Americans are cool; if you show just a chink of vulnerability, they respond so much. They'll pat you on the arm and say, 'Hey kid, you're all right.' Brits will respond but they are much more cynical.

I loved climbing because of the freedom, and having time and space. I remember coming off Everest for the last time, thinking of Dad and wishing that he could have seen what I saw. He would have loved it.

Some of the greatest survivors have been women. Look at the courage so many women have shown after surviving earthquakes in the rubble for days on end.

I am not fearless. I get scared plenty. But I have also learned how to channel that emotion to sharpen me.

As for my diet, I try to eat lean, clean and healthy - nothing too surprising. And I avoid too much meat or dairy because they slow you down.

A man's pride can be his downfall, and he needs to learn when to turn to others for support and guidance.

Survival is not about being fearless. It's about making a decision, getting on and doing it, because I want to see my kids again, or whatever the reason might be.

I find skydiving really hard. I broke my back while skydiving when I was in the military, and for 18 months all my nightmares were about falling.

But the wild is unpredictable, stuff does happen, and it's always when you're least expecting it.

Nobody wants to end up super rich and famous - but divorced. I'm always clear on that and try to stay on the right side of the line.

The rewards of the wild and the rewards of the survivor go to those who can dig deep, and, ultimately, to the guy who can stay alive.

The rules of survival never change, whether you're in a desert or in an arena.

Well, wolves will pretty rarely hunt. You're vulnerable if you're on your own or injured. But for lone wolves, get up high, show them that you're not injured, face 'em off, be authoritarian with it, and look 'em in the eye.

Nobody else is stupid enough to get themselves into the straits that I get into.

I have held healthy respects of bears along with assorted crocodiles, snakes and lots of other animals. You know, bears are dangerous, you have to be super careful.

Look, sometimes, no matter how hard you try, sometimes you need a bit of luck.

I never wanted to do TV. I just did what I was trained to do through the Special Forces, and I've been doing that from a very young age.

I always wanted to be Robin Hood or John the Baptist when I was growing up.

I've never really had a TV career. I've been a soldier and a climber.

I said 'no' to the 'Born Survivor' producer three times because I've never aspired to be a TV man.

I love Ray Mears. He's brilliant. He's so rude about me in the press, it's outrageous!

I've had so many injuries in my life that it's ridiculous.

I exercise about 40 minutes a day, and I'll run one day and do circuit training the next day. I live in an area where there are brilliant hills and mountains, so I get a good hill run with my dog. At home, I'll do the circuit training with old weights, along with pull-ups in the trees and that sort of stuff.

When I'm filming, survival requires movement. You need your energy, and you've got to eat the bad stuff, and survival food is rarely pretty, but you kind of do it. I get in that zone, and I eat the nasty stuff, but I'm not like that when I'm back home.

I love home cooking, and I'm not a great one for fast food.

I try and eat really healthy when I'm home, but I certainly don't eat worms and snakes.

The hardest thing about my job isn't the snake bites or the crocodiles, it's being away from my children. I have a really religious satellite phone call every day back to the boys, wherever we are, whatever time zone, to say goodnight.

That feeling when you're so cold you'd give anything to be warm - I've had it before, literally huddled around a candle flame on an ice sheet.

One killer exercise that's really great is pull-ups with your legs out level. That's my favourite. It's such functional core strength, and that's why I can climb up trees and down vines.

You don't often see Bear Grylls in a suit.

Textbook survival tells you to stay put. Stop. Wait for rescue. Don't take any risks. But there'd been a whole host of survival shows like that and I didn't really want to do that.

I think viewers quite like it when I'm suffering or eating or drinking something horrible or really up against it in some quicksand or whatever.

My favorite moments? Where it's all going swimmingly, the sun's out and I've got a fire going and a nice snake on the barbecue.

Faith is personal if it's to be real.

You're not human if you don't feel fear. But I've learnt to treat fear as an emotion that sharpens me. It's there to give me that edge for what I have to do.

You only get one chance at life and you have to grab it boldly.

The appeal of the wild for me is its unpredictability. You have to develop an awareness, react fast, be resourceful and come up with a plan and act on it.

My faith is an important part of my life and over the years I've learnt that it takes a proud man to say he doesn't need anything. It has been a quiet strength and a backbone through a lot of difficult times.

I joined the Army at 19 as a soldier and spent about four and a half years with them. Then I broke my back in a freefall parachuting accident and spent a year in rehabilitation back in the U.K.

Life's full of lots of dream-stealers always telling you you need to do something more sensible. I think it doesn't matter what your dream is, just fight the dream-stealers and hold onto it.

Weather can kill you so fast. The first priority of survival is getting protection from the extreme weather.

Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying.

Survival requires us to leave our prejudices at home. It's about doing whatever it takes - and ultimately those with the biggest heart will win.

The extremes of jungles, mountains, and deserts are inherently dangerous places.

The special forces gave me the self-confidence to do some extraordinary things in my life. Climbing Everest then cemented my belief in myself.

I always had a really natural faith as a kid. Where I knew God existed and it felt very free and pretty wild and natural, and it wasn't religious.

And Jesus, the heart of the Christian faith is the wildest, most radical guy you'd ever come across.

To me, adventure has always been to me the connections and bounds you create with people when you're there. And you can have that anywhere.

I hang out all the time with kids and young scouts and I never meet kids who don't want adventure.

I was christened Edward. My sister gave me the name Bear when I was a week old and it has stuck.