'World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji' arrives this August

Just imagine you and three other team-mates trekking, rowing, running, cycling, and mountaineering across an island in the South Pacific for 11 days straight in order to claim the top spot out of 66 teams. This is Amazon Prime's 'World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji'.

The 10-episode adventure series, hosted by Bear Grylls and executive produced by Mark Burnett (he of 'Survivor' of course), tells the story of the ultimate expedition race, as teams from 30 countries race non-stop across hundreds of miles of rugged Fijian terrain.

As you will see in the series, which premieres on Amazon Prime this August, people from all walks of life and every corner of the globe join together to overcome the most incredible obstacles through this race to the finish line. The limits of human physical and mental endurance get tested like never before, and there's even going to be an Irish team for us to cheer alongside too.

In the run-up to the series launch, we caught up with the presenter to find out how he found working on the TV adventure competition.

Discussing what he found to be the greatest challenge for the teams during this extremely competitive series, Bear said: "Attrition. It's always going to happen on the 'World's Toughest Race'. it's so long and it's so hard. This is 670km, 11 days, 24 hours a day non-stop. You get to decide whether you lie down in the jungle for 20 minutes, or do you keep going and push on.

"How do you stay positive throughout this and keep making good decisions? And as the race went on, and people become more sleep-deprived and more exhausted and full of pain, and more blisters. -people make bad decisions. And it's then that the 'World's Toughest Race' comes into its own. Then you see what people are really made of.

"It is like one long human scientific experiment of coping with pressure."

With him spending a lot of time with the 66 teams beforehand, we asked what kind of pep talk he gave them as they embarked on their perilous journey around Fiji. Bear said: "The first thing I made them understand was that this is a team event. Your team is either going to make or break during this challenge. And be kind to one another in the big moments - that will set you apart.

"These small things matter when you're tired and sleep-deprived and under pressure. Embrace the hurting was also a key point that I made. This is going to be your world for 11 days and you're going to hurt - get over it.

"Also, respect the wild - if you don't she'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget. And finally, we always say to leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories. Respect the environment and never give up!"

Speaking briefly to Rob Heffernan, who was a team member of Team Ireland on the series, and who has been adventure racing for over 10 years, the competitor said that there's only so much preparation you can do for such a challenge beforehand. He told us: "Every team would have a different race and story to tell afterwards.

"There was everything thrown at us in this race, and every day there are high points and low points - and you start to question if you'll ever see the end. But then something happens which changes everything and makes it feel like you're on top of the world."

Rob competed as part of Team Ireland AR in the series, which was also made up of Jason Black, Mark Lattanzi, Rachel Nolan, and Ivan Park.

'World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji' begins streaming on Amazon Prime August 14.