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The Series – Desert Island
Bear Grylls is a real-life Robinson Crusoe, washed up on the shores of an uninhabited Polynesian island. These beautiful islands attract millions of visitors, but every year over 1000 people get into trouble and the surrounding seas are some of the most deadly in the world.
Bear drops into the sea two miles from the shoreline as if he were a stranded sailor. Just getting on to land is a fight itself; Bear must battle the crashing waves and fierce rip tides.
Finding a sheltered beach, Bear builds a fire to attract rescuers and fishes for a well-earned supper. But finding water is a challenge on an island with no fresh springs. Coconut milk is the answer, but scaling palms is harder and more painful than it looks.
Eventually, Bear decides to build a raft from bamboo and hibiscus bark that will take him to busy shipping lanes and increase his chances of being rescued. With a water bottle and a fishing line and hook, made from a fish bone, he sets to sea. He captures a surgeon fish, which has rather unpalatable razor sharp fins.
As there is no shade on the raft, Bear has to take regular dips in the water to cool off. On one occasion he finds himself face to face with one of the sea's most ruthless predators – a 17-foot tiger shark.
Find out why sharks attack
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