separate me from the ground.
I need to be physical.
I need to physically lift weights every day and do pull-ups.
I need resistance training every day.
It doesn't have to go crazy, but I need that as I get older.
I need to get cold.
I know this is something you know.
You do it every day.
We've spoken about this.
You know, none of these things are rocket science, are they?
It's like they're all natural things.
And the thing is, not one of, not one of these things on their own is going to heal you.
But once they mount up, you know, 10, 15, 20 of these little things of like, even if it's just like first thing in the day, not being on your phone in bed, but just, just get out and get moving, get moving.
Movement's so important.
You know, if you start putting enough of these things together, the result It's a strong, healthy life.
And as a father, and you as a father, and as my role as Chief Scout to 57 million Scouts around the world, to both of us having a presence on TV, you know, you got to try and, you try, especially with parenting, you do it by example, don't you?
It's the most powerful thing.
People go, how can you be a good dad?
It's like example, example, example, you know?
So, I don't apologize to my kids for getting out in the morning, getting moving, getting cold, getting the shoes off, getting in the sun, and telling them at school, never give up, be kind, be brave in the big moments, never give up, but it's not about the grades.
The academics I don't care about so much.
I care about your friendships.
You know, none of this is taught at school.
And then you wonder why people are I love that stuff.
I love the stuff about getting cold.
I love the stuff about getting in touch with nature.
I like the fact that your approach to nature is a very masculine and active one.
Not that there aren't numerous ways to attach to nature.
I've just, of course, come back from Community Festival, where there was Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where Wim Hof was there running cold baths, Hiron Gracie and my teacher Chris.
Lots of what you might traditionally describe as masculine activity, as well as what are known as feminine activities.
And there's, of course, a place for all of that.
But what's plain is that our connection to nature is transcendent of limiting ideas around gender, Because that's how, as a species, we've evolved.
It's obvious that you should eat food that you've evolved alongside, whether or not you have a dietary commitment that's carnivorous, like you, you mad meat-eating brute, or like me, where I don't rely so much on those products.
And also being fully open and accepting that there are different ways of being human and that we can harmonise.
We don't have to be In conflict about that.
I love what you said about leadership and the vanity of leadership.
I know that I can fall into that myself sometimes, you know, as a performer, as an entertainer.
I can be, I can slip into, I just want to be looked at rather than it being about an example and trying my best to instill and inspire, instill good values and inspire good values in other people.
These things have taken a lot of work over the course of my life.
But I want to touch upon this.
Like, if you've got techniques for pull-ups, Bear, I need help because I've gotten myself into a pull-up competition with a Democrat presidential candidate and a Kennedy dynasty member, RFK, and he's really good at pull-ups.
I think he can do, like, 28 I'll look at the grip he's using there.
Have you got any?
We're at $33,000 and I've not put this on social media yet because I'm not trying to promote it too much.
We have to get to $100,000 before to trigger this potentially humiliating experience.
And before that happens, I wonder, oh, I think we've got a clip of you doing pull-ups.
Can we have a quick look at that?
I know we've only got limited time with you, Bear, so I'll just have a quick look at the We've got a branch here.
Ready to go.
And we're in.
doing pull-ups and then perhaps Bear you'll be kind enough to give me some tips for how
to beat RFK and raise some money. Let's have a look at Bear.
We've got a branch here, ready to go and we're in. Pull-ups.
And the great thing about training like this outside in nature is everything is instable.
Unstable.
It's not like a perfect pull-up bar.
It's awkward.
It's difficult.
Challenge is your grip as much as your muscles.
Oh, that was pretty impressive there.
I think they call that a commando grip.
I don't know, perhaps you can enlighten me about that technique and how I might deploy it, Bear.
Well, first of all, I'm mindful also not just falling into a category of sort of British machismo pull-up.
Listen, you know, We're all on a journey.
It doesn't matter how many pull-ups you can do.
It's about effort, isn't it?
And good for you.
And also, the other thing, more importantly, is vulnerability.
And what I love about you is that you don't mind being honest and being vulnerable.
