Bear Grylls shares scary footage of moment he was inches away from losing his life

Bear Grylls is famous because of his seemingly unstoppable ability to survive, but perhaps unsurprisingly, he has had a few close calls.

The adventurer, 48, opened up about the times he nearly lost his life and he explained that, until now, he's never spoken about his closest call.

Grylls explained that it took place when filming Mans VS Wild in the jungles of Sumatra, and it involved a jungle river that was in 'full flood'.

"Really, the lesson is never get in a jungle river in full flood," he said. "My instinct was telling me this, but we needed to find a route down this river.

"The reason jungle rivers in full flood are so dangerous is because brown water hides all the strainers, all the logs, and I got it in and the crew got in a little inflatable boat behind.

"We were shooting through these rapids, and there was a big undercut of rock.

"I got taken under this thing. The crew boat went past and I put my hand up, and I just managed to grab one of the crew's hands and pass.

"That split second saved my life because I would have been taken under that rock shelf, and I would have never come out."

What makes this incident all the more shocking is the fact that prior to it, Grylls had already come close to losing his life on a number of occasions.

Discovery / Man VS Wild

The first was when he was just a child, and couldn't resist attempting to cross a harbor in low tide - something that he had been warned not to do.

He explained that he knew he was in trouble when he began to sink into the mud, but thankfully, this early failed adventure did not go unnoticed and the emergency services were called.

Grylls went on to have a number of other terrifying close calls before the jungle river incident, including a number on Mount Everest, where the adventurer recently lent his talents in a bid to find Spencer Matthew's deceased brother, Michael.

"We had four climbers lose their lives up there during the three months I was on that mountain," Grylls said. "Two died of the cold. Two fell.

"I very nearly lost my life down a deep crevasse.

"I was almost taken by an avalanche that missed me by 100 foot.

"I had a bunch of close calls on that mountain. It's a humbling experience, and in many ways I left with less confidence than when I went. But I survived it.

"Those precious few moments on the top in some ways felt a hollow victory."

Bear Grylls said conquering Everest was a 'hollow victory'.

As reported by the MailOnline, while Grylls did his best to find Michael, who died in 1999, he was unfortunately unsuccessful and the search continues.

He said: "We actually had an expedition on Everest to try to recover the body of the brother of a good friend, who climbed it the year after I was there but was never found.

"We really tried. We had the best team in the world."