Discovery.com: Welcome to our live chat with Bear Grylls, host of Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. Want to know more about what it takes to survive in hostile environments? Bear will try to answer as many questions as possible in one hour's time. So ask away! And don't miss Man vs. Wild , Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the Discovery Channel.
Bear: Hi. I just watched the show for the first time myself! Hope you enjoyed it.
retzl90: Who films the show, and how do they follow you?
Bear: The camera guy and the guy doing the camcorder in many ways are the real heroes of the show and have worked so hard for me behind the scenes. Simon and Paul have become good friends over the series and have had a great adventure along the way. It was funny — they started out going "Bear, that was great" or "That was radical" and by the end, it was "Yawn, yawn, another snake!" They're great guys, and really close friends.
MrOrtin: How did you get interested in survival techniques in the first place?
Bear: I was brought up to climb with my dad when I was a young kid. It was a big part of my life growing up. My job with the British Special Forces was to climb and combat survival as well.
G Gunther: Have you at times stared fear in the face? Such as after a long strenuous day the environment gets even worse? Yet you fight to keep your composure?
Bear: Yes, of course. I'm human, and I've spent a lot of time on mountains and expeditions and even on this series you come out being frightened. But I've learned that that's OK. What matters is to keep smiling, keep going, and as Churchill said, never give up.
MrOrtin: In the video clip on the Discovery site, you fell into and then got out of icy water. What would you have done if you hadn't had dry clothes and a fire ready?
Bear: I would have made making a fire my first priority. This is why doing this sort of thing is so dangerous, and why you have to be prepared. That's why I started the fire beforehand. To give you an idea, within a minute of taking my T-shirt off, it had frozen.
Tommy: What was it like climbing Mount Everest?
Bear: It was a long 3 1/2 months. Sadly, four climbers lost their lives. But two of us did reach the top and that moment was everything I'd ever dreamt of and more. I felt very lucky to reach the top and to get off that mountain alive.
Kyle: What is probably the top three rules to staying alive?
Bear: Be prepared. Common sense. And the human spirit.
Tommy: Do you have any pointers on starting a fire?
Bear: Really, really dry tinder. And prepare your fire well, i.e. make sure you don't go through all the effort of getting your tinder going, then not have enough kindling to keep it going. Trust me — I've done this a few times.
markvader: Where in the world would you most hate to find yourself and have to walk out of to survive?
Bear: I think the Arctic is an especially difficult environment because it's not just cold, it's a damp cold. And I've spent too much time in my life being damp and cold, and I know how miserable that can be.
