Zelensky’s security team feared Bear Grylls was trying to assassinate him with poisoned chocolate

Bear Grylls‘ attempt to break the ice with President Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t go as he had planned, as the Ukrainian leader’s security team feared he was trying to assassinate him. 

The survival expert travelled to Ukraine to meet Zelensky and interview him as they walked around Kiev, but when Bear, 48, tried to offer Zelensky, 45, a piece of Cadbury‘s chocolate, his security team jumped into action. 

He revealed the security team refused the offering, fearing the chocolate might be poisoned, as he discussed his new Channel 4 documentary ‘Bear Grylls Meets President Zelensky’ on Good Morning Britain. 

‘One of the ways you thought about breaking the ice was to offer him some chocolate,’ GMB host Susanna Reid said to him. ‘Let’s just sit on a park bench like two friends and have a bar of chocolate’. 

Bear said he understood their actions, adding: ‘Normally when I’ve done this before with world leaders, the wild does half my job for me it’s a great leveller, it’s a great ice-breaker, you’re out in the mountains’. 

Bear told the story of offering Zelensky, 45, a piece of Cadbury’s chocolate, which saw his security team jump into action

He discussed the awkward encounter with GMB presenter Susanna Reid, telling her he had hoped it would break the ice

Bear spoke of the unusual experience on GMB as he discussed his new Channel 4 documentary ‘Bear Grylls Meets President Zelensky’

Bear has previously shared food with other world leaders, including some salmon which had been caught by a bear with former US President Barack Obama in Alaska

Bear has previously shared food with other world leaders, including some salmon which had been caught by a bear with former US President Barack Obama in Alaska. 

The survival expert also spoke about the incident with Zelensky in a previous interview with Radio Times. 

‘When I offered it to Zelensky, one of his guys stepped in and said he shouldn’t be eating it’, he said. ‘I said, ‘Ok, I’ll go first, to show I’m not out to poison him,’ and we all laughed’, he said. 

‘I gave some to the security guys, because everyone likes a little square of Dairy Milk, right?’

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Elsewhere in the interview, Bear spoke about a conversation he had with the President about his family. Since the war began, Zelensky has been separated from his family; his wife Olena, daughter Oleksandra and son, Kyrylo. 

The survival expert travelled to Ukraine to meet Zelensky and interview him as they walked around Kiev

Bear said the show is aimed at getting to know ‘the real guy behind the podium, actually what he [Zelensky] is like as a man’.

British Hollywood star Orlando Bloom visited Ukraine to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and children and families impacted by Vladimir Putin’s invasion

He said the show is aimed at getting to know ‘the real guy behind the podium, actually what he [Zelensky] is like as a man’.

”He said, ‘Like all of Ukraine we’ve put everything on hold, our life, our ambitions, our families, our work, our future, our dreams”, Bear said. ”Everything for one purpose, to defend our country.’

‘And there’s a power to that and he is very clear, ‘I’m doing what everyone else is doing, putting everything aside, we’re defending our home.” 

During his visit to Ukraine for the documentary, Bear was able to see the destruction caused by the Russian invasion and subsequent war first hand. 

He described him as ‘really humble, down to earth and totally focused’. 

‘Everyone I met in Ukraine, even if I said ‘what do you think of Zelenksy?’ and they go: ‘Whatever I thought before is irrelevant, whether I liked him or not. The whole country’s together and we’re all behind him”. 

Bear is one of several celebrities that have been invited to Ukraine to show their support. 

The most recent was Pirates of the Carribean star Orlando Bloom, who praised the ‘incredibly stoic nature’ of the Ukrainian people and encouraged Zelensky to ‘go win’ the war. 

The pair were seen in footage in the capital’s presidential palace, where they discussed humanitarian projects and reconstruction efforts to help the children of Ukraine. In addition to Kyiv, Bloom visited Irpin and Demydiv.