Alexander Skarsgard jumped at the chance to join a trek to the South Pole last year because he loves being able to "disconnect" from everything.

Alexander Skarsgard loves to "disconnect" from society.

The 'True Blood' actor jumped at the chance to join a charity trek to the South Pole last year - alongside Britain's Prince Harry and a number of injured service men and women - because he finds isolating trips "liberating".

He explained: "I've been fascinated by Antarctica since I was a kid, and when this opportunity came up, I desperately wanted it to work out.

"I was shooting a movie called 'The Giver' in South Africa and fortunately I was able to rap in time.

"I went straight to Antarctica for a month. I love just being disconnected like that.

"The year before, I sailed across the Atlantic. It took three weeks and was kind of a similar experience in the sense of being completely present in the moment. You don't have your cell phone, no email. It's very liberating in a way, and a good excuse to not be reachable for a month."

The trek was originally meant to be a race between three teams, but they merged because the punishing conditions meant just getting to the finish became the ultimate goal and Alexander thinks it was the "right call".

He told Britain's Glamour magazine: "If you pass out and it's -40 degrees, you can get frostbite in seconds.

"It was definitely the right call because some people did get frostbite and had issues with the elevation.

"The race aspect of it wasn't important, it was more for motivation and to make it more fun, but the whole point was to make a documentary about these amazing men and women and for them to tell their stories and to inspire other people.

"The most important thing was to get all 12 soldiers to the South Pole and we did that."

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