Bear Grylls' bizarre friendship with Russell Brand after River Thames baptism

Bear Grylls met Russell Brand while filming Running Wild With Bear Grylls and in May 2024 he was pictured hugging the comedian after he got baptised in the River Thames

Bear Grylls is known for his survival expertise and over the years he has taken a whole host of famous faces on outdoor adventures.

Bear previously travelled across the Hebrides Islands with Russell Brand for the series Running Wild With Bear Grylls, which aired in August 2023. It was here that the pair appeared to have struck up a companionship and during one moment, the pair spoke about faith with Brand admitting that he’d felt disconnected from a “higher purpose or God”.

“When you stop drinking and stop taking drugs, you’re confronted with the nature of the problem,” said Brand during the show. “I was a disconnected person, certainly from any sense of higher purpose or God.”

Just under a year later, Brand shared a picture of himself hugging Bear and another man after getting baptised in the river Thames in May 2024. Sharing the photo on X and Instagram, Brand wrote: “Me, Bear Grylls, The River Thames and of course, The Holy Spirit.”

The surprise post came shortly after Brand said that he was feeling transformed after being baptised and welcomed into Christianity. In a video statement, he told viewers that he was adjusting to his new religious way of life and added that he expected to make ‘mistakes’.

He said: “As a person that has, in the past, taken many, many substances, and always been disappointed with their inability to deliver the kind of tranquillity and peace and even transcendence that I always felt I’ve been looking for.

“Something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible. Overwhelming. Literally overwhelming because I was under water. And it was the River Thames, at some points. So I felt changed. Transitioned.”

He also asked others to give him some patience. “This is new for me. I am learning. And I will make mistakes. This is my path now. And I already feel incredibly blessed, relieved, nourished, held. It’s been an incredible experience,” he continued.

Brand's conversion to Christianity was announced months after a joint investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, The Times and Sunday Times in September 2023 saw multiple women step forward to accuse Brand of sexual assault. The Metropolitan Police later confirmed they were investigating allegations about the comedian and he was later questioned. Brand has always denied the allegations made against him.

In January 2025, Bear spoke about Brand’s conversion to Christianity and shared that he believed it to be genuine. “I didn’t baptise. I never judge and he was a friend through [appearing on] Running Wild, and he’s had a real journey in his life,” he told The Telegraph.

“You know what, whoever it is, you can’t only stand beside people who have had perfect journeys. It was for him a real moment of humility and repentance and genuine heart-felt finding of quite a faith in his life.”

He added: “People say to me, ‘What about the victims?’, if they’re victims. And I go, ‘Of course I stand beside everybody. We are called to love everybody and not to judge anyone’.”