Been a busy few months and we have nailed 4 episodes of man vs wild – 2 in Borneo and 2 in New Zealand. Hurray!
I then spoke at a couple of big fund raising events in NZ for the earthquake appeal, including filming a TV appeal and doing some children’s hospital visits which were very moving for me. (we were in the mountains some way out of Christchurch when the quake hit.)
I then went onto Sydney for another big fund raising talk for flood victims, and did a press conference to launch the new season of Man Vs Wild shows down under. Hope people enjoy the new shows!
I also filmed some Nissan X Trail commercials and a Schweppes Solo drinks campaign, which were both fun to do!
The new season of shows in the USA have now all aired as well and we are focussing on the next couple of eps to wrap up the first half of season 6. (These include taking Jake Gyllenhaal on a mission which should be fun.)
Mud Sweat & Tears my autobiog is also done and dusted. (Finally!) And it is out in June.and our BG Gerber range of multi tools and knives is now launched around the world and doing great – well done the team there!
Oh and most exciting for me was that I got to meet the brilliant Roger Federer in Indian Wells, whilst on a whistle stop visit to LA to speak at a big Juice Plus event (great fun and great people as ever there by the way!) But Rog was v cool and v encouraging about Man Vs Wild which was nice. A definite hero of mine.
So that’s the update for now.
Anyway, back to the family and some good training for the mountains next week!
x
pics are me and boys doing push ups, and Dan and me getting muddy in Borneo!
had such a nice 10 days at home recovering from the Borneo jungles which were pretty full on.
Now off again to film 2 more eps in 2 secret locations, then onto New Zealand for a couple of charity fund raising talks I am doing (2nd and 3rd March) – see:
http://www.shadowcorpglobal.com/
come along if you are around! All for amazing causes.
Then I go to Sydney for another fund raising event on the 5th March and then to film some commercials and do some press as well. (And to catch up with some Sydney buddies too!)
Then home, and then LA for a Juice Plus event.
And then we get into prepping for me to run a Man Vs Wild bootcamp!
Oh and another celeb Man Vs Wild show and a few others in between as well…
so all busy but fun!
PS:
Watch out for the start of the new series of Man Vs Wild 9pm Thursday 17th feb on Discovery in America.
Also for the launch of our April X-Box, Playstation and Wii ‘Man Vs Wild The Game’
oh, and finally for my autobiography ‘Mud, Sweat and Tears’… out in May but as of yet still unfinished – but I am a lot of long haul flights to get that one nailed!
Hey Guys!!!!
Finally wrapped up filming for the year and it feels like it has been a tough one! (Or maybe I am just getting older!!) But what a wild year it has been!
We have filmed all over the planet, from Georgia to Australia, the Arctic to the deserts of Arizona and beyond, and the crew have been so amazing.
They really do deserve so much credit for the unbelievable work they do beside me – never a complaint, always a smile, and enduring endless hardships, mosquitos, freezing nights, swollen rivers, and endless death-defying drops!
They are not only best buddies, but also true professionals. In fact, together we keep getting called the A Team by the search and rescue guys or local Rangers that we work with in each location, which always makes me smile.
This year has also seen a massive surge in us making many of the Man Vs Wild skills and styles available to people – and we have done this through the range of Gerber BG knives, survival packs and multi-tools, as well as finishing the Man Vs Wild X Box, Playstation and wii, which launches in the Spring.
The BG Craghoppers clothing range has seen its strongest growth ever – people seem to be loving the survivor trousers that I wear on the show especially! And this week we also launch the iphone BG Bear Essentials App.
I am super excited for the App, and I know this will empower people to have many of the Man Vs Wild skills with them, always at hand, wherever they are.
Other news:
-I am down with the Royal Marine Commandos today, passing on some survival skills to their new recruits, which will be fun!
-Shara and me got invited to have supper with the Queen a few weeks back which was a huge honour, (I was very nervous having to sit next to her!) but she was such an amazing lady and so much fun. I feel so proud to have her as our Monarch, and she loves the Scouts which was good to hear as well!
On the Scouting front, I have been so proud to see the number of people involved with Scouting grow again, out of all proportion. What a tribute to the Leaders and the adventurous heart that everyone I meet in Scouting possesses. The scale of the projects that I see Scouts involved with, all over the globe, is a continued reminder of the power that comes when young people find a camaraderie, faith and purpose through adventure. Therein lies my life mission!
