One Of Bear Grylls' Worst Injuries On Man Vs. Wild Came From An Unlikely Source
Bear Grylls, the famous survivalist and host of the hit Discovery series "Man vs. Wild," has had his fair share of injuries over his TV career. Because his adventure shows are often filmed in remote and dangerous locations, most of us would probably expect his worst injury to come from a wild animal or the harsh conditions of the environment. However, in reality, Grylls' worst injury while filming "Man vs Wild" occurred because of a mistake with an object you may not have expected — a camera.
As reported by MassLive, the injury took place when a camera was mounted on a sled and sent to slide down a mountain behind Grylls to get a good shot of him stopping his slide down the snowy peak with an ice pick. However, while Grylls was able to stop himself, the camera did not and slammed directly into his leg. As a result of the incident, the reality TV star was in so much pain that he needed to be airlifted out of the mountains and to the nearest hospital. While Grylls has recovered fully from the injury and is fine today, he described the incident as a major "wake-up call" that helped him realize he couldn't relax or become numb to all the dangerous situations he was putting himself in.
Other near-death experiences from Man vs Wild
While the sliding camera caused one of the worst injuries that Bear Grylls experienced while filming for "Man vs Wild," there were other moments during that show that qualified as near-death experiences but didn't cause major injuries. One took place in the jungles of Indonesia while the crew was filming Grylls as he floated down a river that was higher than normal because of recent floods. According to Grylls himself in a video on his YouTube channel, he was already nervous about the experience because he knew that brown flood water could hide many dangers. However, he needed to find a route down the river so got in it anyway.
While floating in the rapids, Grylls was almost pulled under a rock shelf by the current and would've drowned but, luckily, he reached out his hand and was pulled into the camera boat by the crew before he went under. Grylls stated that the biggest takeaways from this near-death experience were, firstly, to never get into a flooded jungle river and, secondly, to always trust your instincts in the wild.
The closest call before he was famous
Besides getting into some sticky situations on "Man vs Wild," Bear Grylls was also no stranger to near-death experiences during his younger years when he was a member of the British Special Forces. One of his most life-altering near-death experiences occurred when he was only 21 in Zambia. During a routine parachuting jump, Grylls' chute failed to open and he fell 14,000 feet landing on his back and breaking it in three places (via Men's Health). After some intense physical therapy, Grylls luckily recovered and was able to climb Mount Everest only 18 months later.
According to a post on the survivalist's Instagram, the injury still causes him pain every day but has not stopped him from enjoying life to the fullest. Grylls wrote, "Life can at times be a battle for everyone ... I choose just to be grateful for the opportunity to still be able to [live life] as best I can."