KIAN
AGE: 19
FROM: London
OCCUPATION: Student

ABOUT

Kian is the youngest person taking part in this series. A self-confessed survival nerd, Kian has a huge passion for the wilderness, constantly reading and researching the subject, in order to become an expert in the future.

He is currently at university where his subject is War Studies. His real passion, though, is the wilderness. He’s read multiple books and attended several courses. He's usually the youngest on the courses he takes part in by about 20 years!

Kian is a real optimist and believes that hope and positivity can drive you through any obstacle. He is also highly skilled at judo and won gold at the London Youth Games in 2019.

Interview with Kian

Can you tell me how you feel about this challenge?

I cannot describe how huge and how crazy this challenge is. I’m also slightly scared because I feel like I could go 30 years on this planet and this could be the most interesting and most amazing thing I ever do and I’m having to grapple with that now at the age of 19. That’s how big what I’m about to do is. I’m about to go out there and I’m fully aware that this may be the most important thing and the most amazing thing I ever do in my lifetime which is crazy. It’s very, very exciting and very, very scary.

Is this the most extreme thing you’ve done in your life?

I’m only 19 and I’m keenly aware of my youth. I just think this is probably going to be the greatest challenge I’ve ever taken on.

How does it feel to have this opportunity at such a young age?

I’m the youngest contestant taking part in this series. I’ve just turned 19 and I feel really, really lucky to be the youngest person. It just puts a massive grin on my face. I can’t fathom how lucky I am to have been picked to take part. This is my dream. I’ve thought about this for years and years. And here I am about to live it at 19. It’s ridiculous, I can’t wipe the grin off my face.

From all your life experiences so far, what do you think is going to help you get through this challenge?

At the age of 19, I like to think that I know my body and I think I do know myself at this point but I’m looking forward to doing further inner research. I know that I can push myself to do difficult things. I did Judo for many years and from that, I learnt to push myself to physical extremes in competitions, fighting, etc. I found school very, very difficult but in Sixth Form I pushed myself, I studied every day and I ended up with three As and it was a real graft over a prolonged period of time. So I like to think that I know that I can apply myself for periods at a time. And this is going to be a different kind of application but I’m still really looking forward to it.

Do you feel you have something to prove in this process?

At the beginning of this process, I did feel like I had something to prove to myself and to the people watching. I wanted to represent Asian youth, I wanted to represent young people, being only 19. But I’m looking forward to just experiencing as much as I can of the land, taking what I need for it. And I do want to stay out here for as long as possible. I would love to win this challenge but ultimately just being there is a huge, a huge present in itself.

How did your parents feel about you coming doing something like this?

I think they were very, very selfless and I think they held back a lot of what they were feeling for my sake so I wouldn’t worry. I think they definitely felt a huge amount of fear, a huge amount of excitement and I think they understand how huge and crazy this opportunity is for me. But I’m not just going to be on TV, I’m going to be surviving in a Canadian wilderness. So if that was my child embarking on this challenge, I’d be bricking it. I’d be very scared and I imagine that’s exactly how they’re feeling but I know that they’re trying their best to support me as well, which I really appreciate. I do think my mum and dad have tried to mask a little bit of how they’re feeling for my sake, so I don’t worry. But I can definitely tell they’re terrified. Maybe I’m wrong and they don’t really care, maybe they’re thinking, “let him go, he’ll be fine, he’ll come back or he won’t.”

Have your parents sent you off with any particular instructions?

Don’t die, don’t get eaten by a bear. I think those were the two main ones that have really stuck. When they were sending me off, my mum and dad said, “you’re out there to survive, but it is a competition and the most important thing is that you do what’s right by you, you enjoy the process, you take what you need from it and ultimately this is a once in a lifetime experience so just make the most of it.”

Before doing this, how much time had you spent away from home?

Not much at all. I’ve just finished my first year at university so that was probably my first experience of prolonged periods of the time away from home, staying out. I found it a little bit difficult but it was never too bad because I was only an hour away from home and if I wanted to just pop home for dinner, I could and then go back to my flat. This is a whole different beast entirely.

How much preparation have you done for this?

I’m so under prepared, it’s ridiculous. I like to think I’m very much a weekend warrior when it comes to bushcraft and survival and it has been over the past four or five years and my skills have been increasing on a very slow gradient but they have been increasing.

