Bear Grylls interview - Telegraph It's the perfect place to learn about survival because its an incredibly harsh landscape, and you're guaranteed to have wind, rain and cold, 365 days of the year. We have a saying in the military: "train hard, fight easy," and if I took people to, say the South Downs of England, they're not really going to learn how to survive in extreme conditions. What do you hope people will take away from the course? Critics say, "What's the point of showing people this, they will never find themselves in these situations." But I've met so many survivors, from plane crashes in jungles to car break downs in deserts, and every single one looks me in the eye and says, "I never would have thought that it would happen to me." Surviving these situations is about attitude and what I want to instil is the positivity, resourcefulness, energy and fire that's needed. All the stuff I know is really at the heart of what keeps people alive in difficult situations and these courses aim to share that knowledge. Do you have any fears? Yes, loads. I'm totally human and I'm riddled with them. Survival is not about being fearless. It's about making a decision, getting on and doing it, because I want to see my kids again, or whatever the reason might be. I find skydiving really hard. I broke my back while skydiving when I was in the military, and for 18 months all my nightmares were about falling. I have to do a lot of skydiving for the show and the crew know that's difficult for me. Do you ever feel under pressure to risk your safety? No, I don't have that pressure, it's not like that. When we first did Man v Wild the director said: "You'll only do one series of this show" - either because someone will die, or people will get bored of seeing one person on screen. I agreed, but luckily people haven't got bored, and the reason no-one has died is because we never get complacent. We all say, "You only need to get it wrong once." You stop, reassess. There's always another way down that waterfall, across that river, or down that cliff. The only thing they do push me to do is eat stuff. I'm like, "Guys aren't we over all of this by now?." What's the worst thing you've eaten? Probably raw goat's testicles. They didn't exactly melt in the mouth and I threw up immediately after. I have thrown up a few times, and the camera keeps rolling, which I like. I grew up with these survival shows that were always quite slick, always very premeditated and considered, and they always sounded quite boring. Life is not like that, and survival sure as hell isn't - it's messy, so I don't mind it when things go wrong. I remember having diarrhoea up a rock face, and the guys underneath going, "Argh!" How do you balance family life and your job? It's always a difficult road to walk. Nobody wants to end up super rich and famous - but divorced. I'm always clear on that and try to stay on the right side of the line. I don't always get it right, I have a very lovely wife who will tell me when I don't. So good communication is important. But I've got three young boys so I try to work during term time, so when they're in school, I'm at work, and in the holidays, I try to spend as much time off as possible. Do you ever take your family with you? I tried it a couple of times, but it was a disaster. I stuck them in a lodge in the middle of the jungle and went off guns blazing, sabres ready, and when I got back five days later they were all bad tempered and covered in mosquito bites. Where's the worst place you've been? I'm amazed how many hell holes there are on the planet. I thought I'd done the jungle when I went with the army to Belize, but seven years later we've done so many other jungles around the world. It is a privilege to see so many incredible places though. Have you ever thought your life was in danger? Not many shows go past without something almost happening to one of us - where we look at each other and say, "That was close." You don't want those moments, and when we get out and nothing has gone wrong, it's a big tick in the box. But the wild is unpredictable, stuff does happen, and it's always when you're least expecting it. It's fine when I'm doing some big climb down a raging waterfall in the jungle, and everyone's on it and you're focused. But it's when you're tired, at the end of the day, in fading light, and you're navigating a narrow trail that you've been scampering along all day - and then someone slips. We've had a whole raft of incidents, and I've had a lot of close shaves. But we're all soldiers, so we tend to forget the bad times and remember the good. What's your attitude towards health and safety? We have a very healthy disregard for health and safety. I've had lots of American TV hosts come up to me over the years and say, "Bear, between you and me, how the hell do you get away with doing what you do? If I so much as look at a gentle incline, I'm trussed up like a turkey with a whole body harness and helmet!. I remember when we took Will Ferrell with us, and his insurance guy asked us if we could guarantee that he'd be safe, and I'm on the phone saying: "Well, no, it's the wild, stuff happens." But I also said that I've got the best team in the world and that we would do our best to get him back in one piece. It's a lack of ego, an ability to look after one another and not be complacent that works. Having said that, we have had a lot of jungle vines breaking off halfway down waterfalls, a few moments when the guys nervously shout: "Bear..?." And I yell back: "It's alright, I've landed on a big heap of moss!" But isn't that what makes great TV? Afterwards you think that, but not at the time. The key thing about the shows is that they rarely feel like we're making a television programme. We're a small group, we try and make it fun and interesting, and we sometimes indulge the cameraman, but not often. One of the things that made me nervous about doing the show to begin with was that I didn't want to be a smiley TV host and they said, "You don't have to be, just tell us what you're doing and we'll film it." From day one it's felt like that, and I think that's partly why it's worked. What do your children make of what you do? I've got three boys, aged nine, six and three and they love what I do. When I get home from filming all I want is a cup of tea and a bubble bath, and all they want to do in show me the ants they've collected. Part of me thinks "brilliant," because that's how I was, and the other half thinks they've got to get a normal job. The other day, we couldn't find Huckleberry [Bear's youngest child] for about an hour. We searched everywhere and then we went outside and heard this little squeak coming from a tree and about 50 foot up, right at the top, we saw his tiny little face poking through the leaves. We took a picture of him grinning, and then we were like, "Er... don't panic." Another time, the kids were watching television and a promo for Born Survivor came on. In it I was jumping around and stuff and at the end of it my children turned to me and said "Papa, what were you thinking?!" The Bear Grylls Survival Academy offers three- and six-day courses. The next course will run from March 15-18. Prices range from £1,399 - £2,999, including accommodation and food. For further information see www.beargryllssurvivalacademy.com or call 01483 424 438.