BROADCASTER, adventurer and recently revealed Masked Singer Ben Fogle is heading to a new series of venues for the final leg of his hit tour WILD this spring.
Sharing inspiring and uplifting stories from a life of amazing encounters, the popular presenter is on the road through February and March with ‘Ben Fogle – WILD’, visiting 25 new towns and cities.
The production sees Ben, best known from hit shows including Animal Park and New Lives In The Wild, sharing stories of hope, possibility and positivity, all learned from a career which has taken him to some of the most extreme locations in the world, whether filming documentaries or tackling some of mankind’s greatest physical challenges.
But his most recent challenge was both physical and mental, taking to the stage as a giant, aerobics-kit-wearing Sloth on ITV’s The Masked Singer – which sees famous folk disguise themselves to perform for a celebrity panel.
Despite having never previously showcased any singing talents, Ben made it to the semi-final before his identity was revealed – getting further through the competition than the likes of Strictly’s Anton Du Beke and rapper Professor Green.
“It still feels like a bit of a blur,” he says of the experience, which was filmed in October and has aired since the start off this year. “I’d had to do all my prep and singing lessons for it via Zoom while I was filming in China.
“The only person I told was my wife, as I was sure she’d think I was having an affair – disappearing off without really saying why, in slightly strange outfits, every Friday.”
Being disguised as a sloth and singing is a giant leap from where it all began for Ben when he first came to the nation’s attention in 2000 as one of 36 people selected for the ground-breaking BBC Castaway series.
Reflecting on the career he has built since then, Ben said: “I think it’s all luck, but you make a bit of that yourself. I had always loved travel, nature, the outdoors – that’s why I did Castaway.
“Heading off to spend a year on an island with a load of strangers, gave me a real grounding, and a foundation of what it takes to make a simple, off-grid life, which in turn gave me the qualifications to do something like New Lives In The Wild – to spend time with people living their whole life the way I did for 12 months.”
New Lives is currently screening its 21st series, with Ben having spent 15 years travelling the world to meet people living extreme off-grid lives.
Ben’s experience of meeting people living in some of the world’s most diverse environments – taking in the wilderness of northern Sweden, jungles of Honduras, the hostility of Chernobyl and mountains of Nepal – forms the basis of live tour WILD, and the show takes audiences on a journey to relive some of the inspiring and uplifting tales Ben has encountered.
Ben’s love of the great outdoors reaches back to his own childhood, where his time was divided between rural Dorset and central London, with extended school holiday trips to the Canadian wilderness to visit his paternal grandparents.
So, for someone who has experienced the wilder side of life, whether on expeditions or through meeting those who make a lifelong commitment to it, could Ben ever step fully out of modern life, and would he take his family along for the adventure?
“I’m incredibly lucky that I get to straddle two worlds, being in the urban world with all it offers then going off to the wilderness – and that gives me perspective, which is so important in life,” he explains.
“There’s definitely something about that kind of life that appeals to me – but not right now.
“My children, Ludo and Iona, are very much involved in urban living. They have spent time in the jungle, on remote islands, wood cabins, the Norwegian wilderness. But then they go to school and are very much engaged with ‘normal’ society, and love using computers, having pizza or going to the cinema.
“We live outside London now, and that helps – we ride horses, go wild swimming, long dog walks. But it’s a balance; I want them to be street savvy as well as being able in bush craft skills. I want my children to be able to wire a plug and start a fire, to make a bed and to put up a tent. They’re all skills for life and don’t need to be exclusive.
“It’s one of the biggest lessons I think I’ve learnt from meeting hundreds of people all over the world – that too many people follow a prescription for life and don’t think about how you can change that.
“Yes, on one hand, I live a prescriptive life with two children, a couple of dogs, paying taxes, being very much part of society. But on the other hand, I have a pretty alternative life, spending much of the year away from home because of what I do for a living.
“There are sacrifices to be made to live in a cabin in the woods, and I’m not ready for that; I love those great cultural events, arts, cinema, books. So, what I have realised is that the search for a perfect balance is actually more important.
“My life is not something everyone could have. But I hope that after joining me on the WILD tour, people will consider what kind of things they can do in their own life, the small changes to make to find that balance.”
Taking part in The Masked Singer has been part of that balance for Ben, who admits he had maybe been taking life a little bit too seriously for a too long, and now, in his mid-50s, he’s looking more for the fun factor than the fear factor.
“Starting out in ‘reality TV’ – because that is what Castaway was – I have always tried to kind of shake off that assumed reputation, by doing serious things like climbing Everest or reaching the South Pole,” he said.
“The Masked Singer was a challenge, it was out of my comfort zone, but it was purely about fun. I love singing… In the kitchen and shower, not in front of an audience necessarily. But the costume gives you such freedom and confidence.
“Getting to the semi-final was amazing! I’ve had a lot of people ask if I will be singing on the tour now, and maybe I will.
“Which song? You’ll have to come along to find out!”
Tickets for BEN FOGLE – WILD in Eastbourne on 11th March are on sale now from nothird.co.uk
