Edward Michael Grylls was born on June 7, 1974, in Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland, the son of Sir Michael Grylls, a Conservative MP, and Sally Ford. He grew up in a privileged household on the Isle of Wight, attended Eton College (where he developed his interest in outdoor pursuits), and was introduced to rock climbing by his father from age five. He served in the British Army's 21 SAS (Special Air Service) reserve regiment from 1994 to 1997, during which time he was involved in a HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) parachuting accident in 1996 that fractured three vertebrae — an injury from which his recovery required 18 months of rehabilitation. After recovery, he climbed Mount Everest in 1998 at age 23, becoming one of the youngest people to summit Everest at the time and completing the climb less than 18 months after his spinal injury.
Man vs. Wild (known as Born Survivor: Bear Grylls in the UK) premiered in 2006 on the Discovery Channel and ran for seven seasons, becoming one of the most-watched survival-focused television programs globally. The format — Grylls dropped alone (officially) into various wilderness environments and demonstrating survival techniques while making his way to civilization — made him one of the most recognizable figures in adventure television worldwide. The show attracted controversy in 2007 when a Times of London article revealed that some sequences had been filmed with a production crew nearby and that some nights had been spent in hotels rather than the wild — a revelation that prompted the Discovery Channel to add a disclaimer acknowledging that some scenes were reconstructions, and that introduced a layer of meta-discussion about the authenticity of 'reality' television survival content.
Grylls has written numerous books on survival skills and motivational leadership, served as Chief Scout of the UK from 2009 to the present (the youngest Chief Scout in the organization's history), and launched a series of follow-on television programs including Running Wild with Bear Grylls (in which he takes celebrities on survival experiences), Man vs. Wild with President Obama (2016), and The Island with Bear Grylls (in which civilians experience survival challenges). His survival skills television empire has generated significant commercial revenue and made him one of the most recognizable British television personalities globally. He has been open about his Christian faith, publishing a memoir that discussed his spiritual journey alongside his physical adventures.
Grylls is married to Shara Cannings Knight, with whom he has three sons, and the family lives primarily on a houseboat on the Thames and on a remote island off the coast of Wales. He has been a vocal advocate for environmental conservation, serving as the United Nations Environment Programme Patron of the Oceans and a UNICEF UK ambassador. His continued television production — Running Wild ran for multiple seasons on National Geographic — and his books have maintained his public presence beyond the Man vs. Wild peak. He is one of the most commercially successful television survival personalities in history, and his particular blend of genuine outdoor capability and enthusiastic embrace of television's performative demands has produced something that is simultaneously real and theatrical — a combination that has proven extremely durable.
