Ben Fogle

Six teams set out to race across the Antarctic Plateau to commemorate the historic race of 1911 between Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott.

Having led the race for much of the time, the team took 18 days, 5 hours and 10 minutes to complete the 770 km race, coming second overall, 20 hours behind the Norwegian team, who commended them on making it "a fantastic race", and over two days ahead of the next placed team.

Benjamin Myer Fogle, (born 3 November 1973 ) is an English broadcaster, writer and adventurer, best known for his presenting roles with British television channels Channel 5, BBC and ITV.

Fogle is the son of English actress Julia Foster and Canadian veterinarian Bruce Fogle.

He was educated at two independent schools: The Hall School, Hampstead in London, and Bryanston School in Blandford Forum, Dorset.

Fogle went to Ecuador for a gap year, working in an orphanage teaching English.

He then took a second year working on a turtle conservation project on the Mosquito Coast of Honduras and Nicaragua.

Fogle studied for a degree in Latin American studies at the University of Portsmouth, before studying for a year at the University of Costa Rica.

During this time Fogle also became a Midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve, serving as an URNU officer on HMS Blazer (P279) and delivering aid to war-torn Bosnia and Croatia.

Fogle's initial jobs included picture editor at Tatler magazine.

Fogle first came to public notice when he participated in the BBC reality show Castaway 2000, which followed a group of thirty-six people marooned on the Scottish island of Taransay for a year, starting 1 January 2000.

This was a social experiment aimed at creating a fully self-sufficient community within a year.

Fogle is a television presenter who has worked for the BBC, ITV, Channel 5, Sky, Discovery and the National Geographic channels in the UK.

He has hosted Crufts, One Man and His Dog, Countryfile, Country Tracks, Extreme Dreams with Ben Fogle, Animal Park, Wild on the West Coast, Wild in Africa, "Ben Fogle – African Migration" and Ben Fogle's Escape in Time.

Fogle appeared on the programme Countryfile with John Craven from 2001 to 2008, during which he reported on a number of UK rural pastimes.

Fogle was the first to cross the line in the pairs division of the 2005–2006 Atlantic Rowing Race in "Spirit of EDF Energy", partnered by Olympic rower James Cracknell.

While competing in the 3,000-mile race, the pair had their boat fully capsized by huge waves.

They made landfall in Antigua at 07.13 GMT on 19 January 2006, a crossing time of 49 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes.

After penalties, they were placed second in the pairs and fourth overall.

In 2007, the BBC series that followed the pair, Through Hell and High Water, won a Royal Television Society award.

He has also completed the six-day Marathon des Sables for the World Wide Fund for Nature across 160 mi of the Sahara Desert and the Safaricom Marathon in Kenya for the Tusk Trust, with Longleat Safari Park keeper Ryan Hockley.

Fogle has completed the Bupa Great North Run in 1 hour 33 minutes, the London Marathon and the Royal Parks Half Marathon.

He beat EastEnders actor Sid Owen in a three-round charity boxing match for BBC Sport Relief under the training of Frank Bruno and he recently re-ran the Safaricom marathon in Kenya with the injured Battleback Soldiers.

Fogle teamed up with Cracknell once again, together with Ed Coats, a Bristol-based doctor, as Team QinetiQ to take part in the inaugural "Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race".

Fogle suffered hypothermia and frostbite to his nose and the team experienced temperatures as low as -40 C. The race was filmed by the BBC for the series On Thin Ice and was aired in Summer 2009.

Five episodes of On Thin Ice were broadcast on BBC Two Sunday evenings receiving a peak record of 3.7 million viewers.

In 2010, Fogle made a film about the facial deforming disease noma for a BBC Two documentary Make Me A New Face which followed the work of the charity Facing Africa and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Fogle has produced films about naval history and the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) for the History Channel and followed Princes William and Harry on their first joint Royal Tour in Botswana and made an exclusive documentary called Prince William's Africa.

He marked the centenary of Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole with The Secrets of Scott's Hut.

Fogle is popular on the motivational and corporate speaking circuit.

Production commenced in 2011 for Storm City in 3D on Sky One and National Geographic.

Fogle was hired for two years as a special correspondent for NBC News in the United States, in 2011.

His two-part documentary, Swimming with Crocodiles aired on BBC Two in 2012.

Their purpose was to cover the April royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton and the 2012, London Olympics.

Since 2013, Fogle has presented two series of Harbour Lives, a documentary series on ITV.

Since 2013, Fogle has presented his show for Channel 5 called Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild, that sees him follow the stories of people living "off grid" in the wild and isolated from society.

In 2024, he interviewed musician Vanessa Forero in her Colombian cabin about the kidnapping of her mother Marina Chapman, and has expressed his hope to make a film about Chapman's life story.

Fogle took over as the host of recommissioned and re-titled, 'Ben Fogle's Animal Clinic' on Channel 5, replacing disgraced presenter, Rolf Harris.

He rejoined the programme in 2014.

In 2014, Fogle joined the presenting team on ITV series Countrywise with Liz Bonnin and Paul Heiney, which covers aspects of the British coast and country.