Ben Fogle, born 3rd November 1973, attended the University of Portsmouth and later outlined his adventurous credentials by attending the University of Costa Rica.
Son of actress Julia Foster, Ben originally found fame in reality television with the BBC reality programme Castaway 2000, which proved to be the perfect springboard as he subsequently went on to present Countryfile from 2001 until 2009. He also found work presenting Animal Park with Kate Humble from 2002 to 2009.
Ben's TV work lead to several side projects as a writer, and has written five books and regularly contributes newspaper and magazine columns. He even has a waxwork model at Madame Tussauds!
Off the back of his stints on Countryfile and Animal Park, Ben teamed up alongside Olympic rower James Cracknell to undertake some extreme adventures. One of the first, Through Hell and High Water in 2006, followed them in their attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The Fogle-Cracknell team also competed in the South Pole Race, taking 18 days, 5 hours and 10 minutes to complete the 770km. Ben also undertook the six-day Marathon des Sables for the WWF across an exhausting 260 km of Sahara Desert.
More recently, Ben has filmed the wildlife documentary Swimming with Crocodiles.