Stephen Fry to join Bear Grylls on a Wild Weekend

Over two days in the treacherous Italian Dolomites, Grylls will get Fry to travel on the skids of a helicopter, climb down a pounding 500-foot waterfall, sleep in a trench and abseil down a cliff.

Before filming Grylls explained: “I want to take him somewhere that just gives him space to be himself… somewhere way out of his comfort zone and way off the beaten track. Where he doesn’t have to be brainy and he doesn’t have to be brilliant.”

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The pair got caught in a snowstorm during their trip, causing Fry to recall some of the other challenges he has experienced in his life, including prison, his body image, bipolar disorder and a near fatal suicide attempt.

Fry explained, before he took on the show, that he hoped the experience would make him braver: “I hope I might let go of some inner demon that has been with me ever since I was a tiny child when I was afraid of sports and afraid of physical activity.

"My hope is that I will be a little bit more proud of myself at the end of it and at least feel that I’ve accomplished something.”

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The pair carve out the heart and tongue of a deer carcass for their lunch, start a fire with a tampon and create a water bottle out of a condom during the show. They also tuck into pine needle tea and enjoy Gryll’s ‘mountain sandwich’, which consists of bread with chocolate spread and ants.

“Gosh – I have never felt so alive. It is an extraordinary feeling,” said Fry during the show.

Bear’s Wild Weekends starts 25 December on Channel 4

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