DashVibe

This first episode of series six of New Lives in the Wild with Aussie daredevil Jim and Danish backpacker Kim is very moving, isn’t it?

That’s what I love about this show. I think the reason this show has endured is because it’s not just about the lives these people live or the wilderness that they live in, it’s their individual stories. Jim and Kim’s story in this ep is a fantastic example of our resilience. Can you imagine free-falling 90ft as Jim did, landing on the ground and breaking every bone? I think I’m quite a strong person but I can’t imagine how you bring yourself back from that. The fact that he sought to recover on this remote little island in Australia is amazing. Then Kim had an accident of her own and together the island was their rehabilitation.

Do you think more people are trying to get away from it all now?

Yes, we’ve got so many worries in the world in 2017. People are worried about economics, security, terrorism, world peace, crazy presidents. A show like New Lives in the Wild offers not only escapism from that, it also shows you can buy into a simpler life when we’ve become addicted to so many materialistic things. I thought after the first couple of series we’d run out of interesting people and locations but if anything it’s increasing. More of us are reverting back to basics.

You’ve talked about one day heading off with the family to a remote Scottish island. How do your wife (Marina) and kids feel about that now?

(laughs) I think the kids would choose whatever I choose to do. They’re pretty enthusiastic. My wife isn’t so sure. I made the poor judgement of suggesting we move to a windswept, uninhabited Scottish island on our wedding anniversary a couple of years ago. Marina actually cried. Since that I’ve decided I might be a bit more sensitive and sensible with my suggestions. Given that my schedule takes me away for more than half a year it’s really important that she has all our friends and family around her and they live in London.

One day if I ever stop travelling as much as I do, I do like the idea of finding our own little piece of wilderness. I don’t think it necessarily would be a Scottish island. I’d be open-minded. That’s the great thing about this series – I’ve visited some amazing places.

Is making this show your crafty way of getting away from it all but disguising it as work?

Yeah, of course it is. It is hard being away from the family but I do have the best job in the world. I love meeting people. I’ve got this insatiable curiosity. The more people I meet when I travel, the more I want to do it. This would be my hobby. I would do this for fun if I wasn’t doing it for work. And of course this does let Marina off–the-hook from moving to a faraway place. But every time I come back from somewhere she rolls her eyes because she knows I’ll be suggesting we move to wherever I’ve just come from.

Jim says in the first ep: ‘Worry never does any good, so why worry?’ What do you worry about?

You know what, I probably worry about failure. I’ve always had a fear of failure, mainly because I had so many failings in my early childhood. I failed all my exams, I failed my driving test seven times, I failed to get into drama school. It just seemed to be the word that hung over me like a dark cloud. But my approach to fears and worries now is to approach them head on. We all have fears but do you really need to worry about your appearance? Do you really need to worry whether you have the latest smartphone?

Did you have any encounters with sharks while you were filming in Australia?  

We did see some sharks while we were out there. But we love to be terrified by predators. Every time a shark or a crocodile eats someone – and there have been some horrific attacks – it’s a reminder that we’re not top of the pecking order. We actually kill 100 million sharks a year so they’re going to be extinct very soon if we don’t change that. We saw some blue tips and reefs. It does make you think twice before going in the water but your chances of being eaten are pretty slim.

Have you got anything else on at the moment?

This is my only TV work but my other big role is I’ve been made the United Nations Patron of the Wilderness. I’m using all of my wilderness experience and knowledge of travelling for 25 years to the wildest places to speak to presidents and prime ministers and environmental ministers and big businesses to try and give the wilderness a voice and remind people of the benefits of it when it comes to health and well-being.

Do you think you can get through to President Trump on such issues?

I’ll try. Unfortunately he’s just a money man. He likes to put a price tag on everything and he wants to make everything about himself. He says: ‘America first’ but it’s kind of ‘Trump first.’ But I’m an optimist. I wouldn’t have taken on this role unless I thought I could get through to everyone, including the greatest climate change deniers. As president he’s just cut back on the funding of US national parks. They’re a huge part of American culture. So yes, my new big mission will be to try and convert Trump.

NEW! Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild, Tuesday, 9pm, Channel 5.

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