Former Woodmill High School pupil Ross Blair (34), who grew up on Scotland Drive, now works as a freelance cameraman in London and took part in the six-week Bear Grylls challenge on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean, currently being aired on Channel 4.

After two days of instruction from the British adventurer, 14 men and 14 women with little or no survival skills were challenged to survive – the main aim of the show being to strip contestants of all 21st century comforts.

Ross laughed, “Bear Grylls gave us survival tips and those were things like how to swim with your machete so you didn’t take your leg off – those things were sharp! I learnt to swim at Woodmill so that helped me on this challenge!” The Press caught up with Ross after the challenge. “Overall, to describe it would be brutal but brilliant!” he laughed.

“Everything on the island will rip you to shreds, there’s trees with massive needles, snakes, vines you can trip over, spiders, if you took one eye off everything around you or became complacent it could kill you.

“I applied to the show because I thought it was a great chance to do something completely different and was seeking an adventure.

“I had camped before at festivals and been away with my friends but I had never done anything like this before because I’ve never had the opportunity.

“I’ve lived in a big city for 13 years with comforts and never really experienced the wild so I was really worried - but I’m never shy of a challenge so I went for it!” Married Ross continued, “I went on the island with no survival experience whatsoever.

“I’m not the alpha male sort, I’m not Mr DIY around the house. I’m very much a 21st century person! I use technology and use things that make my life easier.

“Before I left for the island I thought that I wouldn’t be able to live without my phone but all those thoughts went away and the fact we didn’t have to pay bills, sort problems or emails changed to worries about where were we going to find food and water and how were we going to keep the fire lit when the rainstorms poured down.

“I was absolutely knackered but there was a sense of calmness on the island. I think being stripped of all comforts was the best thing for me and is the best thing I will take from it because it made me really appreciate health and happiness.” The men and women were split onto two islands and Ross said, “The tiredness was really hard. You have to be on guard all of the time.

“There was one night I was in the rain and it was pouring down so hard and I could just feel myself getting colder and colder and getting hypothermia and my body was shaking and I was so tired trying to keep the fire going.

“Getting sleep was hard because you needed to have one eye on the fire all the time and then you had to get up and find food and do a full days work after little sleep. Finding food was so difficult, we were told it was best to hunt fish because the land was five square kilometres in total so finding food was like trying to find a needle in a haystack!

“We were very lucky in our group because all the lads had a really good work ethic. We got into a daily routine and we would all help each other and work in teams at all times.

“If you didn’t work together there would be no food. We all underestimated how brutal it would be, what we had to face, the no sleep, bucketing down rain, the tiredness, chopping logs on little food in the heat, finding the right type of logs that would burn and being soaked through to the bone – but I really enjoyed it!

“There were points I would sit and watch the sunset and look up to the stars and think wow, ‘What a privilege it is to be here’."

When asked what he missed the most, he replied, “When we came off the island we were under strict instructions not to pig out from Mr Grylls.

“After not eating much for that long, we were warned that pigging out could kill you!

“But I was craving steak and chips and red meat the most.” And the big question – would he do it all again?

Ross replied “Absolutely!” You can watch The Island on Wednesdays at 9pm on Channel 4 and catch up on the series so far on channel4.com.