Do you think people might underestimate you?

I’m genuinely not that bothered about what other people think. I don’t know if that’s arrogant or naïve, I’m not sure. I don’t have any expectation for myself to do hugely well, I don’t have any expectation to fulfil for other people. I don’t need to do fantastically well and starve myself for people back home to say I’ve done well. I’m doing this for me, to experience this wilderness in hopefully its truest form and I do want to push myself to my limits and experience true hardship.

How much does this mean to you?

This means a huge amount to me. I can’t describe how much having this opportunity means to me. It’s so incredibly exciting and so incredibly terrifying. Just standing out on the banks of the Mackenzie, I feel a tingle from my toes to the tip of my head every now and then and I can’t tell if it’s fear, excitement or a mixture of both. It’s also hugely terrifying because I have to just grapple with the fact this may be the most amazing thing I ever do in my entire life and I’ve hopefully got another 20, 30, 40, 50 years ahead. So I try not to think about that part but, I’m just really, really excited.

What do you think is going to be harder – the physical or mental side of this challenge?

I think the mental is absolutely the only challenge here. I think your body can really, really push itself and you can really push yourself. But mentally, the isolation, the ability to push through hunger, to push through fatigue, depression certainly is going to be the biggest challenge.

How do you think you’ll cope with the mental challenge?

I can be extremely tired, extremely thirsty. I know that I can push through that, no problem, but I’m really not sure how the isolation is going to affect me, that part of the mental challenge, the alone part - that’s something I’ve not had experience with before. That’s going to be new to me and I’m really looking forward to seeing how I react to it and hopefully it’s going to be okay. I’m going to just try and tough it out.

Do you feel ready to go out there?

Honestly, I’ve been up and down. I felt really confident at times and I’ve also felt waves of anxiety and fear about what am I about -, but I’m not afraid and I’m going to take it straight on.

How will you feel if you have to tap out?

I could be the first person to tap out and I would not mind. I could be the fifth person to tap out and I would not mind. What would crush me though, was if I was the second last person to tap out, that would be very difficult. I think deep down, even if I were second last, or if I won, the experience of just being out there in the first place is the experience of a lifetime. I’m just so grateful for all of it. Whatever happens, I will still have had a huge, fantastic experience I will never forget, and every day that I spend out there, will be a huge gift, so I’m going to stay out there for as long as I feel comfortable pushing myself. I’m going to push myself as hard as I can, become comfortable in discomfort, and at the end of the day, if I have to come home for whatever reason, I will have had an amazing, once in a lifetime experience.

What are you most looking forward to?

I’m most looking forward to a really intimate connection with nature. It’s an interaction with nature in an actual world that most people just never, ever get the opportunity to experience. I’m also really looking forward to being uncomfortable and to seeing how I deal with that and I’m really looking forward to seeing how far I can push myself.

Would you like the experience to change you?

I’d like this experience to change me. I hope to be an entirely different person when this experience is over, than when it began. I’m looking for a huge amount of personal growth. I want to find out more about myself, and I want to be a much better person when I come out of this experience, than I am going in.

What do you think you’ll learn about yourself?

This is probably the most honest experience anyone can go and do because there’s nowhere to hide out there, between you and the environment, or you and yourself. I think I’m going to learn exactly how uncomfortable I’m willing to be. I’m going learn how much grit, how much determination I’ve got, and how resourceful I am, how versatile and how out of the box I can think. I’m also going to learn how strong my human will to survive is, which people underestimate all the time. I’m going to learn a huge amount.

What’s your plan for the first night?

Build a simple type of shelter.

Do you have any idea where you’ll build your shelter?

I know I need to build it close to the water but far enough away from areas that look like they’re good for hunting, so I don’t disturb the wildlife. I want it to be close to resources, close to trees, close to water, close to food sources but I’ll have to get the lay of the land when I get there and that’s a huge amount of the excitement, just going in there absolutely blind.

What do you think your emotions are going to be like?

They’re going to be terrible. The most important thing is to stay level headed, and to try and keep my emotions in check. If I have a huge roller coaster of ups and downs, I’m going to find it a lot more difficult. I’m pretty sure I’m going to cry a couple of times.