Mud Sweat & Tears - Bear Grylls [115]
So I resisted TV quite heavily – even ironically spurning the offers of the original Man vs. Wild/Born Survivor: Bear Grylls’s producer, Rob MacIver, some three times, before finally agreeing to do a pilot show.
But what a dope I was.
Bear, didn’t you listen to your grandma when she wrote: ‘When the ball rolls your way grab it. We so rarely get a second chance. (Although miraculously, this does sometimes happen, too.)’?
But I just didn’t want to be pushed into TV, I wanted to keep focused on my strengths, and trust those skills.
My father always used to say that if you focus on doing your job well, then money will often follow. But chase the money and it has a habit of slipping through your fingers.
I always liked that.
But learning that I could do both things – TV, as well as my core skills – was a big lesson.
Maybe it would be possible to do programmes without having to be a smiley media person.
I wondered.
Grandma?
‘Indeed – when the ball rolls your way – grab it.’
CHAPTER 107
Sometimes, in the quiet moments, it is quite surreal to look back on all the madness and think: how on earth did all this happen?
I mean, the TV shows, Man vs. Wild/Born Survivor: Bear Grylls, have now become among the most-watched shows on the planet – reaching a global audience of almost 1.2 billion people in a hundred and eighty different countries. (I’ve read that BBC’s Top Gear reaches some three hundred and fifty million, to give you a perspective on this.)
The programme was nominated for an Emmy, has done three seasons for Channel 4 in the UK, and six seasons in the USA and around the world.
It has also become the number one cable show in all of North America.
The success of the show in the US has been reflected internationally, with some of the highest TV ratings in Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Spain and beyond.
It messes with your head a little.
I do, though, like the fact that the country I am least well-known in is the UK – it gives me breathing space, and a degree of normality where it matters.
It means that my family can just get on with the business of living, without too much hassle at home.
What it is like for us abroad is almost my family’s little secret.
It is because of the programmes’ global reach that I do, though, experience so many weird, disconcerting moments.
Like being in some far-flung small village in the tip end of the Borneo jungle, and finding that the little barefoot kids running around from wooden shack to wooden shack know exactly who I am.
Hardly a TV in sight.
Dan, one of our cameramen, says it never fails to make him smile, as I wander on blissfully unaware. But I remind myself that this monster is not of my doing – it is purely the power of television.
And there is so much of it that I struggle to understand.
One thing I am clear on, though, is why the show Man vs. Wild has been so successful.
I consider it is down to the magic three: good fortune, an amazing team and a willingness to risk it all.
My magic trio.
There is no doubt that good fortune and blessed timing have been at the heart of why the programme has worked.
All too often I meet extraordinarily talented people: whether they are world-class climbers, champion skydivers or survival-bushcraft gurus.
Invariably, they are more skilled than me – and, annoyingly, often better-looking and more muscled to boot!
And, if the truth be told, they could all probably do my job better than me, as well.
So how come I get to do it?
I got lucky.
I got given a privileged platform to express myself, make my mistakes, learn and improve.
In turn, as the seasons of the show have progressed, so has my confidence in what I do. That counts for a lot.
Along the way, though, the