Muslim contestant walks off Bear Grylls reality TV show The Island - because he couldn't handle 'living with half-naked women' wearing bikinis

A Muslim man has walked out of Bear Grylls's reality TV show after he became uncomfortable because the female contestants were wearing bikinis all the time. Rizwan Shabir, a married father of three, will be seen leaving The Island tonight, saying he is 'not used to living with women who are half-naked'. The 27-year-old from Bradford, West Yorkshire described his time on the show as 'the best thing and the worst thing' he has ever done, after viewers saw emotional scenes of him breaking down in tears because he missed his family. Several young women on the Channel 4 show have been shown wearing bikini tops while foraging for supplies and attempting to build a camp. The current third series of The

Island is the first time that men and women have been mixed together, after the first series was male-only and the second put men and women on separate islands. Mr Shabir, a mobile phone shop owner, said when he entered the show last year that he hoped to be a role model for other British Muslims.

He also predicted that his experience on the survival programme would help him get closer to his faith, and could be seen praying five times a day while on the island.

But in the end he could not handle the stress of being on the island, and left the show after just 11 days in an incident set to be broadcast on this evening's episode.

  

Contestant: Zoe is one of the women featured on the programme, pictured here wearing a bikini on the beach.

 

Clothing: Tilly , left, and Sarah, right, are two of the women who have been wearing bikini tops on the Pacific island in order to keep cool

Mr Shabir, a former cage fighter with a black belt in karate, says in the episode: 'At the end of the day I am a Muslim - I'm not used to living with women who are half-naked. This is harder than what I thought it would be.

'Basically I'm around a group of women who are half-naked, which in my religion and culture I shouldn't really be.'

In an earlier episode, he was seen weeping after a long swim which left him exhausted and desperate to see his wife Kalsoom and his children Amirah, three, and nine-month-old twins Adam and Isa.

Mr Shabir said that he was 'really emotional' after the dangerous swim in Pacific waters, and found himself thinking about his family.

He was called a 'softie' by some viewers, but he told the Bradford Telegraph & Argus: 'I don't mind them saying I'm a softie. We all cry, we all get emotional. The only difference is that millions were watching it.'

 

-Mailonline