Bear & Jonny Wilkinson’s Wild Adventure on ITV air date confirmed

Bear Grylls will be pushing former rugby union player Jonny Wilkinson to his limits in Bear & Jonny Wilkinson’s Wild Adventure.

Jonny will face the grueling and harsh terrain of Dartmoor in a once in a lifetime experience and test his survival instincts.

Airing on Tuesday, 16 March on ITV, Jonny will join Bear to battle the wild and push his physical and mental limits. Jonny will also learn the key basic survival skills necessary to survive in remote terrain like Dartmoor.

In addition to the physical challenge of the adventures, Bear will also have the chance to get to know his companion by speaking to him about his life, achievements, key life moments, as well as his hopes for the future. And of course, Bear will be sourcing some wilderness survival food to sustain them through the journeys.

In this first show of the series Jonny struggles with heights and confined spaces so the hidden world on the fringes of Dartmoor that Bear has selected offers both 50 metre sheer drops and damp cramp caves.

Even before their descent into a dank and unwelcoming world Jonny is telling candid tales of how driven and obsessed he was as a child, how a missed kick brought weeks of mental torment and acute fear of failure to a ten-year old Jonny.

Climbing hand over hand, an old commando assault technique, Jonny is soon fighting his way up a 40 meter slimy chimney in the rock face but it’s the conversation with Bear at the top that reveals the true obsessive nature of Jonny Wilkinson, and how he has learned to harness a force that would drive him to become one of the world’s best rugby players but which would ultimately take him to the brink of a mental breakdown.

Over a campfire lunch with a French twist, Jonny goes into forensic detail about the pivotal moment in his life when his kick won the Rugby World Cup for England and the pair brilliantly recreate that moment with a first aid kit standing in for the ball.

Ice baths were never Jonny’s thing but with a freezing river in full flow on route, there was no way Bear will let Jonny avoid facing all his greatest fears.

Bear & Jonny Wilkinson’s Wild Adventure, Tuesday 16th March at 8PM on ITV

A second episode featuring Nicola Adams has also been confirmed