Grant Denyer is back on set of Family Feud three weeks after cheating death in horror rally crash

FAMILY Feud host Grant Denyer has returned to the relative safety of Ten’s game show set after surviving a near-death rally car crash.

GRANT Denyer knows he cheated death when he walked away from a horror rally car accident three weeks ago — returning to the relative safety of his TV gig today.

The 39-year-old was back filming Family Feud less than a month after the silver Lotus he was driving during an amateur competition in country Victoria left the Maryville road and struck a tree at 160 kmh/h.

While still nursing broken bones, including a broken sacrum, with the help of heavy pain medication, the Channel 10 star is grateful to be upright and returning to the quiz show and this Sunday’s Logie awards.

Grant Denyer's smashed rally car. Photo: Bob Barker

Ten executives were forced to postpone filming in the days after Denyer’s accident, which also saw his co-driver suffer a broken knee and fractured vertebrae.

Denyer usually films five episodes of Family Feud in a day, but was only well enough this week to resume filming at the show’s Melbourne studios.

GRANT CHEATED DEATH IN HORROR CRASH

“The broken sacrum is the main challenge,” Denyer told News Corp Australia.

“That will make sitting at the Logies a very difficult and painful challenge. With Family Feud, it is going to be slow and steady. The first couple of shows won’t have the same physical energy that people are used to seeing from me.

“I don’t really know what kind of endurance I have yet. We’re just going to do two episodes per day. It is going to be a tough week.”

Grant Denyer tweets from hospital bed ... "Dale & I can't thank u enough 4 all the wonderful messages of support. It's really lifted our spirits. V sore but OK." Picture: Twitter

Denyer revealed he had spent the past three weeks laying flat on his back and replaying the accident in his mind.

“I think it (the accident) is about as close to a fatality as you would want to get,” Denyer said.

“I’d done my best to get away from the tree but we bounced off a whopping tree root that I didn’t see and that just shot us straight into the tree. It would have been a different story (fatal) if it had been a front engine car. The Lotus has an engine in the back so the whole front of the car is basically a big crumple zone. It absorbed a lot of the horrific impact.”

Scout and Sailor looked after their dad during his recovery. Picture: Grant Denyer/Instagram

Denyer was overwhelmed by outpouring of support he received after the crash, which came on the same day he was nominated for a Gold Logie.

“The personal messages I received from across the country have been overwhelming. When I was unable to move and grumpy and angry at myself it was incredible how much is lifted my spirits.”

Denyer is up for a Gold Logie for the second year in a row and said the nomination raised his spirits while he was nursed back to health by wife Cheryl. The couple has two young daughters, Sailor and Scout.

Grant Denyer said he could not have made the recovery he has without wife Cheryl, pictured in Melbourne as he returned to work. Picture: Instagram

“It will be a snail’s pace on the red carpet — I’ll be the first one to start and the last one to finish,” Denyer joked.

“Just getting to the Logies has been a real challenge. I couldn’t have done it without Cheryl.”

Denyer’s latest accident is another wake-up call, after he broke his back when a monster truck stunt went wrong on Sunrise back in 2011.

“I’m aware that I am a husband and a father and I also owe it to my employers (to stay healthy),” Denyer said.

“I’ve had between 300 and 400 races in my life and the hard thing for me is that I’m driving the best I’ve ever driven. Last year I won the Australian GT Championship. I won’t say I am going to walk away from motorsport but I might reassess what kind I do.”