Branching out: Acting cousins Lawrence and Emilia Fox join Mike Tindall and Max George in US rainforest for new Bear Grylls TV series Mission Survive
A Bear has taught two Foxes to survive in the wilderness - as actor cousins Emilia Fox and Laurence Fox join Bear Grylls on new TV series Mission Survive.
The upcoming ITV show sees famous adventurer Grylls take eight celebrities deep into an unforgiving Central American rainforest for a 12-day survival odyssey.
The line-up includes former England and Gloucester rugby centre Mike Tindall, currently starring in Channel 4 winter sports show The Jump, and double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes.
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Family affair: Emilia Fox and Laurence Fox join Bear Grylls on new TV series Mission Survive
Viewers will also see singer and actor Max George, TV presenter Jamelia, comedy actor Tom Rosenthal and DJ, model and presenter Vogue Williams pushed to the limit.
Grylls, 40, will eliminate one contestant at the end of every episode before the crowning of the Mission Survivor.
The contestants have been taught to search for shelter, water, fire and food, abseil down ferocious waterfalls, cross perilous rapids, trudge through swamps, negotiate razor-sharp vines - and contend with scorpions, snakes and sand flies.
Laurence Fox, best know for playing Detective Sergeant James Hathaway in drama series Lewis, said he missed his wife Billie Piper, sons Winston and Eugene and cigarettes the most while filming the series.
Competitive: Emilia and Lawrence will battle it out to try and win the title - family loyalty aside
Most wanted: Max George, formerly of The Wanted, is one of the show's most daring competitors
Asked why he had signed up, the 36-year-old said his cousin Emilia had given him 'almost no option'.
'As a relatively private person, it’s not something that I would ordinarily do,' he said. 'Whilst having lunch with my cousin Emilia last year, I asked her what she was up to next.
'She mentioned Mission Survive. I won’t say she forced, but let’s say she gave me almost no option but to accompany her on the trip as she was having butterflies.
'A phone call was made, and here we are.'
Roughing it: Loose Women co-presenter Jamelia will also tackle nature in the ITV series
Emilia, 40, said that doing the show was a “once in a lifetime chance” to learn about survival from someone as experienced as Grylls.
Tindall, 36, also said that he had missed wife Zara Phillips and their daughter Mia during the shoot.
But he added: 'It was an amazing opportunity and I feel so lucky to have had the chance to take part.'
Grylls, who will also return to Channel 4 later this year in the second series of The Island, is assisted on the ground by expedition and survival experts Megan Hine and Scott Heffield.
He said: 'This show is all about empowerment and I am so proud of how the celebrity team who joined me on Mission Survive performed.
No fear: Bear Grylls seems to know no fear when it comes to pushing physical - and mental - boundaries
Busy boy: Mike Tindall is already busy on Channel 4's The Jump, but also found time for Mission Survive
'It was without doubt a tough expedition, but also a very life-enhancing adventure for everyone involved.
'I would set them daily survival missions and would then regularly back away, leaving them to their own devices, so that they would learn by doing it and making mistakes.
'That’s the source of all genuine growth in a survivor. I was looking for the qualities that a survivor in a real-life scenario most needs: positivity, resourcefulness, courage, determination, and a whole heap of bloody mindedness.'
Line-up: Jamelia, Laurence Fox, Emilia Fox, Tom Rosenthal, Bear Grylls, Vogue Williams, Mike Tindall, Dame Kelly Holmes and Max George
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2935771/Branching-Acting-cousins-Lawrence-Emilia-Fox-join-Mike-Tindall-Max-George-rainforest-new-Bear-Grylls-TV-series-Mission-Survive.html#ixzz3QaeWOoov
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