Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has revealed the “most traumatic” moment of his time on Celebrity Bear Hunt—and it wasn’t when he almost drowned.
The 59-year-old interior designer is among the famous faces taking part in the new Netflix series, which sees them dropped into the jungle of Costa Rica to become “prey” for TV survivalist Bear Grylls, whose job it is to hunt them down.
On Wednesday, the former Changing Room star appeared on This Morning to chat with hosts Ben Shephard, 50, and Cat Deeley, 48, about the show alongside co-stars Una Healy, 43, Steph McGovern, 42, and Boris Becker, 57.
During the interview, the interiors expert admitted: “I realised I was the only one there with my own stuff!”
A stunned Shephard quickly asked: “So you smuggled in contraband?”
"Well, I wore in contraband and no one said no," he cheekily replied. “Eventually they did, they did twig and I found myself having to wear high street.
“That was the most traumatic thing. Oh my God. Wearing chain store clothes... it was really itchy!”
He recently opened up about the moment Bear Grylls saved his life while filming. Speaking to MailOnline, the furniture designer shared how the dangerous situation almost ended tragically.
"It turns out, I'm actually not built to be an Avenger," he joked. "I really thought I could take this on. I was full of adrenaline and confidence, but sadly, my abilities were not quite up to the task."
He explained how he got stuck under a raft but, instead of stopping, he pressed on, eventually losing consciousness and experiencing chest pains.
“The next thing I know, I get Bear on top of me – which I know millions of people would give their arm for. But he felt like a damp bag of spanners!”
His comments come after Spice Girl Mel B said being hunted by Grylls was the “scariest thing” and akin to a “nightmare”.
The 49-year-old told the PA news agency: “It was the worst, most scariest thing. It’s like one of those dreams that you know is a dream, and it’s a nightmare, but it’s actually true.”
She continued: “At one point he was up there, and I was underneath the rock, and I could hear him breathing, and I’m thinking, ‘Do I move? Don’t I move?’
“It’s like pure panic and then when you know he’s on to you, you start to run like the panthers and hope that you don’t fall over and damage any part of your body because once he starts running at you, that is it.
“And I didn’t even know he could run that fast.”
Presenter Holly Willoughby, 43, said all of the contestants surprised her and suggested that people might “underestimate” the female celebrities competing.
“You can’t help but have previous expectations of all of them really,” she told the outlet. “You sort of have an idea in your head ‘Well, that person’s gonna be like this, or I’ve seen that person doing this sort of thing’, and I think we’re all a bit guilty of putting people in boxes.
“And actually, all of them surprised me.”
Grylls added: “I got a real kick out of seeing people like Shirley (Ballas) really come alive.
“So I think she sort of arrived a little back foot, feeling she’s older than everyone else, she’s never done anything like this before. How’s she going to cope?
“But actually, so much of survival and adventure is a state of mind, it’s how you approach stuff.
“And you can’t get to be at that level of her profession and dancing without having a streak of steel, being committed, brave, good under pressure. So she started to really grow.”
The other competitors include model Leomie Anderson and Ted Lasso star Kola Bokinni.
TV chef Big Zuu, The Inbetweeners actor Joe Thomas, former tennis player Boris Becker and retired rugby player Danny Cipriani complete the line-up.
Celebrity Bear Hunt is on Netflix from February 5
