Ben Fogle: WILD tour comes to Sheffield as he talks Buffalo, the Masked Singer sloth and Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen

Yet that’s the furry guise he used on ITV’s the Masked Singer – in which mystery celebrities sing in outlandish costumes as a panel tries to guess their identity - before he was unveiled earlier this month.

“The message that I'd like my kids to take away from this, and anyone else to watch it, is that if I was willing to laugh at myself like that and not take myself too seriously, you can too,” he says when speaking to the YP a couple of days on from the television reveal.

“From a masculinity perspective, I do quite alpha, masculine things, but I'm also very happy to prance around a stage in a giant pink tutu singing the Frog Song on national TV, dressed as a sloth. And I think that's the kind of masculinity that I would encourage people to embrace.”

Also, he says “this is the year of doing strange, different things. I've spoken to you guys before about my recent acquisition of a Yorkshire business, Buffalo in Sheffield. That was one of the strange things that I've done this year and the other was the Masked Singer.

Fogle, alongside tailor James Sleater, acquired the Sheffield-based outdoor clothing brand Buffalo Systems in early 2025.

But we are talking, principally, about his latest speaking tour, WILD.

“I think there's a lot of negativity in the world. I think there's a lot of very depressing, heavy news. Even algorithms of social media are swayed towards negativity and hatred. I wanted a show that was unashamedly optimistic, hopeful and positive. I wanted to consolidate 25 years of adventures - so everything from the very first show I ever did, living on Taransay for the BBC Castaway show that was in 1999, 26 years ago now, through to climbing Everest and walking to the South Pole, visiting Chernobyl, swimming with crocodiles and 15 years of making New Lives in the Wild.

“I wanted to bring all of those stories to life and to basically bring the audience with me. So I do that with illustrations, with photos, with video, with music. It's a show that hopefully will just take people out of the now for two hours and leave them with a large smile on their face. Hopefully a bit like sloth did on Saturday night.”

Of course, now he’s branched out into variety entertainment, they can also expect a singalong too.

Fogle first became known publicly after quitting his job as a picture editor CHECK at Tatler and signing up for television show Castaway 2000 – reality TV was only just starting then – living wild on an uninhabited island of the Outer Hebrides for a year.

He has since presented numerous programmes including Countryfile, Wild In Africa and New Lives In The Wild.

The presenter has made documentaries on Prince William in Africa, disease in Ethiopia, Captain Scott in Antarctica and crocodiles in Botswana, and toured the world for various broadcasting assignments to more than 200 places.

He married wife Marina in 2006 after meeting her in the park while walking their dogs Inca and Maggi. They have two children, Ludo and Iona, and black Labrador Storm.

Fogle believes that New Lives in the Wild, on Channel 5, is popular because it shows that there is “a very happy alternative” way of life.

“We talk about rewilding our environments but we actually often forget that we also need to rewild ourselves. In some ways, that's what this show is about. Me, a city boy, I grew up in central London, how I've been able to reconnect with the wilderness and rewild myself and reengage because it's only only once you have that relationship and you have rebonded with the wilderness in which we should be living, that you begin to respect it and care for it and champion it.”

Ecological disaster looms but there is optimism to be found in solutions too.

“There are some extraordinary wildernesses left. In England, I would argue that Yorkshire is one of our environments that is still, in some parts, quite pristine, but being encroached by more and more people and it's a real challenge for all of us. But I still see a lot of hope. I see a lot of good people doing a lot of good, positive things. So I remain hopeful and that's perhaps how I translate this in the show. It's very easy to be guilted into feeling that we're all destroying the whole planet. Now, don't get me wrong, that's not to say we aren't facing huge challenges, but I see the answers and within my stage show I present the audience with answers, rather than just finger wagging about what a terrible state we're in.”

You would expect Fogle, not least because of his new business interest, to say he is fond of Yorkshire but, in fairness, he has been back and forth to the region for years. “I love spending time there. I love going out into the Peaks, or where I can go up to North Yorkshire. It's great to get out into the Moors. I love the Yorkshire folk. The difference between the south of England and the north of England really is in the warmth of the people.”

Among them are Amanda Owen and her family, who Fogle filmed with before their own show became a hit on Channel 5.

Fogle says: “I feel very paternal, which sounds odd because I think we're the same age, but I know that she's had challenges and I know how hard it can be sometimes in the public eye. I've always felt slightly guilty because she was on New Lives that then led to her big show – that catapulted her into the public eye, which she was very well grounded for but there was a lot of pressure that came with that. So I've always been aware to keep an eye on how things are going and I'm very fond of Amanda and her whole family.”

Ben Fogle – WILD is at the Octagon Centre, Sheffield, on Friday, March 6.