10 MOMENTS THAT MADE ME
‘I’ve had the desire to explore since I was a baby’
EARLIEST EXPERIENCES
I grew up on a smallholding on the edge of the Surrey heaths.
We had loads of rescue animals including an asthmatic donkey, some guard dog geese and a duck called Twit that used to follow my mum around and sit in the washing up bowl while she was doing the dishes.
All of the wild animals around there felt like pets to me. It was a blissful childhood
MY WILD YOUTH
I have always been adventurous, my parents would probably say too much so.
They have memories of me pretty much jumping off every high thing I could find.
I remember diving off a pier into the sea. They were watching from a distance and could see the water was only a foot or so deep.
I plummeted in head-first – how I didn’t break my neck is anyone’s guess. I was always in trouble, ever since I was a baby. I had a desire to explore and it seems that hasn’t stopped.
BIG TV BREAK
That came in the late ’90s – and in quite bizarre fashion. I was working as a writer for Rough Guides and I came up with an idea for a programme, bought a camera, went out to the jungles of Colombia and made it myself.
National Geographic bought it and turned me into their “adventurer in residence”, the best job title I’ve ever had.
I spent the next five years travelling the world on expeditions.
I made a lot of mistakes and a lot of very bad programmes, but eventually I started making some good ones.
DEADLY (BUT FUN) TIMES
I joined the BBC in 2003 with the Really Wild Show, which led to Deadly 60.
That was about trying to find a subject that would appeal to people who didn’t realise they liked wildlife.
So-called deadly animals – sharks, snakes, spiders – have an appeal to everyone, even if it’s just a sick fascination.
The most amazing moment of my career was when we did live programmes and I was giving free talks to the public.
The very first one, there were 7,500 people there. The biggest had 14,000. That’s when I knew Deadly was going places and had made such a connection with people.
DANGER MAN
The most dangerous moment I’ve had with a wild animal was diving with crocodiles in Botaswana.
My cameraman and I swam into a
pool and saw craters on the bottom.
I said: “These look like the footprints of a hippo – to meet one here would be catastrophic”.
At that very moment a hippo came out of the gloom and got within four or five feet.
Looking back, I think it was the toss of a coin whether we lived or died.
It was, without doubt, the most frightening thing that’s happened to me with an animal.
Hippos are unpredictable, territorial, grumpy and, at two tons and with tusks as long as my arm, one of the world’s most dangerous animals.
SHOOTING TERROR
I thought I wasn’t getting out alive when I was working as a writer in East Timor during a very troubled time.
There was rioting on the streets, initially put down with water cannon by the Indonesian military and then eventually with bullets.
I think 13 people were killed around me while I cowered behind the front desk of a hotel.
All the windows were shot out and bullets were whizzing past my ears.
I genuinely thought it was curtains and I wasn’t going home.
WHAT’S YOUR POISON?
I did a venom experiment with a tribe in Brazil where they catch hundreds of bullet ants, the world’s most painful stinging insect – one single sting feels like being shot.
They weave them into a pair of gloves which the young boys put on and dance for 15 minutes while being stung hundreds of times.
Enduring the pain earns them the right to become a man.
I did it – and there was nothing apart from pain in my world.
It didn’t subside for 24 hours and then I had this huge rush of adrenaline surging through my body.
In that moment, I’d never felt stronger, fitter and better in my life.
Sadly, the feeling didn’t last!
WORST MOMENT
That would have to be a rock climbing fall in the Wye Valley.
I fell about 30 feet – all completely my fault – and hit the rock with unbelievable force.
I drove my heel bone clean through the underside of my foot, broke my back in two places and was very lucky to get out alive.
My climbing partner was an absolute hero and carried me for an hour down to the road and to hospital.
My ankle will never be the same again, but thanks to the doctors (it took 11 operations) I can walk properly.
Somehow I never gave up and never doubted I’d be back climbing again.
DANCING DAYS
My time on Strictly was a whirlwind and it has had lasting effects.
Judy Murray, Sunetra Sarker, Thom Evans and Jake Wood came to my wedding.
Pixie Lott came to watch a lecture and I’ve been to Essex nightclubs with Mark Wright!
It’s given me something extra in my life. For that, I’ll be eternally grateful.
The friends I made will, I hope, be friends for life.
In my line of work I spend my life away in the middle of the likes of rainforests – but then I could be at Wimbledon with Judy or doing something glitzy and glamorous and that just doesn’t happen to someone like me.
LOVE MATCH
Helen and I met at Sport Relief, just after the London 2012 Olympics.
I instantly knew that she was the one for me.
She has enormous spirit and I reckon she’s the best all-round female athlete in the world.
I was smitten the moment we met. We got married two years later on a clifftop in Cornwall and it was the most beautiful and perfect day of my life.
I was surrounded by all the people I love and care for, the sun shone and the waves crashed on the cliffs below.
We dived into the sea first thing and then camped out that night.
She’s here with me in Alaska and we’re going to go sea kayaking.
I hope we can do expeditions together in the future – though she won’t listen to me so she’ll have to learn the skills she needs from someone else!