The former Made in Chelsea star’s older brother Michael disappeared hours after reaching the mountain’s summit in 1999.
Image source, Disney+/PAFormer Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews has been searching for his older brother’s body on Mount Everest.
In 1999, Michael Matthews became the youngest Briton to reach the mountain’s summit at the age of 22.
However hours later he vanished, never to be seen again.
More than two decades on, Spencer is retracing Michael’s final steps in an attempt to find his body, recording the experience in a new documentary titled “Finding Michael”.
Michael disappeared 8,000 metres above sea level in an area known as the “Death Zone” – an altitude where oxygen levels are insufficient to sustain human life.
Michael was “everything to me” says Spencer, who was just 10 years old when his older sibling went missing.
Creating the documentary allowed the former reality star to discover footage of his brother he didn’t even know existed.
Spencer reveals an “incredible” video of his brother’s 1999 expedition was “brought to the table” by Dave Rodney, a Canadian climber who had been with Michael on the trip.
Mr Rodney has described Michael as the “best mate I could ever have hoped for on the mountain” and said that he was humbled and honoured to be in the film.
The Disney+ documentary sees adventurer Bear Grylls and mountaineer Nirmal Purja also take part in the recovery effort.
TV presenter and executive producer Grylls met Michael a few months before he set off to climb Everest.
Grylls himself climbed Everest in 1998 at the age of 23.
“There was definitely a meeting of minds and spirit with a fellow young guy who wanted to stand on top of the world,” said Grylls.
“Obviously then when the disaster happened and Michael never came home it was a devastating blow for everyone.”
He added: “Twenty years on to watch Spencer now as a man, as a father, as a husband wanting to try and recover his body and tell Michael’s story was a privilege to be a small part of.”
Spencer referred to the reaction he’d received so far as “incredibly humbling” and he hopes the documentary helps people and moves them.