11 Things You Probably Never Knew About Bear Grylls, From His Real ...

There are some things we all know about Bear Grylls: he drinks his own pee (when necessary), he got in trouble for staying in hotels once, he slept literally inside a camel. But with Bear Grylls: Mission Survive fast approaching, there are some things you might not know about him…

1. BEAR IS NOT HIS REAL NAME

Big surprise. Bear was apparently born Edward Michael Grylls (he once said that Edward wasn't his real name too, but we think he was bluffing). His sister Lara gave him the nickname Bear when he was a week old and it stuck (it probably comes from Edward becoming Teddy, which is slightly less macho than you would expect). 

2. HE HAS SOME ADVENTUROUS ANCESTORS

Let's just say that if Bear was on Who Do You Think You Are? everyone would be nodding along and going, "Oh now I get it." His great-grandfather apparently wrote the first motivational book, Self Help, while his grandfather was awarded the Russian Victoria Cross. And Bear's dad – Conservative politician Sir Michael Grylls – taught him to climb when he was a kid.

3. HE GOT STARTED ON THE ADVENTURE THING YOUNG…

Bear was a second dan black belt in Shotokan karate when he was still a teenager (we're assured that this is Quite A Big Deal). And way before he was friends with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, he copied him by climbing the bell tower at Eton as a young boy (he even wrote his initials BG next to the RF left by Sir Ranulph). 

He kept on being "one of the youngest ever to…" – he was one of the youngest Britons to climb the peak Ama Dablam (which Sir Edmund Hillary called "unclimbable"), conquered Everest at the age of 23, and was the youngest ever Chief Scout at the age of 35.

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4. AND HE'S STARTED HIS KIDS YOUNG, TOO.

Bear and his wife Shara have three children called Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry – we're saying nothing – and it seems like Bear has already started getting them trained up. He took Jesse paragliding when he was just three years old, and Jesse saved a girl from drowning in a river when he was only seven years old. 

Bear came under fire last year for leaving Jesse (then 11) on a small rocky outcrop in the sea as part of an RNLI training exercise. But he later defended himself: "I cover [the kids] in ketchup as fake blood and push them off in a kayak. It's exciting. But I would never put anyone in danger and I would definitely not put my kids in danger."

5. HE HAS SOME UNUSUAL LIVING ARRANGEMENTS

Bear used to have a barge by Battersea Bridge – complete with outdoor bath, hammock and a canoe – but he's now thought to have bought a flat in the redeveloped Battersea Power Station. He also owns a private island off North Wales, with no electricity or water. He actually got into trouble there for installing a slide off the island right into the sea (but to be honest it looked like a lot of fun).

Oh, and he has previously revealed that he owns a London cab, in which he picks his kids up from school. 

6. HIS FIRST TELEVISION APPEARANCE WAS IN A DEODORANT ADVERT

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Okay, so it featured his ascent of Mount Everest, but still.

7. HE WAS ALMOST PERMANENTLY PARALYSED DURING HIS TIME IN THE SAS

Bear actually failed his first attempt to get into the SAS after being too slow on one of the marches through the Brecon Beacons. He got in on the second go though, and spent three years with the SAS – but during a skydive his parachute ripped at 16,000 feet and he crushed three vertebrae. He actually came close to severing his spinal cord and his surgeon said he was "within a whisker" of being paralysed for life. 

He recovered pretty quickly though – only 18 months later he scaled Everest. He's now an honorary colonel in the Royal Marine Commandos and an honorary lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy Reserve.

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8. HE LIKES TAKING ON VERY WEIRD CHALLENGES

A lot of Bear's stunts are for charity, and thank goodness, because otherwise they'd just be too weird. For example, he rowed 22 miles down the Thames in a bathtub – naked – to raise money for a friend who had lost his legs in a climbing disaster. (Why naked?) He also holds the world record for the highest open-air formal dinner party, atop a hot air balloon at 7,600m, and he once crossed the North Atlantic in an inflatable boat (facing force 8 gale winds).

9. HE'S BIG IN CHINA

Bear isn't just famous in the UK and the US. Apparently, his TV shows have been seen by over a billion people, and he even had his own Man Vs Wild video game (available on XBox, Playstation and Wii if you're intrigued). He's actually huge in China, too - his biography was voted the most influential book there, and he had his own show in the country (Survivor Games, featuring eight Chinese celebrities).

10. HE ISN'T ALWAYS AS TOUGH AS YOU MIGHT THINK

Bear has previously admitted to a fear of heights - and to crying uncontrollably at The Notebook. Oh, and he's a big fan of a good bubble bath. "When I come home from a long journey, the first thing I do is take a nice hot bubble bath with my three little boys," he's said before. "It's what keeps me motivated out there, helps me get out of those places in one piece." The power of a good bath bomb.

11. HIS PROPOSAL WAS DEFINITELY UNIQUE

Bear met his wife Shara when he was skinny dipping one New Year's Day. A wave came and stole his clothes; Shara was walking along the beach and helped him get his dignity back. (There we are with the nudity again…) Bear decided to recreate that first meeting when he proposed to Shara during a skinny dipping session. "I pulled out the ring from my butt cheeks," he explained. Hopefully he wiped it before giving it to her…

Bear Grylls: Mission Survive kicks off on Thursday (March 3) at 9pm on ITV.