Steve Backshall has revealed his most painful injury that had him “lapsing in and out of consciousness.”
Steve Backshall reveals that the sting from some bullet ants left him reeling in pain and 'lapsing in and out of consciousness'
The naturalist, 50, is has had several daring adventures on TV, from getting to know the world’s most dangerous animals for CBBC’s ‘Deadly 60’, to travelling through harsh and unforgiving environments from Colombia to Botswana. Throughout his career, Steve has had a few nasty run-ins with animals, with one in particular leaving him in excruciating pain.
During an interview for Metro newspaper's Sixty Second column, the presenter was asked what the worst bite he ever received was, to which he said: “In terms of pain, it’s the sting of the bullet ant in South America, which is said to be the world’s must painful stinging insect.
“Any one sting is sore, to say the least, but I took part in a bullet ant ritual where I put my hands into a pair of gloves, with ants inside my gloves, and I was stung hundreds of times.
“For about three hours, I was lapsing in an out of consciousness. There was nothing in my world apart from pain. That was intense.”
When asked what he learnt from that experience, Steve bluntly replied: “Never to do it again.”
The adventurer also spoke about the scariest situation he had ever been.
He said: “It’s very rarely with animals. It’s usually with people or the environment.
“We had a rock climb on a Venezuelan tepui, where we were halfway up a vertical rock face. We’d spend about three days getting to where we were.
“There was an outrageous storm that we couldn’t shelter from, rain lashing down on us, lightning crackling, rockfall coming from above.
“As a team, you have to look each other in the eyes and wonder, ‘Is this my last human connection, with some hairy-bummed marine on the rope alongside me?’”
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