Will Smith traverses all seven continents in Nat Geo's 'Pole to Pole'

""This is the highest experience I've ever had in this business," he tells On The Red Carpet. From facing -100F temperatures in the South Pole, to confronting his lifelong fear of spiders in the Amazon, to learning the survival secrets of the San people of the Kalahari Desert and diving under the ice in the North Pole, the journey "changed the way I see the planet," Smith says. "It's changed the way I see myself.""

"The idea for the series was inspired by his late mentor, who urged him to ask life's big questions. He explains, "I had a mentor when I was growing up, Dr. Allen Counter. He's a Black Indiana Jones, so he was always trying to get me to go with him, and I never went on any of the expeditions. And he passed a few years ago, and I felt inspired to go to some of the places he talked about.""

Will Smith travels across all seven continents over 100 days in a seven-part National Geographic adventure titled "Pole to Pole with Will Smith." He faces extreme environments such as -100F conditions at the South Pole and dives under Arctic ice at the North Pole. He confronts a lifelong fear of spiders in the Amazon and learns survival techniques from the San people of the Kalahari Desert. The experience altered his perspective on the planet and on himself. The series was inspired by his late mentor Dr. Allen Counter and follows two prior NatGeo projects. The series premieres January 13 with streaming available January 14 on Disney+ and Hulu.

Read at ABC7 Los Angeles