Adventure expert Bear Grylls has taken on a new challenge. Instead of his usual hunting and gathering series this time he is attempting to help those in conflict fix their relationships by venturing in to the wilderness. Wild Reckoning will be launching on the BBC in the new year and has been filmed in Wales.
Bear, who owns St Tudwal’s Island West (Ynys Tudwal Fawr), a private island off the Llyn Peninsula, has decided to bring groups of individuals together to help resolve their issues in the outdoors. The series will follow a mother and son, siblings, and a husband and wife as they attempt to fix their relationships.
He told us why he decided to film the series Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) and on the north Wales coast. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter.
He said: “First of all it’s home for me for a big part of the year. It’s an area of wilderness I know well and I love.
“I kind of wanted to bring people to what felt like home turf and to introduce them to some of the beautiful mountains and coast around Wales.
“It’s all based on the principle like: ‘This journey doesn’t require you to go to the other ends of the earth’. You know, this journey’s requiring you to get outside with those you love, and listen and trust.”
He said he and his wife Shara have owned the island for all of their married life.
Bear added: “We spend a lot of time up there and it’s just super-close to our hearts. Our boys have been brought up there, the community around us are incredible and, as you know, Wales has some of the greatest wilderness in all of the UK.”
When asked for his top five favourite places to explore in Wales he said: “I would say Abersoch is number one. For the people, the beaches.
“I’d say the Welsh coastal path. It’s incredible, one of the greatest in the world, really.
“I’d say Bardsey, Bardsey Island, rich in so much history and monastic stories.”
The coastal village of Abersoch in north Wales -Credit:Media Wales
Bear continued: “I would say Pen-y-Fan in the Brecon Beacons and I would say some of the Elan Valley, some of the reservoirs.
“Nobody really goes to Elan Valley but it’s so wild and so beautiful.”
You can watch the series from Monday, January 5, at 7pm on BBC Wales and BBC iPlayer.