FAME AND FORTUNE

Ed Stafford: ‘I wasn’t paid to walk the Amazon but I got £18k to tell bad jokes’

The explorer, who was adopted, lives in a Grade II listed grange but is still paying £650 a month for a Land Rover that was dismantled by thieves, he tells Samantha Rea

Ed Stafford in Borneo for the Discovery series First Man Out
Ed Stafford in Borneo for the Discovery series First Man Out
ROB SIXSMITH/FIRST MAN OUT/DISCOVERY CHANNEL
The Sunday Times

The explorer Ed Stafford holds the Guinness World Record for being the first person to walk the length of the Amazon. His 860-day feat, completed in 2010, was documented in the TV series Walking the Amazon. Since then, the former army officer has fronted a decade’s worth of survival series for the Discovery Channel, as well as the Channel Four documentaries 60 Days with the Gypsies and 60 Days on the Streets. Now 46, Stafford lives with his wife, the explorer Laura Bingham, their five-year-old son and two-year-old twin daughters in Leicestershire.

How much is in your wallet?
About £120 in Taiwanese dollars, because I’m in Taiwan filming the third series of First Man Out.

Are you a saver or a spender?