Escape to the Legion

Traditionally the Foreign Legion has been a place for men to escape a past they’d rather forget. A new name, a new identity and the chance to start again. Adventurer and explorer Bear Grylls rounds up a diverse band of eleven men who have realised they need to change, all looking for redemption and personal transformation in the harsh and brutal life... More »

Traditionally the Foreign Legion has been a place for men to escape a past they’d rather forget. A new name, a new identity and the chance to start again. Adventurer and explorer Bear Grylls rounds up a diverse band of eleven men who have realised they need to change, all looking for redemption and personal transformation in the harsh and brutal life of the world’s most romantic and mysterious army.

The constructed Legion experience draws on the most punishing and iconic aspects of Legion life over the past 40 years. For 4 weeks from a fort in the blistering Sahara 3 fearsomely tough ex-legionnaires with over 30 years experience between them, push our recruits to their limits. For the ex-legionnaires pain is simply weakness leaving the body and over the course of the 4 weeks our recruits discover just what that means.

Throughout the series ex-legionnaires discuss their own experience adding real life testimonies to the constructed Legion experience.
Bears role is of chief motivator. He inspires and pushes his recruits through the tough times. His challenge, his toughest yet, is get all 11 through.

EPISODE 1
Adventurer and explorer Bear Grylls joins 11 recruits as they undergo the month long brutal Saharan training regime of the legendary French Foreign Legion. Forget romantic visions of Beau Gest; over four weeks these rookies endure sheer hell under the baking desert sun in this recreation of legionnaire life. It’s a rude awakening for the new arrivals as they endure physical breakdown, mental exhaustion and torturous sleep deprivation. Within 24 hours one recruit bails out, another ends up in hospital and the rest face the terrible prospect of an agonising mile high climb up a wall of scorching sand.

EPISODE 2
Thirty-six hours in to legionnaire life and the 11 recruits are wishing that they’d never been born. The officers are determined to break the volunteers both physically and mentally before rebuilding them as mindless fighting machines. There’s no room for weak links and Sergeant Ferguson is gunning for malingerer Lee Gibbs after he’s rushed to hospital with a fake back injury. Ex drug and drink addict Stephen Malloy is also high on the hit list for his constant moaning and even adventurer explorer Bear Grylls is buried up to his neck in sand for a minor misdemeanour.

EPISODE 3
The volunteers are down from 12 to eight as the training in the scorching desert sun takes its toll on mind and body. The recruits are dropping like flies and the medic is battling to keep them on their feet. With another day of extreme punishment, adventurer and explorer Bear Grylls struggles to keep the group’s morale up and to top it all there’s a shock departure. But just as the volunteers feel they can’t take any more, the training starts a new chapter and the remaining recruits see another side to life in France’s elite mercenary fighting force.

EPISODE 4
It’s the final week of training for the remaining six recruits and the pressure is cranked up several notches. The rookie recruits have come a long way since their arrival 3 weeks ago, but the constant running in the scorching desert heat is too much for debt collector Wayne Dennis who clashes with the legionnaires and he runs out of friends fast. More recruits drop out until four remain and an end to the torturous training is finally in sight. But before any can pass with honour, the volunteers must survive 2 days of training in the middle of the desert, an 8km run in full combat gear and an epic 40km march to sea. Who will make it through?
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