A Personal Profile: Ray Mears

Ray Mears is an English TV star and survival expert. His interest in survival began in childhood. When he was young, Ray wanted to explore local forests because he was very interested in animals, especially foxes. However, he couldn’t afford camping equipment. Instead, Ray worked out how to spend nights outside without them.

In 1994, he appeared on his first TV programme. Since then, Ray's starred in over ten different shows. These are still very popular because they are quite exciting. Ray doesn’t just tell us how to survive. He shows us! On a typical show, we may see him digging for water in a drought, for example, or hunting a rabbit for supper.

Unlike other presenters, Ray is more interested in teaching us than shocking us, so he doesn’t do crazy things, like wrestling alligators! He believes that people who want to survive mustn’t do anything dangerous. However, we probably wouldn’t want to try all of his ideas. Some of them aren’t very pleasant! For instance, Ray believes that worms can be excellent food if you’re hungry. But I don't think I'm going to try one very soon! Ray Mears believes that everyone should learn some basic survival skills. One day they could save our lives! For example, imagine you get lost on a walk. What would you do? On his UK survival courses, Ray teaches children and adults how to make a fire, find water and even catch fish amongst many other things!

In 2009, three young British tourists called Chiara, Rachel and Rory got lost in a forest in Malaysia. They were very hungry, wet and frightened of the dangerous snakes. Luckily, Rory liked watching TV! He remembered some advice from a Ray Mear's TV show. The friends followed a river until it reached the coast, where they found help. They survived – thanks to Ray!