Spencer Matthews said he watched footage of his older brother Michael for the first time since he disappeared on Mount Everest in 1999 while making documentary Finding Michael.
The Disney+ film will see 34-year-old Matthews attempt to find the body of his brother, who vanished three hours after becoming the youngest Briton to reach the summit of Everest at the age of 22.The former Made In Chelsea star said his brother Michael was “everything to me”, and the pair were often described as “twins separated by time despite the age gap”.
In the film, Matthews attempts to retrace Michael’s steps with the help of survivalist Bear Grylls and “14 peak” record-holding mountaineer Nirmal “Nims” Purja – who leads the search and rescue mission.
Canadian climber Dave Rodney, who had been on the expedition with Michael, also features in the film. Matthews said: “Dave in particular brought to the table footage from the 1999 expedition of Mike and Dave climbing and Mike’s attitude to the mountain and I actually had never, prior to flying to Canada to meet Dave, had never seen Mike on camera ever. “We weren’t the kind of family that made home videos and when I said to mum and dad, when we agreed to make this documentary, I said I need all footage of Mike and they said ‘We don’t have any’. “Fortunately, Dave had this incredible film that I hadn’t seen so I saw it in Canada for the first time and it’s the first time I’d heard Michael speak since he was alive, since I was 10.” Mr Rodney said that Michael was the “best mate I could ever have hoped for on the mountain”, and he is “honoured and humbled” to be a part of the documentary.
Read more on ok.co.uk