Weird Things Everyone Ignores About Bear Grylls

Let's get this straight: If you were ever stuck in a jam — say, marooned on a desert island or trapped on top of a mountain during a hurricane — there are few people you would prefer to have with you than Bear Grylls. The British survivalist was a martial arts obsessive as a child and later joined the British Army. Serving in the Special Air Service (SAS), an elite arm of the Army, its troops are known for their incredible bravery and wide array of specialist skills. After leaving the Army, Grylls began sharing his knowledge with the world. As the star of the Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild" series and several other shows in the same vein, he has traveled the world and shown audiences how to survive against the odds in some of the most inhospitable environments on the planet.

He has been awarded a prestigious Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the British Royal Family and has made a fortune from his content. But while his survival skills and ability to transmit them to mass audiences have never been in question, there are some strange details about Grylls that emerge if you scratch under the surface. From owning a private island to baptizing a controversial figure, here's what we found.

When Bear Grylls joined the 21 SAS Regiment, formerly the Artist's Rifles, he became part of a historic military legacy stretching all the way back to the Second Boer War, a colonial conflict the British fought in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century. And Grylls' own family is similarly historic: Three generations prior to him served in the military. His father was in the Royal Marines, while his grandfather was a decorated brigadier. But despite their history, the Grylls family has also faced controversies, primarily through Bear's father, Sir Michael Grylls.

After his spell in the military, Michael Grylls served in the British Parliament as a Conservative MP. However, as the opening paragraphs of his 2001 Guardian obituary show, his career was overshadowed by his involvement in the "cash for questions" scandal of 1996. He was shown to have lied to a committee on members' interests — a body that investigates potential corruption among British parliamentarians — about payments he had received from a Conservative lobbyist. Later, it was revealed that he was receiving a 10% commission from the lobbyist for directing business people to his firm. Other controversies include his support for South African apartheid and campaigning to stop the BBC from reporting on the side effects of pharmaceuticals — an industry he represented.

The TV shows Bear Grylls has fronted throughout his career have had incredible reach, gaining enormous audiences around the world. According to his official website, "Man vs. Wild" attracted around 1.2 billion viewers across the globe, his books have sold 20 million copies, and a show he filmed with Indian Prime Minister Modi is believed to have generated 3.6 billion impressions. Grylls is famous for performing dangerous, difficult, and stomach-churning stunts on camera, including skydiving, eating live snakes, and famously, drinking urine. Undoubtedly, his eye-popping authenticity has become his trademark and underpins the survivalist's lasting appeal.

However, as outlined by The New York Times, several reports have made clear that throughout his career, Grylls has overstated how authentic his adventures are. After all, he is making a TV show, and as with any production, there are safety measures in place. But the reported behind-the-scenes details of his survival show — including a stunt team and Grylls often staying in nearby hotels while filming — arguably rob his content of the sense of peril that first made it such a success.

At the very foot of Bear Grylls' official website, just after outlining the survivalist's family (he and his wife, Shara, and their three sons, Jesse, Marmaduke, and Huckleberry), his biography nonchalantly notes that they "live on a private island off the Welsh coast." Sorry, what? Living on a private island is many people's dream: One of the final signifiers of wealth and opulence, even more so than a luxury yacht or a private plane. Undoubtedly, Grylls has made a great deal of money from his work as a survivalist — Celebrity Net Worth estimates his value at around $25 million — but that doesn't exactly put him in the big leagues when it comes to wealthy celebrities.

The truth is, his private island isn't quite so glamorous as it first sounds. It's just 2,000 feet long and 650 feet wide, and the home is small — far from a mansion. Grylls bought it in 2001, before he was famous, for the comparatively tiny sum of £95,000 (around $123,000 today). Speaking to Wales Online, he revealed that he and his family only live on the island for part of the year. "We've made some amazing memories living there and spending time with the boys on the island over the years, and just being able to have that space to enjoy nature, has been really special," he said. "But people always think that we must have somewhere really nice inside to go and all these fancy things but it's not like that at all."

Starring in a series of survivalist TV shows demands the star produce new content on the regular, and, perhaps to avoid repeating himself, Grylls has occasionally been guilty of giving some terrible advice to his viewers. Some of the worst pieces of advice Bear Grylls has ever given us include the suggestion that eating raw meat from fresh game might be a safe option in a survival scenario. Actually, you would likely ingest parasites and bacteria that would make you seriously unwell. That's the last thing you need when you're already fighting for your life in a brutal hellscape.

Elsewhere, he told his viewers that running from a grizzly bear is a viable survival option (it probably isn't) and said you should remove leeches by hand — an action that could leave its vomit in your skin, eventually causing an infection. Even Grylls' trademark penchant for drinking his urine when in a pinch has come under scrutiny from other survivalists, who have noted that it contains toxins that the body will then attempt to dispel, exacerbating dehydration. Survival myths can, of course, kill, which has brought Grylls criticism over the years.

Off-screen, many of Bear Grylls' activities relate to his knowledge of survivalism. For example, in 2009, he was given the prestigious role of U.K. Chief Scout, a role he stayed in until 2024, when he was made Chief Ambassador to the World Scout Organization. But as he has made clear in interviews, there is another aspect of his life which, besides his family, is of even greater importance to him: His religion.

Grylls is a Christian, and has described his faith as the "backbone" of his life and the source of his strength in tough situations. "Faith is in your heart, knowing that you are not alone," he said on "The Diary of a CEO." "There's something bigger than us out there and therefore that power is for us and not against us and despite my doubts, I'm going to put my trust in that and try to have love at the center of all we do, and live empowered and go for things and not be driven by fear."

Grylls was baptized in the Jordan River, a historic site for baptisms in the Christian faith, in 2023, a natural culmination of his years of faith. However, he raised eyebrows the following year when he was present at the baptism of the British celebrity Russell Brand in London's River Thame. Brand had recently become an avowed Christian, and critics have questioned the legitimacy of his conversion considering he is currently estranged from the entertainment industry after being accused of sexual assault by several women. It goes without saying that it's not a good look for Grylls, who nevertheless described his involvement as a "privilege" to the Daily Mail.