Ross Kemp recounts coming face-to-face with a ‘mesmerising, drooling’ 350kg lion

Ross Kemp has recounted the filming of his latest show, Britain’s Tiger Kings – On The Trail With Ross Kemp, and the moment he came face-to-face with a massive lion.

Writing about the experience in The Sun, Ross, 56, recalled: ‘I’ve been ushered into a ­circus ring and now, staring down at me from a 12ft ­pedestal, is a lion. A massive, 350kg apex predator.

‘Its eyes are mesmerisingly ­beautiful and its mane is magnificent, but it’s his teeth and claws I’m most worried about. He’s also drooling.

‘I’m instructed to feed him a big hunk of meat on a stick and he slobbers like a household dog as he devours the piece. If he lands on me or Martin the lion tamer, or decides to eat us, we are literally a lion’s lunch.

‘I have to say — up close, I can’t really understand the appeal. This isn’t a dream, though. I’m here for a new two-part ITV documentary focusing on Britain’s very own tiger and lion kings, as well as keepers of other dangerous wild animals.’

The new show was announced back in February, with ITV said to be hoping to cash in on the success of Netflix hit Tiger King.

With actor-turned-documentary-maker Ross helming the series, a source said at the time: ‘Ross loves getting under the skin of gritty topics and interviewees. And given how big Tiger King was last year, this seems a good idea.

‘No one has really delved into the lives of British Joe Exotics and what possesses them to keep these creatures in the way they do.

‘There are numerous examples of Brits having all sorts of animals, and this doc will look at some of the characters involved.’ 

Ross – who played Grant Mitchell in EastEnders – has interviewed Reece Oliver, who has two rescued African lions and a puma in his garden in Nottinghamshire. 

Last summer he hit headlines when he applied for planning permission for a 400 metres squared enclosure behind his stables, which was to be used for the 28-year-old’s show-jumping horses.

Neighbours became rattled when they discovered it in fact housed a puma, called Rogue, and that two lion cubs, Rocky and Rora, would be added.

Some 14 neighbours objected that the enclosure was too close to the adjoining bridleway, and having so many predators less than 45 metres from the nearest house would be ‘unsafe’. 

Even so, Reece won the battle to keep his enclosure, with the 3.85 metre-high perimeter fence. 

Reece lives in a barn conversion with his mother Karen, who owns a string of children’s nurseries, his dad Gary, a heating engineer, girlfriend Annie, his grandparents — and two squirrel monkeys, called Ronnie and Reggie.

He rescued the four-year-old puma ‘from the illegal pet trade’. And within two years, Rocky and Rora will be twice the puma’s size, with male Rocky weighing up to 30st.

Tiger King became a worldwide sensation on Netflix as it chronicled the lives of big cat owners Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin and Doc Antle.

Exotic has served roughly two years of a 22-year sentence after he was convicted on 17 federal charges in 2019 for animal abuse and an attempted murder-for-hire plot on Baskin.