Witter: What’s happening?
BG: Just back from Borneo. Got bitten by a snake, but I had it for supper later — in the orangutan nest I’d made, up in the jungle canopy.
Blimey. A poisonous snake?
Non-venomous luckily. It went pretty crazy as I pulled it out of a tree and it flew back and got me. First time I’ve got bit in 70 episodes.
As chief scout do they give you a special woggle?
I don’t want any special woggle! We’re all part of something special together.
Touching. What is it about the Scouts and woggles that makes people giggle?
All the good things in my life make me chuckle a little — that’s part of the fun!
How can you make camping, tying knots and helping old ladies across the road more appealing for young people?
I get kids in the street asking how they can learn the skills they see on Born Survivor. I tell them: join the Scouts! It’s how I started.
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Let’s face it — you seem more “gap yah” than cool. Wouldn’t the Scouts be better off with Jay-Z or Dizzee Rascal as chief scout?
Scouts do much more amazing things than I did in my gap yah. I joined the army as a squaddie. But Jay-Z could be a good successor!
Do scoutmasters still have an, ahem, dodgy reputation?
It’s easy to be cynical. Don’t be! Go and hang with some scouts on a tough council estate in Liverpool. It will change your life.
Your father was a prominent Eurosceptic Tory MP. You seem like a natural Tory to me — Eton, and that überposh nickname, Bear. Fair?
Be careful how you judge! That’s why I joined the SAS as a trooper not a Guards officer! PS: Dad was heaven.
Is there a part of you that is an exhibitionist? I mean, isn’t rowing naked down the Thames — even for charity — a bit showy?
Well, I was asked by my best buddy to raise funds for a friend’s artificial leg (he’s African — no access to NHS). We got him his leg!
Is it all about you? In your game do you need a huge ego?
I never got into TV to be famous. It’s the adventure: climbing cliffs, shooting rapids, chasing snakes. Fame’s a crazy thing to pursue.
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Bear Grylls is Britain’s chief scout. www.scouts.org.uk