Survivalist Bear Grylls calls recent book his proudest work: ‘Nothing compares to retelling the actual story of Jesus’

Bear Grylls says he desires to be remembered less for summiting Everest or surviving distant wilderness than for telling the story of Jesus Christ. The British survivalist and TV personality told ITV’s This Morning that his recent book, The Greatest Story Ever Told: An Eyewitness Account, is the toughest project he has ever undertaken—and the legacy he hopes will outlast his fame.

Speaking with presenters Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on Friday (Sept. 26), Grylls said the retelling of the lifetime of Christ, drawn from the eyewitness accounts of the gospels, has touched people around the globe and is the work he’s most happy with. The book, released earlier this summer, 2025, is already a Sunday Times bestseller.

An introduction for this system said “He’s climbed Everest, crossed the Arctic, even survived on a deserted island but survivalist superstar Bear Grylls says none of it compares to his latest adventure!”

The “adventure” mentioned is his “retelling of the story of Jesus which he says he’d surrender every summit, every Emmy and each show to have written.”

Grylls told O’Leary and Hammond that writing the story of Jesus Christ, based on the eyewitness accounts of the gospels, had definitely been his “hardest achievement” and definitely the one he felt most happy with completing. 

“It’s touching people’s lives everywhere in the world,” Grylls said on this system. “And I mean we’ve got all done a lot of things in our lives and put things on the market but I believe out of every part that is what I get essentially the most letters, texts,  messages… from people of all cultures, all faiths, and from all countries generally saying [they] had no idea of really the actual story.”

O’Leary called Grylls a “man of religion” and lauded that the adventurer evoked no sense of judgementalism but his Christianity proved to be a “compass to who you’re. It’s your North Star.” The presenter then probed Grylls about where his idea for the book originated.  

“I believe so few people, myself included, grew up knowing the actual story,” explained Grylls, on this system. “The unsanitised, unchristmassy story of all of it. And the actual story is so shocking and exquisite and exciting and difficult.”

Grylls elaborated that many individuals grew up as children with a way of familiarity with Bible stories, corresponding to the parable of the Good Samaritan or the Nativity play. 

“But actually the entire story is so life enhancing and life empowering and difficult and exquisite,” Grylls went on. “And people don’t read the Bible. It is tough to read. I believe if you may have faith then it’s obviously milk and honey, it’s amazing. But I believe simply to read it straight is tough for people and I believe [this book] is a very good bridge into faith. 

“I believe individuals are really hungry for purpose and meaning and finding light and love and residential of their lives.”

Grylls, adding that “nobody had ever done this,” said a church pastor within the U.S. had written to him saying that the adventurer’s approach was akin to thriller author John Grisham writing the gospels. 

Hammond compared Grylls’ need to put in writing the book to the calling of Noah within the Bible. Noah knew he had to construct the ark, she said, despite people laughing at him. Similarly, she said that Grylls had sensed a calling to put in writing the story of Jesus. 

Grylls agreed that he felt a way of purpose in writing the story, despite jeering by some people. However, he stressed the importance of “following your heart” as an overriding philosophy in his personal life. 

“I did feel an actual sense of ‘clear the decks’ and write this. I worked with an excellent team of theologians to get this really right and accurate, and in some ways they’re the actual heroes on this whole journey. My feeling now could be that it is nearly now not my book. It’s on the market and it’s all of our stories wrapped up, and it [the gospel] draws people and enhances and empowers their lives.”

Grylls also spoke of the importance of telling the story of Jesus for his own legacy as a celeb. He said that if in 100 years’ time, if people remembered that ”band-legged white English man who ran across the jungle” the one thing he would love to be remembered for, is writing the book about Jesus.  

O’Leary, confessing himself to be a Catholic, commended the high level of research within the book. He identified that reading the Bible is “demanding” and alleged there are contradictions within the scriptures. 

Grylls, in response, said that asking questions on life must be encouraged and confided his own doubts. “My faith goes up and down, and it’s a journey,” he said.

© Christian Daily International