And I think that matters more than any number of pull-ups because it's where vulnerability is where we
create connections and I never want to be bracketed as just like you know and you know it's just the
way I live we all live differently I think it's about finding what feels true to you and
following that and that is courage and you know the one thing I notice on Running Wild is that these
stars are top of their game and yet they arrive like you totally trusting and vulnerable and
out of their control and they don't know what's ahead and that for me is really
interesting because most people when they get successful sit inside their comfort zone and they they don't
want to do anything that makes them look vulnerable because they don't like that that fragility
so they'll create these barriers and walls around of machismo and it's like this is look at me
you know but actually That's not a comfort zone, it's a comfort pit.
It's somewhere we rot and decay and need to get out of fast.
And great people, the people at the top of their game, like the Running Wildfolk, like yourself, are willing to be vulnerable because it's that uncomfortable muscle again of like, wow, here we go, nerves, nerves, I'm climbing a cliff, I'm doing whatever, I'm trusting somebody else with my next few days and my brand and all of this sort of stuff.
And I admire that in you because vulnerable pull-ups are easy.
But vulnerability is harder.
And it's interesting, again, the final point on Running Wild is that often the stars that are most reluctant to do it are the big action stars.
And I won't name a few, but there have been certainly a lot over the years of going, my knee's a bit bad at the moment.
I need to really train for this.
I need nine weeks to train for it.
And I'm always like, you don't.
Tell me about the knee, because the knee is your humanity.
I'm so relieved that you as this superstar, strong guy, you've had some battles.
You're like all of us.
Scars and struggles and doubts and failures.
That's what I'm going to love about you.
So share it, and you do, and it's part of your brilliance.
Oh, Bear, that's so beautiful.
I heard recently from someone who heard you speak that you're speaking for a group of young people, and they told me that everything you spoke about was your failures in life, times that you'd failed, times you'd slipped up, things you'd done wrong.
And even though your name is literally Bear Grylls, so that does suggest a degree of masculinity
and a bit of grr, grr, like almost onomatopoeically in fact,
you still do always make it clear that it's a very inclusive offering that you give
that's open to anybody.
And I think that you are a living embodiment, in fact, of the best aspects of all of the institutions
that you've been a part of.
The scouts, the military, these are all beautiful institutions
that have great and high values.
And I'm really grateful to be able to speak to you about that and so much more.
And I'd keep you here all day, Bear, if it was up to me,
'cause I've always got questions for you, but I'm mindful of your time.
And I wanna thank you, Bear, for trusting us once more in this conversation.
And I'm very excited to watch in full.
I may wait till August the 6th when my episode of "Running Wild"
is on a Disney channel, I guess, 'cause it's part of National Geographic,
but there's loads and loads of other episodes.
I see that Zelensky's done one, Bradley Cooper's done one.
And did Benedict Cumberbatch do one?
I mean, some esteemed company there.
Yeah, but I don't think any of them I laughed as much as I did with you.
It was genuinely a real pleasure.
Although, the Benedict Cumberbatch, we did have a cooler extraction.
We had a nuclear sub turn up to pick us up, which was quite cool.
It came out of the water.
That aired last night on Nat Geo in the States, but the Royal Navy sent the sub to pick us up.
So I feel I slightly under-delivered with your one.
How did we get out of there?
I can't even remember.
What did we do?
Oh, it was a helicopter.
That was cool.
Well, I remember it.
How I'm going to frame this is Benedict Cumberbatch got a submarine.
I got shoved in a lake and I had to stare up your kilt for half an hour.
Seems to me like an unreasonable exchange.
You didn't need a nuclear sub.
You were just brilliant as you are.
Oh, thank you very much.
Yeah, I had enough torsos and fuselage to stare up that kilt.
Bear, thank you so much, mate.
Thanks for joining us.
Just before Bear goes, I'll let you know that Running Wild, my one, airs on National Geographic on August 5th, but there are other episodes up now.
And you can get tickets for Bear's Festival Gone Wild, which runs from 24th August to the 27th by going to gonewildfestival.com.
We'll post all of the links in the chat.
Thanks once again, Bear.
It's always a privilege to be in your company, sir.
