The Times - UK (2021-12-18)

the times | Saturday December 18 2021 2GM 3

News

Bear Grylls has admitted that “way too
many” animals were killed in the name
of survival on his early television shows.
The adventurer has killed creatures
including rabbits and frogs as part of his
daring expeditions while his survival
show, The Island, featured contestants
killing snakes and an iguana.
But Grylls, 47, says he regrets the
practice as he now believes survivors
should be able to live off animals that
are already dead.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, he said: “I

been “amazing” and there was nothing

that the EastEnders star could not do.

She picks up the beat of Dave Arch’s live

band through her hearing aid, and sens-

es vibrations through the floor. She also

counts in her head and takes cues from

her partner’s body language.

Strictly gave viewers a sense of what

she had experienced during a routine

last month when Arch’s band stopped

playing and Ayling-Ellis continued

dancing. It proved to be one of the high-

lights of the series.

Joe Isaac Powell-main, the first dis-

abled member of the Welsh ballet com-

pany, said Strictly’s embrace of a dis-

abled professional would help to break

down stereotypes.

Rashmi Becker, founder of Step

Change Studios, an inclusive dance

company, added: “There is massive tal-

ent out there, [but] there are a lot of

people that just don’t get the opportuni-

ty. It’s long overdue.”

Speaking before Odudu’s withdraw-

al, Phillips said the final would be one of

the most closely contested ever. “The

standard has just gone sky-high.”

Yesterday Odudu posted a photo of

her right leg in a protective boot and

said she had had two incisions to drain

fluid from her ankle. She added: “The

fact is, I can’t stand let alone dance.”

One of the TV events of the year will be
cut short tonight after a Strictly Come
Dancing finalist was forced to pull out
with ankle ligament damage.
As fans settle on the sofa for the BBC
dance competition, there will be three
fewer routines to feast upon as the TV
presenter AJ Odudu, 33, fell short in her
intensive efforts to be passed fit.
The BBC had been confident right up
until Thursday that Odudu would be
able to compete with her dance partner,
Kai Widdrington, 26, but producers
were told yesterday morning that she
would have to sit out on medical
grounds. They spent the day making
changes to the programme at Elstree
Studios, where Strictly is filmed.
The remaining finalists, Rose Ayling-
Ellis, 27, and John Whaite, 32, will go
head to head for the glitterball trophy,
with both performing three dances as
planned. The programme could be
truncated by up to 30 minutes after it
was scheduled to be shown from 7pm to
9pm on BBC1.
The BBC has ruled out delaying the
final or restoring Rhys Stephenson, 28,
to the programme after he and his part-
ner, Nancy Xu, 30, were eliminated in
last week’s semi-final. Fans had called
for their return but it was out of the
question, not least because they had
not rehearsed. Ayling-Ellis and her
partner, Giovanni Pernice, 31, are the
favourites, while Whaite and Johannes
Radebe, 34, could become the first
same-sex pair-
ing to be
crowned
champions.
The eleventh-
hour changes to
the Strictly final
came as the BBC
committed itself
to finding the
show’s first dis-
abled professional
dancer. Kate Phil-
lips, the broadcast-
er’s controller of
entertainment,
said a disabled pro-
fessional would be a
natural progression
following the
success of Ayling-
Ellis, the show’s first
deaf contestant, and
its record of booking Paralympians.
“What Strictly has done really well
this year is that diversity and inclusion
have felt pretty effortless. We should be
building on that every year,” Phillips

said. “I think it

would be really ex-

citing to have a pro

with a disability.”

Amy Dowden,

the Welsh professional who part-

nered the musician Tom Fletcher dur-

ing this year’s series, has Crohn’s dis-

ease, a condition that is considered a

disability by some.

Phillips added that Ayling-Ellis had

T

onight the curtain falls on

what has probably been the

best Strictly yet. Not just in

the way the producers have

kept the show on the road

in the face of Covid absentees (even

the judge Craig Revel Horwood was

struck down) but in the quality of

the dancing.

The judging panel have been

waving their ten paddles with the

fervour of a Lib Dem supporter

in North Shropshire. Last

week’s semi-final saw 22

tens, with more expected

in tonight’s battle

between the deaf

actress Rose Ayling-

Ellis and the chef

John Whaite (poor

AJ). Whoever wins

will create one of

those heart-warming

stories beloved of shiny

floor entertainment

show producers. Ayling-

Ellis has danced with

maturity and elegance but

perhaps her greatest contribution

has been moving the dial in how the

nation discusses deafness; the break

in the music in her dance to Clean

Bandit’s Symphony created the top

moment in the series so far when

she let viewers into her world. And

she has the most enchanting smile

ever seen on television.

Whaite has made history by

forming the first all-male pairing

with Johannes Radebe. They not

only strut their stuff with skill but

their journey means a lot to them,

judging by the number of times

Radebe has burst into tears. He, like

the rest of this year’s crop has rarely

struck a phoney note. You rather

wish they could give the glitterball

trophy to them all.

Final twist in Strictly showdown

The show will go on

without TV presenter

AJ Odudu who has

injured her ankle,

reports Jake Kanter

All the stars

glittered in

this series

Ben Dowell

Comment

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I regret killing wild animals on TV expeditions, admits Grylls

think in terms of survival and food,

definitely in the early days we were kill-

ing way too many snakes and stuff like

that in the name of survival. I’ve moved

so far away from that nowadays. It’s

always about finding carcasses, bugs

and grubs. If you look at great survivors

historically they were always the

foragers.

“You go after the big game and you

take too much risk and you burn too

much energy.”

Grylls said that the increased popu-

larity of veganism and vegetarianism

had also shifted his focus. “I have taken

many, many stars who are vegan and

vegetarian into the wild,” he said. “It has

been a wonderful adventure and I am

always super respectful of that.”

Grylls, who was discussing his new

autobiography Never Give Up, recently

revealed that his position on climate

change had also changed.

“When I started out in my career of

filming and expeditions and travelling

to all these weird places in the world, I

was maybe a little bit of a climate

sceptic,” he said.

“I figured that the world is pretty

resilient. How much impact can

humankind have on a world that is so

big and powerful? Fifteen years later,

I’ve changed. I no longer ask those

questions. I’ve seen it, over and over

again.

“I’ve seen it in every corner of our

great planet — extreme ‘one-off’

weather, freak conditions, totally

unseasonal flooding, unprecedented

wildfires, polluted broken oceans that

are often, I’ve seen, starting to turn to

swamps. Thousands of remote Pacific

islands covered, so you can’t even see

the ground, in plastic and rubbish.

Habitats and wilderness starving.”

Ross Kaniuk

Bear Grylls said he was influenced by

the increased popularity of veganism