Bear Grylls was worried the men on ‘The Island’ would die after they were left marooned.
The British adventurer left 13 British men abandoned on a remote, uninhabited Pacific island for a month where they had only the clothes on their backs and some basic tools.
The explorer, 39, insists he was "genuinely" left fearing for their safety and survival as it’s easy to cause damage when left with weapons like "machetes".
He explained: "I was worried about people dying. Genuinely.
"You let people loose with machetes and it’s like, ‘You almost took your knee off.’
"It’s so easy to go like that — boom — and it’s straight through the leg. You cut an arterial vein and you’re dead within ten minutes."
Bear – real name Edward Grylls – aimed to make the men on the programme come to terms with "hardship" which was why they ended up on a island which was infested with dangerous animals including "crocodiles, snakes and scorpions", instead of an idyllic paradise.
He told The Sun newspaper: "I could’ve found the island they expected which was a beautiful Fijian paradise. But I wanted it to be about the hardship.
"What they got was a swamp — a crocodile, snake and scorpion-infested s***hole."
He wanted to test the modern man and see if he was able to survive since society has become reliant on technology now.
He added: "It tests what they’re made of. This was an experiment in trying to find some answers about modern man.
"Nowadays we’ve swapped the bow and arrow for the iPhone.
"What I wanted to do is see, if you strip man of everything — when pushed and the bravado’s gone — would they crumble or are the skills still somewhere in there? In the modern world, what is masculinity?"
Bear Grylls worried about survival of men on The Island