Anyway, gotta run, literally, it is frosty and I need exercising!
Here’s to a fun Christmas and New Year!
Bear
OK – well it has been busy for sure…but all fun!
We took a small break in the summer as a family on our Welsh island hideaway which was greeeaaat! Then I left for the Arctic where we had one of the most unbelievable expeditions I can remember, ever, taking our high-speed inflatable craft, through 2,500 miles of ice strewn waters.
We had bears, rescues, discoveries, unchartered waters, storms, and masses of ice-crushing adventures! But we pulled it off and completed the infamous North West Passage in aid of Global Angels…
(see: www.fcpnorthwestpassage.com)
We then went straight into Man Vs Wild and the start of Season Six (how have we ever reached that benchmark!!?)
We went to the most remote part of Northern Scotland and Cape Wrath: dropped in a life-raft from a helicopter, and had some of my favourite Man Vs Wild experiences ever up there in my home country.
(I particularly enjoyed finding a rotten seal carcass which I skinned and then climbed inside to wear as an improvised blubber wetsuit to keep me warm as I swam the freezing seas from the outer islands to the mainland… worked a treat by the way!!)
I then flew to USA for a Man Vs Wild, faith, expedition and ‘life’ event for a big church in Louisville, (probably the nicest folk on the planet by the way were there!), then I did a similar event in Spain and then again back in Orlando for a big JuicePlus health convention. (Again, JuicePlus guys, just crazy nice and motivated and such a privilege always to hang with.)
All those events saw between 7,000 and 10,000 people, including 1,500 Scouts who were as usual, utterly brilliant!
Then I did a Scout weekend back in the UK, touring the country by helicopter, dropping in for 45 mins in about 24 places in 24 hours!
Full on, but such a privilege to get to spend time with so many different groups, and such an inspiration for me to meet SO many motivated, dedicated, ambitious, rocking Scouts!
(Hats off to the one Scout aged 12 who had just hiked 45 miles non-stop! Hero or what!?)
Now I fly off to the Arctic in Northern Norway for another Man Vs Wild, which will include an intentional parachute malfunction, where I will have to detach and cut away from my chute after deployment.
(Am a little nervous about that after my original parachuting accident in the SAS. (see: The Kid who Climbed Everest.) But I pray all will be fine.
At the same time, my team is finishing the last touches for my ‘Bear Essentials’ App. Going to be a demon app this one and it is out in November. watch for it! This one really could save your life!
Ditto my range of knives, survival packs, scout knives and multi-tools I have developed with Gerber (see: www.bear.gerbergear.com ) This range has received awesome feedback already and I really hope people like this. It has had so much work from me this one and includes all my most useful gadgets!
Also, so you know, we now have an amazing group now on twitter with over 115,ooo followers! Thanks guys. Hope you enjoy the updates and quotes!
And finally: I am looking to start a global ‘JuicePlus’ health and lifestyle enterprise in USA, Europe, Australia and Japan. I am after five entrepreneurial, highly-motivated, personable, health-conscious people in each of those regions, to work with me and my team, with the goal of encouraging a generation of young people and Scouts to get healthy and motivated! If you are interested email me and my team-leader Levi Burdick at:levi@burdickenterprises.com for more info. Serious applicants only! Brilliant… I love it!
Anyway, that’s a kind of update. Been busy but exciting!
Oh, and my seven-year old son, Jesse, has just told me his school headmistress has asked him to suggest something for the school to do as an away trip – such as visiting a museum or the zoo… he suggested they all go bungey-jumping!
(The teachers weren’t very amused! But it shows that the apple hasn’t fallen far from this tree, I guess! Bless him, my special, little champion.)
Have a brilliant week guys!
love Bear x
ps images are: hanging with scouts and teaching them to light fires! hanging with Shara and teaching her nothing! hanging with my boys and watching them on their home-made raft, and then a man vs wild billboard that made me laugh!
Just got home from three tough Man Vs Wild shoots.
First one in Georgia and then two in Northern Australia – a desert island shark show and a croc swamp one.
The swamp episode was one of the hardest I can remember – I guess the conditions (crazy hot and humid), coupled with the mosquitos, snakes and crocs, weren’t exactly conducive to a walk in the park!
Anyway – it is so lovely to be home to family and our boys.
I am taking our eldest son on a weekend Scouting on saturday which will be brill!
Bear
