Will Cain Country - From the Vault: Bear Grylls on Jesus, Doubt & The Real Story No One Told You

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

On this “Best Of” edition of ‘Will Cain Country,’ World-famous Adventurer and Host of ‘Man vs. Wild’ and ‘Running Wild,’ Bear Grylls joins Will to discuss a lesser-known aspect of his life: his Christian faith. Grylls tells the story behind his latest book, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told,’ which describes the life of Jesus from lesser seen perspectives, before sharing how his faith helped him through some of his most treacherous adventures.   Subscribe to ‘Will Cain Country’ on YouTube here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country!⁠⁠⁠ Follow ‘Will Cain Country’ on X (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), Instagram (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), TikTok (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), and Facebook (⁠⁠⁠@willcainnews⁠⁠⁠) Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WillCain⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Merry Christmas. I'm Will Kane, and this is Wilcane Country. For Christmas Day, we're bringing you a best-of show, some of the strongest discussions and interviews we had this year. If you've got a few minutes to listen, we got something solid for you. Here we go. He is the author of a new book, The Greatest Story Ever Told. You know him, of course, from Man v. Wilde and many other shows. He's noted adventure, Bear Grills, and he's in our New York City studios, and he joins us now. What's up, Bear? Hey, how are you doing? Nice to be with you.

Nice to be with you as well. By the way, I didn't know that. Patricia in the comment section says she just found out last month about your religious devotion. I didn't know that either. And that's not your fault, nor is it ours, because you've been famous for other reasons, your military service, your adventurism, television shows. But I think with your new book, that's something all of us are learning about you, Bear. Yeah, I think faith has always been just a quiet, empowering part of my life through my military time, through many expeditions, through all the TV journey and all the

survival stuff and my own family life. It's just, I never feel particularly kind of religious as such, but I learned long ago that to quietly bow the knee, bend the knee, and I ask for help every day and say sorry for things and say thank you is a really good way to start the day I always used to see my grandfather do that I remember him he was six foot six giant of a man and yet even as an old man I just remember him kneeling down before beside his bed every night and I don't know I love that I think I think faith is a beautiful thing to have in life and also a humble thing to have you know it's I think a lifetime of adventures taught me that on my own I'm not strong. Everyone thinks they're strong in the

wild until they're not. And then on your own, I don't think you're ever truly empowered. So I look at it as like part of the arsenal of survival for life, you know, with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. So that light has been a beautiful thing in my life and it continues. I'm curious, is there a moment either in your service, or in your adventures, where that need to call on him, to call on something higher, was most profound? Most days? You know, I think it's not just, I don't know, I look back to, I look back to Everest, I think, in particular, though. You know, that was such a life-changing time for me. We had four climbers lose their lives up there. We had two die to the cold, two fell to their

death. And, you know, we're on that mountain a long time, some three and a half months in total. I don't know I always remember I just had a little verse I always kept laminated in the soul of my shoe that says be sure of this I'm with you even to the ends of the earth and I don't know that's my faith I keep it pretty simple I hold on to a few basic things and it's definitely helped me there but it's also helped me so much and just in everyday life and I think it's one of the reasons I wrote this book is I realize so few people know the real story of Jesus, you know, and myself included, I always grew up with a really sanitized version of it. He was always very meek and mild and nice and long robes. And a few years ago, I took a,

I took a small team, motorbikes, tents, parachutes, we traveled through Israel. And I wanted to kind of redo the journey of Christ, to go to all the places. And at the end of that, I just kind of thought, why is it that everyday people just seem to love this guy? All they want to do be with him, touch the hem of his cloak, you know, be near him. And yet the religious elite feared him so much. And it was just so different to the Jesus that I'd kind of grew up with. And then I realized nobody's ever really written a book that just tells this real unsanitized story of Jesus. You know, theoretically accurate, but just told as a thriller. Because so so few of us read the Bible, even those of us of faith. It's hard. And we tend to know

stories like the Good Samaritan or the crucifixion, but not the whole story and how it impacts our lives. We'll take a quick break, but more of our Christmas Day. Best of coming up. This is Ainsley Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52 episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus. A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcast. Podcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. Back to the book in just one moment, the greatest story ever told. That trip you took following the life of Jesus.

I'm curious, tell me a little more about that. How long did that trip take? Where did you go? Well, it was interesting. We actually filmed it the week before October the 7th two years ago. So it was like super poignant timing. But we did it for a TV show called Refugee, Renegade, Redeemer. And that was the goal of it, to try and tell the real story.

was he really like? Why, you know, why was he such a central figure to life ever since the last 2,000 years? What was it really about this guy away from the religion that we sort of learn about? And it did really well. We did that on TBN. That went out, it was our number one show of last year. But it was a kind of passion project for me. You know, I still do my day job. We're still filming, just finished filming season nine of Running Wild, which I love. And, you know, that's the day job. But this faith stuff has always been in my heart and doing this book it's been transformative for me

in the sense that I've never had a response to anything I've ever done that's been as powerful as this and I get people, first of all the book went straight in at number one and I have people all over the world of all different face and cultures write to me and just say basically the same thing

which is I had no idea of actually what the story of Christ is about and how it relates to my life and that's been the great privilege. It's not saying my story. It's saying his story or history, as they say. So, yeah, I'm really proud of it. Hardest thing I've ever done, but the best thing.

