Spencer Matthews is making a documentary about his late brother Michael’s final days, according to reports.
Michael died in 1999 when he was just 22, on a quest that saw him become the youngest Brit to conquer Mount Everest.
While Michael made it to the summit, he tragically lost the other members of his party on the way back down during a storm. He never made it home and, as is often the case for people who lose their lives on Everest, his body was never recovered.
Now, over two decades on from his death, Spencer, 33, is embarking on a journey to find his brother’s final resting place, and bring Michael’s body home.
A source told The Sun: “Spencer’s documentary about Michael and his final days is at the very early stages and Disney+ have shown an interest.”
“Though the Matthews family were never able to recover Michael’s body, there is a guide who believes they know his final resting place,” they went on.
“It is a hugely emotional project and will be a very upsetting journey for many reasons, but Spencer is hugely passionate about embarking on it if he can make it work.”
They added that Spencer’s wife Vogue Williams, his parents and brother have given the documentary their full backing.
Following Michael’s passing 23 years ago, the Matthews family created a charity in his memory named The Michael Matthews Foundation, which prides itself on “educating thousands of children from remote areas who now benefit from a better start in life”.
Spencer spoke of his brother’s heartbreaking death in his 2013 biography.
He wrote at the time: “His loss was devastating for the family and over time this became worse because the circumstances surrounding Michael’s death have never been fully explained.
“James took the news badly. With just a year and a half between them, he and Mike were the closest of friends. The loss was heartbreaking for James.”
Spencer is no stranger to gruelling expeditions after recently taking part in the Ice Ultra competition – an adventure through 230km of Europe’s last remaining wilderness. However, he was sadly forced to pull out after contracting Covid-19.
“The night before the race started I developed a chest infection and was placed on antibiotics. I had mentioned the first day was long and tough – breathing was becoming more and more difficult,” Spencer wrote on Instagram.
“After some consideration the medical team allowed me to continue into day 2 but by the end of that, the infection had gotten considerably worse. Given the time and effort spent, I was keen to crack on, particularly because we were deep into it by that stage and we’d travelled a long way to be there.”
Despite his motivation to continue, the former reality TV star was advised to not continue after having already completed just under 100km.
He described this as a “devastating blow”, but was pleased to have “placed 10th at the time of being pulled out”.
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