We've been fans of Simon Reeve for years and have always been shocked as he explores some of the most dangerous places on the planet in hit shows like Holidays in the Danger Zone and Wilderness with Simon Reeve. We're still waiting for an upcoming second season of the star's hit show, but the first season will be returning to BBC screens on Wednesday evening. Speaking about his youth, the star has been open about his issues with his mental health and spoken about his teenage delinquency, including an incident that he feels incredibly "guilty" about. Here's all you need to know about the star…
Youth
The 53-year-old is now known for his travel series, which have seen him go to the far-flung corners of the world, as well as locations such as Cornwall. However, in his youth, the star has previously confessed to behavioural issues, including disassembling a CCTV camera in Ealing mall, and setting off a firework, which hit a man in the leg after it was kicked away. Simon has confessed to feeling "guilty" over the incident. He later received counselling for his behaviour.
Speaking about growing up and his bad behaviour, he previously recalled: "I was never a gang member or a really bad lad. The truth is, I was a silly little boy, struggling with growing up, forced to wear glasses after I was hit in the eye with a brick during a fight. I was gangly and awkward. Things were difficult at home."
Simon has also been open about his issues with mental health, revealing that he left school with just one GCSE and didn't have much ambition. "I can still project myself back into those moments and that fear. It was a very, very life-threatening time for me," he told the Standard. He later told The Sun that he attempted to climb Mount Glencoe without any preparation, confessing: "I took a big risk, a stupid risk, but I honestly don't think I’d be here now if I hadn't done that."
Wife and child
Simon and his wife, Anya, started dating in 2004 and very quickly started speaking about the possibility of having children, due to Simon's desire to have a large family. The couple married in 2008 and attempted to conceive a child, but they were unable to do so, and a year and a half later, they opted to see fertility experts.
During the meeting, Simon was told that he was "basically infertile". He wrote in the Daily Mail: "I would not be able to have children. It was the starkest of messages: I could hardly take it in. She [a clinician] told me I had loads of sperm, but their morphology was terrible. We'd never heard the term before."
He added: "My sperm were swimming around in circles or moving energetically without going anywhere. Ironically enough, considering my day job, they were not good travellers." Although he was told that he would never naturally be able to have a child, Simon overhauled his diet, underwent British Military Fitness classes, and even began wearing less tight clothes.
The results paid off, and Simon and Anya are now parents to their son, Jake. Although Simon's fertility issues got better, the pair decided to try IVF due to it likely having a higher success rate than if they continued to attempt to conceive naturally. One fertilized egg survived out of five and during a trip to Denmark, the pair discovered they were expecting a child. He said of the moment: "I was so thrilled, so ecstatic, so hopeful. It had seemed so impossible. I'd been told it was impossible."
On parenting, he continued: "However much I'd dreamt about that moment, even mythologised it in my head as a transformative rite of passage, I never anticipated the enormity of it. The strength of my love for Jake was unlike anything I had experienced before. I wasn't remotely prepared for the moment it became a reality."