So you wrote it in first person from the perspective, I believe, of, is it five different people in Jesus' life, who sort of share him through their experience in their eyes. Is that right? Yeah, so I thought, I'm just going to write it from the people who knew and best, from their perspective what it was actually like and everyone had such a different interaction with him is what I learned I mean one of the things I did was read the Bible the whole way through a couple of times

and we worked with some top theologians from the TV show The Chosen who were incredible helping me make sure we get everything right but it was so interesting just learning how everyone reacted it had such a unique experience of encountering this man and so I thought let's just do it from their perspective so we start off with his mother you know young pregnant out of wedlock nervous like must be

so daunting to have angels appear and say you're going to give birth to a child yeah you've never slept with anyone you're going to give birth to a child who's going to be the son of God I'll be like hot on hot on yeah and then we go to Thomas who's you know super skeptical of this Jesus that he meets just going I'm not going to be tricked by some water into wine no you know and his journey

and then Peter who's just like all in impulsive like raw wild unreligious and john and eventually then with mary maglin who's his young broken girl who jesus transformed her life and i think what was so telling for me is i always sort of the disciples are like these big bearded old men you know it's how we kind of see them don't we in paintings and all of that but actually those that hung out with them those disciples who course weren't even called disciples he's just band of rough misfits regular people from a border town up north where average age of 15 to 25 super young like no idea really what's going on and slowly over the course of these years realizing they were in the

presence of the savior of the world and it's that part of the story that has moved me so much and helped me so much in my faith to understand that you don't have to be anything you can have doubts they had doubts I mean 98% of their story with it. is of doubt. Every encounter doubt. Right. And I found that reassuring because I come from a place of like, can it really be real? And then time and time again, little things happen, that light inside. And I hold on to those moments. Hang on just a moment. We've got more Christmas Day. Best of Wilcane Country after the break. When the weather cools down, Golden Nugget Online Casino turns up the heat. This

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19 and over. Physically President Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. And talk about adventurers, those disciples then, scatter to the ends of the known earth at the time, whether or not it's Spain or wherever, carrying the message, obviously against great danger, into foreign lands, and this type of thing. And it would be easy after Jesus' death in a way to kind of like float, you know, to disappear,

to go back to another life that you had. Instead, they've become the guys that spread Christianity to the known earth. Well, they did initially go back to what they were doing, you know, but in the aftermath of that last week and then his torture and crucifixion, they fled and they eventually all end up going back up north to their hometowns and terrified. It was only after he came back from the dead and he started appearing to them and eating with them

and then appearing to not just ones and twos and tens and 50s but hundreds of eyewitness testimonies. That something, that transformed their lives. And in a way, part of the book that people seem to love is at the end where I say, at the end, what happened, as you say to all of those disciples, how they went to all these incredible areas around the world to, and they all died for their faith. All apart from one, we're all martyrs, stone, skinned, crucified, speared, burnt, you know, stoned. And something must have driven. I mean, you don't do that if you know it's a lie or you're kind of maybe. you saw a ghost or, you know, something happened. Right. And that part I find intriguing. You said you kind of, and I think you're not alone, as you point out, whether or not

it's the paintings and the images in church and just a popular story selling, you know, had this vision of Jesus as this meek guy, the Good Samaritan story, kind of defines our image of Jesus. But you said, you know, that's where you start. You write this book. What's your image of Jesus at the end of our? after writing the greatest story ever told. A wild one.

A truly a wild one. And it's interesting, like seeing initially the Pharisees revulsion of Jesus was that he hung out with a low life and the prostitutes and the rejected and the tax collectors who were so despised. And they accused him publicly have been a glutton and a drunkard. You know, this wasn't the Jesus that I grew up with knowing. And that was intriguing for me.

So, and at the end of it, it's like, what's my feeling, I think, comes back to his name for me, Yeshua. I mean, I call him Yeshua by his Aramaic name through the book because I want people to find this story afresh with no filter of like, this is what I think it's about. So everything is local names and places. But at the end of it, his name, I mean, Jesus and Yeshua, the translation is he who saves.

And I love that. You know, he didn't come to make us more religious or to make us this or do this or behave like that. Be nice on a Sunday. You know, he just came to seek and save the lost. And I think that's a, it's a beautiful moment to reach in life. I mean, life, full stop is very humbling. All of us at some point, it's a humbling process.

