Ben Fogle: 'There's always a way to go live off-grid' says adventurer ahead of Yorkshire tour dates

It is a trait that has taken Fogle on remarkable expeditions across the world, bringing him into contact with people and animals in some of the planet’s most remote locations. In his latest tour, Wild, which comes to Yorkshire this week, the adventurer and broadcaster explores the impact of those encounters. “Adventures, expeditions, and journeys have helped shape and mould me,” he says. “They have strengthened me emotionally, physically, and mentally and armed me with the skills for life.”

Wild comes after Fogle’s Tales From The Wilderness tour, which began in 2019. That show focused on some of his biggest adventure challenges, an impressive list of feats from scaling Mount Everest, to rowing the Atlantic and racing across Antarctica. This time, it’s very much about the people he has met ‘in the wild’ and the tales of hope and possibility that Fogle has taken away.

“[That] has had more of an impact probably than the big adventures and challenges I’ve done over the years,” he reflects. “I’ve met so many fascinating, inspiring individuals all over the world and each of them has had a profound impact on me as an individual, as a father, as an environmentalist. What I wanted to do with this show is consolidate all of those stories together.”

Many of his most impactful encounters have come through fronting television series New Lives in the Wild. The show sees Fogle meet people who have ‘given up the rat race’ to live in some of the most remote places on earth, often without modern amenities. Fogle immerses himself in their lives to explore their motivations and the highs and lows of life off-grid.

Among his most memorable experiences was time he spent with a nomadic couple, whose lifestyle h found “incredibly inspiring”. “It’s very simple but they have absolute content and happiness. Their lives are completely uncluttered like so many of ours are with the pressures of work, of finances, of social media, of digesting so much news and information. When you live a simple nomadic life, it strips you of all those complicated bits that I think have created an epidemic of anxiety amongst most of us.”

“[The tour] could have been called Simple to be honest,” he later reflects. “By simplifying our lives, we simplify ourselves and by simplifying ourselves, we simplify our lives. It’s like a circle of goodness that leaves us in the now, very much in the moment and free from so many of the stresses we place upon ourselves.

“I’m not saying the cost of living crisis is not something many people are being affected by and that you can just avoid it. I accept that’s something all of us are experiencing right now but if you can escape the shackles of economics and the system that so many of us choose to live in and you go to live off-grid and live a simpler, humbler life, it’s amazing what that can do to your mental outlook and the profound benefits that can have on us physically and mentally.”

That’s not to say, however, that an off-grid life is without its own complications and stressors, he’s quick to add. “Rather than worrying about whether you have enough money to buy the latest fashion or the latest phone, the worries they have are whether they are going to have food on their plate or water from the little stream or lake near their house. Your expectations and daily routines are very, very different.”

Fogle’s episodes of New Lives in the Wild are far from the only time the 49-year-old has spent time in the wilderness. In fact, he first came to the public’s attention doing just that, on reality show Castaway back in the year 2000. The programme followed a group of people marooned on a remote island of Scotland and charted their year-long effort to build a community.

For Fogle, it opened the door to a television career that has seen him present everything from Crufts to Countryfile, and in the two decades since, he has not only become a familiar face to viewers but has shown time and again that he’s not afraid to take on a challenge.

In his travels around the world, he has experienced environments as diverse as the jungles of Honduras and the hostility of Chernobyl – and has taken on extraordinary feats such as running the Marathon des Sables – dubbed the “toughest footrace on Earth” – across the Sahara desert, and swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco.

In Wild, Fogle hopes to take his audiences on their own journey, reliving the inspiring and uplifting tales he has encountered along the way.. “Part of it is just pure escapism, a great night out forgetting about the woes of the world and living vicariously through some of my journeys and encounters with some wonderful people over the years,” he says.

"I also hope it will be quite illuminating and enlightening for people. I would love to think that people might watch the show and actually make a dramatic lifestyle change themselves. So often people say they are envious of the people I spend time with.

"They say I wish we could go and live off-grid but we can’t afford it and simply couldn’t do it. I beg to differ. I think there is always a way and all these people have somehow made it happen for them.”

Ben Fogle – Wild is at York Barbican on May 19 and Harrogate Royal Hall on May 21.