Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls is a British adventurer, writer, television presenter and businessman.
55 Facts About Bear Grylls
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Bear Grylls first drew attention after embarking on a number of adventures, and then became widely known for his television series Man vs Wild.
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In July 2009, Grylls was appointed as The Scout Association's youngest-ever Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories at age 35, a post he has held for a second term since 2015.
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Bear Grylls grew up in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland, until the age of four, when his family moved to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.
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Bear Grylls is the son of Conservative politician Sir Michael Grylls and his wife Sarah "Sally".
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Bear Grylls used to be a vegan but now consumes a diet predominant in animal-based foods, fruits and honey.
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Bear Grylls was educated at Eaton House, Ludgrove School and Eton College, where he helped start its first mountaineering club.
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Bear Grylls studied Spanish and German at the University of the West of England, Bristol and at Birkbeck College, where he graduated with a 2:2 bachelor's degree, obtained part-time, in Hispanic studies in 2002.
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In 2004, Bear Grylls was awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant commander in the Royal Naval Reserve.
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On 16 May 1998, Bear Grylls achieved his childhood dream of climbing to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, 18 months after breaking three vertebrae in a parachuting accident.
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In 2000, Bear Grylls led the team to circumnavigate the British Isles on jet skis, taking about 30 days, to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
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Bear Grylls rowed naked in a homemade bathtub along the Thames to raise funds for a friend who lost his legs in a climbing accident.
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In 2005, alongside the balloonist and mountaineer David Hempleman-Adams and Lieutenant Commander Alan Veal, leader of the Royal Navy Freefall Parachute Display Team, Bear Grylls created a world record for the highest open-air formal dinner party, which they did under a hot-air balloon at 7,600 metres, dressed in full mess dress and oxygen masks.
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In 2007, Bear Grylls embarked on a record-setting Parajet paramotor in Himalayas near Mount Everest.
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Bear Grylls took off from 4,400 metres, 8 miles south of the mountain.
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Bear Grylls endured dangerously low oxygen levels and eventually reached 9,000 metres, almost 3,000 metres higher than the previous record of 6,102 metres.
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In 2008, Bear Grylls led a team of four to climb one of the most remote unclimbed peaks in the world in Antarctica, to raise funds for children's charity Global Angels and promote the use of alternative energies.
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However, the expedition was cut short after Bear Grylls suffered a broken shoulder while kite skiing across a stretch of ice.
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In September 2010, Bear Grylls led a team of five to take an ice-breaking rigid-inflatable boat through 5,700 nautical miles of the ice-strewn Northwest Passage.
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Bear Grylls's third book Born Survivor: Bear Grylls was written to accompany the TV series of the same name.
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Bear Grylls wrote an extreme guide to outdoor pursuits, titled Bear Grylls Outdoor Adventures.
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In 2011, Bear Grylls released his autobiography, Mud, Sweat and Tears: The Autobiography, followed by A Survival Guide for Life in late 2012 and True Grit in 2013.
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Bear Grylls wrote the Mission Survival series of children's adventure survival books titled: Mission Survival: Gold of the Gods, Mission Survival: Way of the Wolf, Mission Survival: Sands of the Scorpion, Mission Survival: Tracks of the Tiger and Mission Survival: Claws of the Crocodile.
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Bear Grylls has written two thriller novels based around his character Will Jaeger; Ghost Flight released in 2015 and Burning Angels in 2016.
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In 2019, Bear Grylls published a Christian devotional titled Soul Fuel.
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In October 2021, Bear Grylls released his second autobiography, Never Give Up; covering some of his most memorable events and adventures.
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In 2022, Bear Grylls published Mind Fuel: Simple Ways to Build Mental Resilience Every Day.
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Bear Grylls was used by the UK Ministry of Defence to head the Army's anti-drugs TV campaign, and featured in the first ever major advertising campaign for Harrods.
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Bear Grylls recorded two advertisements for Post's Trail Mix Crunch Cereal, which aired in the US from January 2009.
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Bear Grylls appeared as a "distinguished instructor" in Dos Equis' Most Interesting Academy in a webisode named "Survival in the Modern Era".
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Bear Grylls appeared in a five-part web series that demonstrates urban survival techniques and features Grylls going from bush to bash.
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Bear Grylls has marketed the Alpha Course, a course on the basics of the Christian faith.
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Bear Grylls filmed a four-part TV show in 2005, called Escape to the Legion, which followed Bear Grylls and eleven other "recruits" as they took part in a shortened re-creation of the French Foreign Legion's basic desert training in the Sahara.
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The series features Bear Grylls dropped into inhospitable places, showing viewers how to survive.
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Bear Grylls subsequently apologized to viewers who might have felt misled.
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In 2010, Bear Grylls came out with a new project titled Worst-Case Scenario which aired on Discovery in the US.
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Each special featured Bear Grylls taking either Jonathan Ross or Miranda Hart on short two-day adventures; Ross to rainforest in the Canary Islands, Hart to the Swiss Alps.
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In Bear Grylls: Escape from Hell, he reveals the true life stories of ordinary people trapped in extraordinary situations of survival.
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Bear Grylls presented The Island with Bear Grylls, first shown on Channel 4 on 5 May 2014.
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In 2015, he began presenting the six-part ITV series Bear Grylls: Mission Survive which features eight celebrities on a twelve-day survival mission.
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In summer 2015, China's Dragon TV ordered a Bear Grylls-fronted adventure series titled Survivor Games.
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Later, Bear Grylls went on to release an interactive series on streaming service Netflix.
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Bear Grylls presented the revival of the Eco-Challenge series, which is titled World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji.
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Bear Grylls is an ambassador for The Prince's Trust, an organisation which provides training, financial, and practical support to young people in the United Kingdom.
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Bear Grylls' held the highest ever dinner party at 7,600 metres in aid of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, and launched the 50th anniversary of the Awards.
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In 2011, Bear Grylls was in New Zealand during the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
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Bear Grylls is an ambassador for Care for Children, an organisation that partners with governments in Asia to help create a positive alternative to institutional care through local family-based care for disadvantaged children.
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Bear Grylls said he spoke "from the heart" in backing "Remain" in the 2016 referendum.
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Bear Grylls was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to young people, the media and charity.
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Bear Grylls has long been a supporter of Scouting around the world often visiting Scout groups on his filming missions and appeared at the 24th World Scout Jamboree in his role as Chief Ambassador.
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On 17 May 2009, The Scout Association announced Bear Grylls would be appointed Chief Scout following the end of Peter Duncan's five-year term in July 2009.
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Bear Grylls was officially made Chief Scout at Gilwell 24 on 11 July 2009 in a handover event featuring Peter Duncan in front of a crowd of over 3,000 Explorer Scouts.
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Bear Grylls is the tenth person to hold the position and the youngest Chief Scout since the role was created for Robert Baden-Powell in 1920.
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On 9 April 2015, The Scout Association announced that Bear Grylls would continue as Chief Scout until 2018.
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On 29 March 2023, Bear Grylls has become an ambassador for the UNITED24 platform.