Bear Grylls 'made £3.5m last year from merchandise alone'
Adventurer Bear Grylls is said to have made almost £3.5million last year on merchandising alone.
The former SAS soldier, 41, was almost unknown a decade ago - but is now a household name thanks to his television escapes that have seen him battle the elements, eat tarantulas and elephant dung and circumnavigate the UK on a jet-ski for his shows. He is now so high profile that his latest series Running Wild with Bear Grylls featured President Obama as a guest.
The ex-Etonian made £3.3million on merchandising profits in 2015 - believed to be a 50-fold increase in five years.
Products available to buy under the Bear Grylls brand include survival knives, protein shakes, and propeller-powered parachutes. Furthermore, the figure is minus profits made from his largest markets in China and the US and is without money made from his shows.
In an interview with Radio Times, he insisted he was “not a big bean counter” - before crediting his success to his belief in God.