Daily Express

£100k less in female pensions

Never so scared... Bear’s tightest squeeze

- By Michael Knowles By Vicky Shaw

ADVENTURER Bear Grylls has revealed he was nearly killed by 8ft boa constricto­r intent on drowning him.

He admitted: “I feel incredibly lucky to have survived.”

The 46-year-old was trapped by the beast coiling round his neck and repeatedly submerging him in a flooded ravine.

Bear had two spotters on the bank while filming in South Africa but knew he was gambling with his life. Powerful

down you’re in big trouble. I got in, couldn’t touch the bottom, and suddenly I felt that thing grab me and start pulling me down.

“Then it got a grip around my neck. It caught me out. I hadn’t anticipate­d how fast, powerful and heavy it would be.

“Every time I surfaced I saw the guys giving me the

thumbs-down rescue signal, but I said no. Battle

“Just as it was squeezing me tighter, I thought, ‘Oh no, actually I’m running out of breath here’. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

He managed to break free and his battle for survival features in his new Netflix show Animals on the Loose, available now.

It is interactiv­e, allowing viewers to decide what Bear will do as he tracks down escaped wildlife at a sanctuary.

The Old Etonian, a dad of three, said: “You only get it wrong once in the wild and if it goes wrong, that’s it.”

WOMEN will typically need to work 37 years longer than men to have the same pension.

They can expect to have £100,000 less in their pots than their male counterpar­ts, Scottish Widows said.

Lower average earnings, part-time work and time out to care for family mean that for women in their 20s the pensions gap still yawns.

Impact

The figures are from a recent women and retirement report by the insurer and coincide with Internatio­nal Women’s Day.

Jackie Leiper, at Scottish Widows, said: “Young women have been some of the hardest hit by the short-term financial impact of the pandemic and this has only exacerbate­d the challenge of reaching pensions parity.”

 ?? Picture: NETFLIX ?? Gripping show... Bear’s moment of terror
He said: “Once they wrap, you can’t breathe or move, and if it takes you
Picture: NETFLIX Gripping show... Bear’s moment of terror He said: “Once they wrap, you can’t breathe or move, and if it takes you

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