“All worthwhile journeys have big obstacles. It’s the way of the world. The rewards go to those who can push through those trying moments and still manage to keep a smile on their face.”

The appeal of the wild for me is its unpredictability. You have to develop an awareness, react fast, be resourceful and come up with a plan and act on it.

There’s no magic to running far or climbing Everest. Endurance is mental strength. It’s all about heart.

Success almost always follows great attitude. The two attract each other!

Never depend on those luck moments – they are gifts – but instead always build your own back-up plan.

Americans are cool, if you show just a chink of vulnerability, they respond so much. They’ll pat you on the arm and say, ‘Hey kid, you’re all right’. Brits will respond but they are much more cynical.

You can’t become a decent horseman until you fall off and get up again, a good number of times. There’s life in a nutshell.

Textbook survival tells you to stay put. Stop. Wait for rescue. Don’t take any risks. But there’d been a whole host of survival shows like that and I didn’t really want to do that.

I train five days a week hard – but it is short and sharp – 30 to 40 minutes of functional and pretty dynamic body-strength circuits, then I do a good yoga session on the sixth day, then I rest.

I always had a really natural faith as a kid. Where I knew God existed and it felt very free and pretty wild and natural, and it wasn’t religious.

I’ve never really had a TV career. I’ve been a soldier and a climber.

Yes, the Boy Scouts of America should definitely allow gay adult leaders and I think it’s really going to hold them back if they don’t.

Our fate is determined by how far we are prepared to push ourselves to stay alive – the decisions we make to survive. We must do whatever it takes to endure and make it through alive.

Above all, I feel a quiet pride that for the rest of my days I can look at myself in the mirror and know that once upon a time I was good enough. Good enough to call myself a member of the SAS. Some things don’t have a price tag.

Both faith and fear may sail into your harbor, but only allow faith to drop anchor.

My Christian faith is my backbone

Adventure should be 80 percent ‘I think this is manageable,’ but it’s good to have that last 20 percent where you’re right outside your comfort zone. Still safe, but outside your comfort zone.