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“Man vs. Wild” star Bear Grylls said writing about Jesus was the “hardest thing” he’s ever done, tougher than climbing Mount Everest or sailing a frozen sea, he told Fox News.
“It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but also the best thing I have ever done,” Grylls told “My View with Lara Trump.” “My faith has always been like a quiet, empowering presence through so many adventures.”
The U.K.-born survival expert’s book “The Greatest Story Ever Told: An Eyewitness Account,” which was released in June, chronicles the life of Jesus into what he described as a punchy, faith-filled thriller.
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“The real story of Jesus is so mind-blowing. It’s a story of true courage, true friendship, true love, and I just thought nobody’s ever written this as a thriller, I’m just going to write this story,’ he said.
Grylls said his curiosity and desire to explore a truer version of the story inspired the project.
“I never really was brought up knowing… the real story of Jesus,” the survival expert explained. “I always grew up with such a sanitized version of it, I didn’t really like it.”
Grylls has hosted more than a dozen survival shows since 2006 — a number of them on the Discovery Channel — which he said approached him after his successful climb of Mount Everest.
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“Everest is always going to be in my heart because we had climbers lose their lives up there. Two died of the cold, two fell, and I think that mountain shaped so much of the future of my life. It was through that that the Discovery Channel eventually approached me, and we saw ‘Man vs. Wild,’ and that grew into ‘Running Wild’ and all these shows,” he said.
The adventurer said the reaction to his book has surpassed anything he’s experienced in television.
“I think I’ve had more response from this book than anything else I’ve ever done, any TV show,” he said.
Beyond his career and faith, Grylls also spoke about the importance of getting outdoors.
“For me, the outdoors has always been such a beautiful, healing, grounding place,” Grylls said. “That’s where I’d go to reconnect.”
He worries that modern life has veered people away from nature.
“I think everyone’s scared of the sun nowadays,” he said.
“Try and just be disciplined about your time on your screen. It’s not that it’s bad, but try and just police yourself a little bit,” Grylls recommended.
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For Grylls, adventures aren’t always about the thrill of the feat, but living with intention.
“It doesn’t have to be the highest mountain in the world,” he said. “It’s how you live, how you approach risk, relationships, family, business and everything.”
And it’s a life, he admitted, that he has no plans to change.
“I’ve burned so many bridges in my life,” he reflected. “I have no other option apart from doing what I do — and I kind of like that.”
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