Ray Mears has addressed his long-standing rivalry with Bear Grylls, claiming that he wasn’t aware that his fellow TV host was still making shows.
A war of words erupted between the pair in 2008, after Mears dismissed Grylls as a “showman” and a “boy scout”.
“I think the viewer knows that if you want to really know how to take care of yourself in the wild, I’m the person to talk to,” he told Radio Times.
More than a decade later, Mears, 60, has revisited the feud with Grylls. During an interview with The Times, Mears admitted to not being aware that Grylls was still making television shows.
“I don’t know [Grylls is still making TV]. I don’t watch [them]. But if he is, good luck to him, because quite frankly right now [the TV world] is a difficult place. A lot of very good people have given up altogether.”
He adds: “He does his thing, I do mine. There’s an old saying, ‘If you blow somebody else’s candle out it doesn’t make yours burn brighter.’ I’ve never wanted to blow his candle out. I don’t mind that he does what he does.”
Grylls, 50, previously called Mears’ comments about him "rude" and "outrageous" but he conceded that the BBC presenter was “much tougher” than him.
Mears, who is a professional woodsman and instructor, began presenting television in the mid-1990s eventually fronting his own shows including Bushcraft and World of Survival.
Grylls began his career in mid-2000s and has been a regular feature on the small screen ever since.
Fans will soon be able to see him in the Netflix reality show Celebrity Bear Hunt where the British adventurer hunts celebrities.
Celebrity Bear Hunt, which will air on 5 February on the streaming service, will be presented by Holly Willoughby. The show will revolve around 12 celebrities surviving in the Costa Rican jungle, while Grylls hunts them down like the Predator.
The full line-up for the show is TV host Steph McGovern, The Inbetweeners’ Joe Thomas, Spice Girls’ singer Mel B, tennis player Boris Becker, Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, model Leomie Anderson, rugby player Danny Cipriani, actor Kola Bokinni, The Saturdays’ Una Healy, rapper Big Zu, model Lottie Moss and interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.
