Bear Grylls takes no prisoners in cat-and-mouse Netflix show Celebrity Bear Hunt, in which he pursues 12 famous figures through the Costa Rican jungle, who are eliminated from the contest if he catches them.
But has the adventurer, 50, taken his love for survival of the fittest to the extreme?
Sources close to the show, hosted by Holly Willoughby, have revealed a rumble in the jungle between Eton-educated Grylls and London-born model Leomie Anderson, 32, who was first to be eliminated.
‘Leomie felt belittled by Bear and that because she’s a model he was trying to reinforce this perception that she was a Barbie,’ an insider tells me.
‘In the final edit you hardly see any of the scenes where Leomie was displaying her best survival skills, it’s all been cut.’
Could this be why she skipped the red-carpet premiere in London earlier this month, where the cast including Spice Girl Mel B and rugby star Danny Cipriani reunited? Anderson – who became the first ever black British Victoria’s Secret ‘Angel’ in 2019 – had been looking forward to taking part to challenge stereotypes of models.
‘People have this perception of what we’re capable of doing,’ she said. ‘They think we care so much about how we look and that we’re not smart. I want to shatter those stereotypes.’
Anderson also signed up as a tribute to her father, who died from cancer two years ago.
Bear Grylls at the premiere of Celebrity Bear Hunt in which he pursues 12 famous figures across the Costa Rican jungle
Grylls ‘belitted’ London-born model Leomie Anderson , 32, who was first to be eliminated, insiders say
‘I know this is something he would have been proud of me doing. I’m hoping [when] I feel weak, I will think of how he would tell me to keep persevering.’
A spokesman for Bear Grylls and Netflix was unavailable for comment.
Pamela ditches makeup and men for career
Pamela Anderson has revealed that she is not only avoiding beauty cosmetics having gone make-up free – the six-times married actress is also choosing to steer clear of love.
‘My relationship is to my work,’ she tells me at the Curzon Soho’s London screening of her new film The Last Showgirl, in which she stars as Las Vegas performer Shelly Gardner.
Pamela Anderson (pictured at the Baftas on Sunday) has revealed she is steering clear of love and focussing on her career
‘I’m taking this time and this chapter to be about my work and the things I want to do,’ says Anderson. The Canadian born-star, whose turbulent marriage to rock drummer Tommy Lee was televised in the drama Pam & Tommy, adds: ‘I have no distractions. This is the beginning of my career and I’m 57.’
Mountbatten heiress is well suited for wedding
Mountbatten heiress Phoebe Knatchbull married banker Leopold Glover in west London over the weekend, but the groom wasn’t the only one in a suit.
Phoebe, 29, broke with tradition by wearing a £1,995 tuxedo dress by her stepsister Daisy, 32, a Savile Row designer.
Phoebe Knatchbull married banker Leopold Glover over the weekend and the bride wore a tuxedo dress
‘Every bride in Knatchbull looks incredible,’ Phoebe, the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma’s great-granddaughter, tells me.
In a post online, she can be seen with Leopold, 31, and Daisy, in pink, outside the Chelsea Register Office, a short walk from Garden House School where the couple met.
Pearce ‘uncomfortable’ with Spacey on set
As Kevin Spacey faces another civil sexual abuse claim, his former co-star Guy Pearce still shudders at the memory of working with him.
The Brutalist actor, 57, became tearful as he recalled his interactions with Spacey, 65, on the set of the 1997 crime film LA Confidential.
Speaking on the Awards Chatter podcast, Pearce revealed: ‘I was scared of Kevin, he’s quite aggressive, extremely charming [and] holds a room remarkably. I was young and susceptible.’
Guy Pearce at the Baftas. The Brutalist actor, 57, admitted he was ‘scared’ of LA Confidential Kevin Spacey
The ex-Neighbours actor adds that he felt more comfortable around Spacey when his co-star and fellow Aussie Simon Baker (formerly Denny) was on set. ‘He [Spacey] would focus on Denny because he’s much better looking than me.’
In 2023, Spacey was cleared of sexual assault charges from his stint as artistic director at the Old Vic theatre, spanning from 2005 to 2013.
Susan Hampshire’s vote of no confidence in Baftas
As Hollywood stars gathered for the Baftas on Sunday, Monarch Of The Glen actress Susan Hampshire launched a withering attack on the ceremony, branding the awards system a sham.
The actress, 87, labelled the luminaries who vote ‘lazy’, saying they tend to choose their favourites – or simply the ones they are familiar with.
Susan Hampshire launched a withering attack on the Baftas, branding the luminaries who vote ‘lazy’
‘I now know why people win the prizes,’ she said. ‘It’s because the people who vote for them are too lazy to watch all the films, so they tick the name they’ve already heard of.’
Speaking at a Talking Pictures event at the Phoenix club in London, she added: ‘I think it’s an unfair system. I happen to know that there are people I know who are voting for films and they haven’t even watched all of them. That’s not fair, is it?
Harry is humbled by 11-year-old student in mountain mission
Prince Harry once admitted he wasn’t up for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
Yet Charlie Tregoning, 11, a student at the duke’s £40,000-a-year Ludgrove Prep School in Berkshire, will this week take on the hike with his father for Larchfield Children’s Home, a charity for abandoned children in Tanzania.
Prince Harry has been humbled by an 11-year-old student from his old prep school who is climbing Mount Kilmanjaro for charity – a feat the Duke once said he wasn’t up for
Diana didn’t feel the love on Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day was marked with affectionate Instagram posts by the Prince and Princess of Wales, and Prince Harry and Meghan.
But it is said to have regularly left the princes’ late mother disappointed.
Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell claims: ‘She did send cards to Charles but he never returned the compliment. He didn’t have a romantic bone in his body.’
Diana, Princess of Wales departing on her honeymoon with Charles, the then Prince of Wales