Sometimes it takes to our deathbed, but life is humbling. And I think it's a beautiful place to reach of strength to be able to, you know, kneel down and say that. And again, it comes back to my grandpa. He always says, man is never as tall as when he kneels down. And I love that. We'll take a quick break, but more of our Christmas Day. Best of coming up. The book is the greatest story ever told by Bear Grills.

I want to take the last couple of minutes. I'd love to talk to you just for a minute about adventure. Far be it for me to ever paint myself as any type of adventure belonging in the same conversation with you, Bear, but here we are. And any adventure that I've done or any that I want to do always has something deeper than just the physical accomplishment or even deeper. deeper than the test. So it's a story. And there's a story that I buy into. For example, these are two that I haven't done that I want to. I would love to canoe the Mississippi River and take the path of in the Missouri of Lewis and Clark because I love the story of Westward expansion in America. There's a book that I love called Lonesome Dove. I love to ride horses up the old west cattle trails through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, even further north if you could. I'm curious. And all the adventures that you've done, like what, you're I don't know if you feel the same. You know, a lot of them, I'm sure, about the physical test and learning something about yourself and these types of things.

But I'm curious if any of them have, like, a story or an emotional connection that you felt compelled to do that stand out. Beyond the one you just shared with this, by the way, of going to Israel. Yeah, I think adventure, first of all, you are an adventure spirit. Good for you. Don't belittle that. That's incredible. And you must follow those dreams because those are golden.

And I'd love to hear how those go. you will do it, I'm sure. But I do think adventures a state of mind is how we live our lives. It's not just out there. It's in here as well. It's how we approach life and risk and relationships and work and family.

So I think that adventure spirit is so important. I think the wild changes us all is never a physical thing. You know, physical is part of it. And the wild sort of batters us down a little bit sometimes and ask some questions and challenges us. But that's part of it. But it also heals our heart.

And I always remember a little quote that says, there's always music in the wild, but sometimes the hearts must be quiet to hear it. And that's what it is for me. It's like that is connection. It's why I like to be barefoot a lot of the times as well. And I like just, I'm happy on my own. I love running wild as well.

I take one other Hollywood star. Those shows are a privilege. And it's the same reason. Why do these people do the show? They don't need the money or the fame. They want that pride in their heart, that connection, that healing, kind of confidence that only the outdoors can build when you face some battles and overcome it. So for me it's always about that. The wild is always a star. It does my job

for me. It opens people up and gives them that sense of pride. And long may that continue beyond the TV shows, you know, it's always going to be a part of my life. Always has been since I was a boy, been taught to climb by my dad, you know. So it's not just something I do. It's kind of It's deeper than that. It's in the DNA and it's music, music to me. Running Wild, matching a celebrity to an adventure. How does that work? Does a celebrity, I'm sure they have input. Do you come up with it and you try to match it? You know, I don't know, this guy or this gal would be great for this adventure and then you pitch it to them? Or how do you match them, adventure and star? We don't match them. We just plan the adventure and environment.

fight the stars and like you know we always say come on your own they don't get any input in it i mean they get no input it's like come on your own leave the entourage trusts the process and we keep it super fluid we take a small team i'll plan a route from the air by the helicopter the day before i'll listen to the local search and rescue guys we'll know there's a river there be careful it's some flood some great cliffs crumbling rock these animals you know we're getting an overview of it and then we take a small team and we we're kind of have a loose plan but we always adapt it to how the guest is doing and whether how tired they are or how much they want to push it and like a rubber band you can always stretch and shrink accordingly but again we just

have a buddy buddy adventure and and like I say the wild does my job it opens people up it helps them to be honest we sit around that campfire and chat in the evening but first of all you've got you've got you've got to face a few battles you know you got it's different to a chat show you know you're cold you're wet you're hungry you're super proud of your something you're when you overcame this, and then you're ready to talk about stuff as well. So it's a sort of neat combination. And for me, it's timeless because there's always another star and another story. And I think when guests come and they're honest about their journeys,

and as you know, with all of our journeys, it's never the highlights. It's the struggles and the battles that make all of our stories. And I think that's the magic of Running Wild. Well, it's night season of Running Wild, but the book and the reason he's here today is the greatest story ever told about the life of Jesus. I know you have multiple interviews you're doing today at Fox News, so I appreciate you hanging out with us for a good 15, 20 minutes, Bear. It's great to know you.

Can't wish to check out the book. Thank you. Oh, you're a good man. And keep doing. You respect all you're doing. Shining the light. Come on. Well, done. Thank you.

Thank you so much. There he goes. Bear Grills. Which, by the way, I have the book, and I have begun it, and it is fascinating to see Jesus through the eyes of others. And I encourage you to check it out. The greatest story ever. told. That's going to do it for this best of edition of Wilcane Country. Thanks for listening and

we'll be back soon. Listen ad free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast and Amazon Prime members. You can listen to this show ad free on the Amazon Music app.