Bear Grylls is my hero

July 15th, 2007 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) |

Lately I’ve been watching lots of Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. The premise of the show is that a man named Bear Grylls is dropped in some remote wilderness (usually he sky dives) with only a water bottle, a knife, and a flint, and he has to find his way back to civilization.

Some of the places he’s been dropped in season two include Ecuador, the Australian Outback, Iceland, and the Everglades. In the shows that I have seen, Bear has done some pretty insane things, including: successfully hand-catching a salmon and biting into it while it was still alive; drinking his own pee for the sake of hydration; eating spiders and grubs; and peeing on his shirt and using it as a headdress to keep cool in the desert.

But Bear Grylls is not just some John Doe that the Discovery Channel hired for this television series. He served in the British Special Air Service (SAS) for several years, in which he recalls that he was “highly trained in unarmed combat, desert and winter warfare, combat survival, medics, parachuting, signals, evasive driving, climbing and explosives.” At the age of 23, he became the youngest Briton to summit Mt. Everest, which he did only two years after he broke his back in three places in a parachuting accident. He has also broken several other world records, some of which he has done for charity. He’s a straight up badass.

In response to a fan question about what he always takes with him on his expeditions, Bear replies:

Flint and striker, so I can light a fire however tough it gets — lifts my spirit always and has often saved my bacon! My Christian faith: high mountains and my time in the military taught me that it takes a proud man to say he needs nothing, and I need my faith. And, finally, a laminated picture of my family tucked inside my shoe.

In addition, he’s written several books, has his own “Bear Grylls” knife, and is an international motivational speaker.

I officially have a man crush.