The worst part of crossing the Amazon jungle? I came out of it £54,000 in debt

ADVENTURER Ed Stafford was the first person to walk the Amazon river – and it sent him spiralling into debt. Stafford, 42, has never forgotten trudging through the Amazonian swamps, plagued by mosquitoes, worrying about how he could afford to carry on and complete his twoand-a-half-year expedition.

But he never gave up and now commands fees of up to £14,000 for a half-hour motivational talk.

He also earns a six-figure salary from his work as a TV presenter and explorer on the Discovery Channel.

His series First Man Out premieres on the channel at the end of January and a book about his inspiring journeys, Adventures For A Lifetime, with a foreword by Ranulph Fiennes, is out now and costs £18.99.

Donna Ferguson What did your parents teach you about money?

MY parents were not good with money. They were hardworking, middle- class solicitors who adopted me when I was eight weeks old. They paid for me to have an expensive private education – I went to prep school and boarding school – but they were always in the red and money was tight. Sometimes, I remember that Dad would get stressed about it all. It taught me to be thrifty and save, because if you know that you have got reserves in the bank, you can relax.

What was the first paid work you ever did?

WHEN I was eight, I worked for a local farmer at weekends, hauling hay bales and opening gates. He would give me 50p for a morning’s work and I would spend it on a 99 ice cream with a flake.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

IN between finishing university and joining the Army, I worked in a metalwork factory for £3 an hour while trying to pay off a student loan. I did not have much money left at the end of each month

INTREPID: Ed Stafford during his 859-day trek through the Amazon and it was mind-numbingly boring. I thought I would prefer the Army – outdoors, rolling around in the mud and doing physical stuff. But being told what to do was not my cup of tea.

Have you ever been paid silly money?

YES, doing motivational talks. Since becoming the first person to walk the length of the Amazon river, I can charge upwards of £ 5,000. I have even been paid £14,000 for a half-hour talk. It is the sort of money that makes you get up in the morning and pinch yourself. But to put that in context, when I came out of the Amazon I was £54,000 in debt.

The expedition took two-and-ahalf years. I slept in hammocks, washed in river sand fished piranhas for food. But I had to pay an expert guide to travel with me and that cost a lot. There was also insurance, satellite communications, a website and a public relations campaign to pay for. I received donations but the expedition cost £ 108,000 and midway through my sponsor pulled out.

Did you worry about money while in the Amazon?

YES. I did not want to stop the expedition because we had run out of money.

One day, after I had been trudging through the swamps getting bitten by mosquitoes, I received an email from a guy in Hong Kong whom I had never met. He said he was donating £5,000 and even apologised for not having given earlier. He had been unemployed, he said.

I remember reading his email and crying – sobbing in the middle of the jungle. That money enabled us to keep walking for another t wo months and buy return flights and sort out costs I had been stressed about.

What was the best year of your financial life?

THIS one. I have just finished filming my seventh series for the Discovery Channel and now earn a six-figure sum.

What is the most expensive thing you bought for fun?

IT was a £45,000 bespoke Antarctic pulk – a sledge you drag behind you made from carbon kevlar. It was for a world-first expedition to cross the Antarctic alone on foot that never came off.

I poured my own money into designing it but no one agreed to sponsor the expedition so I just had to suck up the loss.

What is your biggest money mistake?

MOVING out of London just as house prices started to dip in 2016. I sold for £85,000 less than I had paid 18 months previously.

Do you save into a pension or invest in the stock market?

NO. I am not a fan of pensions and I do not have any spare cash to invest in the stock market.

Do you own any property?

YES. Home is a four-bedroom Grade I I - l i st ed grange in Leicestershire. It was built in 1693 and has its own priest hole and an attic that used to be the servants’ quarters.

Do you pay off your credit cards in full?

NOT at the moment due to the cost of designing that Antarctic pulk. I have not quite recovered from that, but I am chipping away at my debts.

What little luxury do you treat yourself to?

READING a magazine in the bath with a glass of Guinness. I am away so often for the Discovery Channel, sleeping on a mountain or in a jungle, that when I come home I like to relax.

If you were Chancellor what would you do?

GIVEN I am an ex- military man, the issue that troubles me is homelessness. A large number are ex- military because people sometimes fall apart when they leave the Forces.

I would invest in better resettlement programmes that hold people’s hands when they come out of the army until they are able to look after themselves.

What is your number one financial priority?

NOT to have to worry about my income when I am too old and knackered to be on the television.