Muslim quits Bear Grylls’ Island show because he can’t stomach living with bikini-clad women
HE had claimed the most exciting challenge of being on an extreme survival TV show was that everything would be ‘stripped down’.
Yet the act of peeling off proved the undoing of Muslim contestant Rizwan Shabir, who has quit Bear Grylls’s The Island, protesting that his female co-stars were revealing too much flesh.
The Bradford phone shop owner said being surrounded by women in bikinis went against his religion.
Last night’s episode of the Channel 4 programme revealed the 27-year-old, known as Riz, storming off, saying: ‘It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’m struggling. At the end of the day I am a Muslim – I’m not used to living with women who are halfnaked. This is harder than what I thought it would be.’
He added: ‘Basically I’m around a group of women who are half-naked, which in my religion and culture I shouldn’t really be.’
Before the series he had said he wanted to be a role model for Muslims and thought that it would strengthen his religion.
In the first episode Mr Shabir said: ‘On The Island I understand everything is going to be stripped down and that’s the exciting thing.’
But he was quickly branded a ‘softie’ by viewers when he struggled to swim ashore to the Pacific island on the first day.
Former Army corporal and leg amputee Hannah Campbell, 31, also quit the show after being stung by a scorpion, and 60-yearold Cassie Farrell was evacuated following a panic attack after just two days.