Here at Schön! We are used to catching up with busy people who are on the go; perhaps grabbing an interview over a quick coffee or an international Skype call before the interviewee gets on a flight. But in our latest conversation with Man vs World presenter (read: daredevil who we love to watch doing things that we wouldn’t attempt) Rob Bell, he lives up to his reputation. We spoke to Rob while he was on a bumpy bus journey through Brazil. His new series sees him taking on the world one crazy challenge after the next. Luckily, ‘World’ hasn’t got the better of him yet…
Rob Bell / Man vs World
Man Vs World sees you traversing landscapes on manpower – how did you come up with this concept and was it something that you were already working on or doing in your free time?
I’d been working with Travel Channel doing a short series on the engineering behind some of London’s tourist attractions. I love all things mechanical and machinery. They came to learn about my other passion in life, sport and endurance races and it was them who came up with the idea of Man v World.
I try to keep fit in my day to day life and I race fairly regularly in endurance events. Fortunately during the filming of the series I was in training for ‘L’Etape’ (a mountain stage of the Tour de France open to amateur racers a couple of weeks before the pros go through) and the Berlin Marathon. I’m not sure I’d have survived or succeeded in all of the challenges had I not been training so hard.
Are you ever part way through a challenge and then think to yourself ‘What am I doing!’ – or does that thought process enter at any stage?
There were definitely times when World was close to beating Man. That’s when it becomes a mental battle as well as physical. The philosophy of mind over matter fascinates me no end. If you can dial in to a Never Say Die attitude and just keep going it’s amazing what you can make your body do – even when it’s screaming at you to stop.
There were also a couple of times when I had to tell the little voices in my head telling me not to do something to shut up. Mostly when it came to jumping off stuff really. Cliffs, bridges, waterfalls… That kind of thing. So I’m not sure a defeatist attitude ever really materialises, but the challenges did throw up some really tough stuff.
Talk us through some of the things that you have been up to in the series so far, and what we can expect from the final episodes…
So far in the series I’ve been to Cape Town, Cornwall, The Pieniny mountains in Poland and The Garden Route in South Africa. I’ve travelled by land, sea, air and horseback. I’ve gone up, down, under and through. From kayaking to canyoning, mountain biking to mountain boarding and abseiling to stand up paddle boarding, my journeys do take in a lot of different sports. My favourite challenge was perhaps when I joined forces with a Czech pro road cycling team for a 95km alpine ride. Definitely the most physically demanding activity of the series. You’ll also see me taking some pretty hard tumbles in Snowdonia. Everyone loves a good fall right?!
Have you had any professional training as an explorer or are you self taught?
I’ve always had a curiosity in my surroundings and naturally want to go and explore. I’m the son of a scout leader too so I’m sure that’s played a part in my love of being outdoors and out in nature. As for any professional training… Can you get a degree in Exploring??
Do you think that this series will encourage people to go out and push themselves in the same way?
I absolutely loved making this series. I consider myself a very lucky boy for having the opportunity to go to these beautiful places, meet all the fantastic people en route and of course get stuck in to some really fun and adventurous challenges. Hopefully there’s something for everyone in Man vs World. If you are an active person then there’s bound to be some things you’ve never tried before that maybe you’ll be tempted to after watching the series.
If you’re not so active there’s still plenty to enjoy. The places we visited continuously left me in awe of their natural beauty. And I really do hope everyone can see how much fun some of the stuff I got to do could be if perhaps they gave it a try. Land yachting in Cape Town springs to mind. So much fun and very little physical effort required. I giggled like a school girl the whole time.
Man vs. World is on the Travel Channel. You can see the final episode tonight at 9pm or catch up with the series here.
For even more inspirational explorers, check out the latest issue of Schön! which profiles some of the greatest explorers of our time.
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