ALONE AND STARVING IN WILDERNESS ON C4 SHOW; Ed tells of dramatic survival bid.

Byline: ALUN PALMER

A TV cameraman spoke for the first time yesterday of how he pushed himself to the brink of starvation for a Channel 4 show.

As temperatures plummeted and food grew scarce, Ed Wardle was forced to use an emergency satellite phone to call his producer and ask to be rescued after spending 50 days in Canada's Yukon wilderness.

Speaking at home in Islington, north London, he said: "I went for a wash at the lake one day and I saw my body. I realised then that I had been kidding myself.

"I thought I could make it through but could see the weight had disappeared and my bones were sticking out.

"My heart rate had dropped to just 30 beats a minute and I realised I had to leave or else I would be in serious trouble. s "I had been living off a meal every two days. The berries had gone and I was eating roots and the occasional fish or rabbit I caught."

Ed, 34, who has conquered Everest and been to the North Pole, was meant to spend three months living off the land in a Bear Grylls-style experiment for the C4 series Alone in the Wild.

The idea was sparked by the life of Christopher McCandless, whose death in the Yukon as he tried to live off the land was made into the hit Sean Penn movie Into the Wild.

Ed, whose movements were tracked by satellite, was trained by botanists, hunters and natives on how to fend for himself.

He was armed with a shotgun and rifle, fishing equipment and was told to expect spring, summer, autumn and winter in the space of just two months.

The quietly spoken Scot added: "I didn't hallucinate but I did talk to the occasional animal. There was no one else to talk to.

"I missed having someone saying to me, 'You will be all right'."

Ed was flown back to civilisation - and immediately enjoyed a large steak and a beer.

Doctors said he was malnourished after his adventure.

CAPTION(S):

HUNGRY He had to live on plants HOOKED Fishing for his supper SAFE Ed back home