Steve Backshall: Becoming a father has made my work harder
The presenter now has a son, Logan, with wife Helen Glover.
Steve Backshall has said becoming a father has made him weaker and his work harder due to fears for his child.
The broadcaster now has a son with wife Helen Glover, and family life has changed his approach to adventure.
Backshall, 46, has said that thoughts of fatherhood and his young child can affect him during the most dangerous moments of his work.
He said that his past ability to block out emotion when facing potentially perilous situations vanished with the birth of his son Logan.
The TV presenter’s new series – Expedition – sees him tackle 10 exhausting journeys around the world, and Backshall has said family life has made him mentally weaker, but coming home more worthwhile.
He said: “This year has been totally different for me, because I became a father last year for the first time.
“For the first time in my whole life… when I got into those sticky situations, my first thought was, ‘oh my god, I’ve got a baby back home and I cannot die here, because there’s so much that I want to see and want to do’.
“And those humanising moments, they definitely make you weaker, and they definitely make it harder.”
Backshall has said that he faced whitewater rapids, jungles, deserts, and the terror of running out of water while on one of the relentless expeditions for the new series.
He and his team had to gulp foul water from a pool thick with wildlife in order to quench their thirst.
Backshall has said that despite fearing the worst for his young son when facing this kind of danger, his new family life gives him a reason to return home safe.
He said: “I had all that to come home to, I had all that to look forward to at the end of each expedition, coming back and getting to see my wife and growing baby has made it even more worthwhile.”
Expedition with Steve Backshall launches on UKTV on Sunday, July 21
