Simon Reeve: 'I feel a hypocrite over my carbon footprint'

  • Published
Simon Reeve
Image caption,

From The Americas with Simon Reeve, in front of the Eco Chontales Waterfall, Costa Rica

TV adventurer Simon Reeve has admitted he sometimes feels like a "hypocrite" over the carbon footprint his travel documentaries leave behind.

The presenter has journeyed around the world fronting travel shows for the BBC in far-flung locations including Australia, Cuba and the Caribbean.

But in recent years Reeve has spent time showcasing British landscapes.

He said he hoped the "honest stories" his shows convey about the planet help mitigate their environmental impact.

Discussing the issue of his carbon footprint, on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, Reeve said: "I obviously feel many a time like a hypocrite.

"Ultimately, the only way we're going to know what's happening out there is by going out there and faithfully capturing it and bringing it back for people to see and be shocked by."

Image caption,

Reeve met armed police in Tamaulipas, Mexico, while filming The Americas

Reeve said he was always keen to jump at things that might be seen as dangerous, such as searching for bears in a forest in the middle of the night.

"Think about the risks, mitigate them of course, but embrace life and take chances on planet Earth because it's the way to feel alive," he said.

However, he said there have been times where he had realised on reflection how dangerous a certain trip was.

The presenter recalled the time he and his team were trying to find the source of a new drug, and discovered that the place they had gone to to interview individuals was actually a gang's drug den.

"I do feel a sense of responsibility in that sense, but I work with people who I trust and I hope trust me, we're alert to risk and danger probably more than most people," he said.

"And we try and mitigate and design that out wherever possible."

Image caption,

On board Italy's anti-smuggling police's helicopter, as they escort over a tonne of cocaine, seized during the course of 2017, to be destroyed.

Reeve, who has presented travel documentaries including Holidays In The Danger Zone: Places That Don't Exist, Tropic Of Cancer and Tropic Of Capricorn, said his upbringing had not been as adventurous and revealed he did not fly on a plane until he was an adult.

"I think that's partly why I'm so grateful for the journeys I've been on since, I don't take them for granted as a result," he added.

The TV presenter left school facing an uncertain future with one GCSE, no job and suffering from poor mental health.

He said he found himself "on the edge of a bridge" but he "stepped back in every possible sense".

He later went on work in the post room of the Sunday Times and climbed the editorial ladder until he was trusted with his own news stories and investigations.

Desert Island Discs airs on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4 on Sunday at 11:00 GMT.