MIKE TINDALL reached a crossroads last July when he announced he was retiring after a 15-year career at the very top of rugby union.

A hugely popular figure at both of his former clubs Bath and Gloucester, and as part of the 2003 England World Cup winning-squad, the former national team captain has attained legendary status beyond the sport.

So it was with some surprise that upon putting away his gum shield for the final time – apart from occasional appearances for his local Minchinhampton RFC side – Tindall decided to throw himself into the realm of reality TV, which was not the most obvious choice of career move for somebody married into the Royal family.

But the husband of Zara Phillips, the Queen’s granddaughter, has got stuck into the reality sphere like it was a scrum against the All Blacks. Not once but twice the 36-year-old has put himself through the mill for our entertainment – firstly with The Jump, a Davina McCall-hosted winter sports competition and then with Bear Grylls: Mission Survival, an intense endurance journey in the rainforests of Costa Rica.

Going from spending time with Johnny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson to Jamelia and Amy Childs seems like a culture shock, but Tindall took it in his considerable stride.

The opportunities, Tindall says, 'just fell into my lap at the perfect time' post-retirement last summer and was a useful way of whiling away the hours he would normally spend on the rugby pitch.

“The Bear Grylls thing was around the time of the start of the season and it was a way of taking my mind off anything else and refocus and just get out there," said Tindall.

"With The Jump, when it was on last year, I said I’d love to do that just for the skiing side of it and when they asked me. It was a bit of a no-brainer.

"I wanted to do it and it fell into my lap at the perfect time.”

But there was more to it than just giving him purpose – besides, he and Zara have a young daughter (Mia) to look after.

Ever the fierce competitor, self-improvement was also a factor.

“For me to do them they had to have the element of a challenge," he said.

Through the epic 12-day survival test of the Bear Grylls show, Tindall wanted to push his physical and mental well-being to the limit.

“I always said, if you think about a rugby player being a manly, deal-with-anything sort of tough guy, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to find out if I am – whether I am durable in the true sense of the word," he said.

"That was the challenge. In the lead-up, to prepare myself I tried to imagine the worst that it could possibly be. Luckily we didn’t get there!”

Drinking your own urine, as contestants on Mission Survival had to do, would be considered many people’s definition of 'the worst it could possibly be'. Yet Tindall emerged during a time when such activities were standard as rugby dressing room camaraderie – no, really – and he managed to do it with worrying ease.

“Unfortunately, initiations are old school rugby and they don’t happen so much nowadays," added Mike. "But initiations definitely could have involved that in the past! And I have to admit that it wasn’t the first time. Bear did look at me a bit strangely when I said 'are we drinking our own or are we drinking other people’s?”

Overall, Tindall enjoyed his foray into light entertainment, but is unsure if he’ll be making another reality TV appearance. He has other interests to consider, such as media and his charity work, which does so much good for military veterans.

Tindall is patron of Rugby for Heroes and through his annual celebrity golf classic day has raised more than £100,000 to help former army officers to get back to normal civilian life.

At this year’s event at the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire, playing in bright multi-coloured golf trousers, Tindall finished well off the pace and after coming second in both The Jump and Mission Survival he jokes that his days of winning might have ended with his rugby career.

“I’m getting used to that now," said Tindall. "I’ve been lucky in the past at winning finals. But I can’t win any outside of rugby, unfortunately!”

Mike Tindall is a patron of Rugby for Heroes. Find out more at www.rugbyforheroes.org.uk.