ADVENTURER’S
Twenty years after he first found fame on Castaway, Ben Fogle is back with a series he says is ‘a dream come true’
BEN Fogle says his new TV series is “a love letter to Scotland” – the country that changed his life and launched his career.
In BBC special Sacred Islands, the adventurer embarks on a pilgrimage to the nation’s remotest islands, including Taransay, the Hebridean isle where his star was born.
Despite, it being 20 years since he found fame on Castaway 2000, Ben, 47, admits Scotland will always remain his spiritual home and says making this series was a dream come true.
Over four episodes, he explores the beating heart of communities from Tiree to Berneray, Iona to Harris, South Uist to the Shetlands Isles, and along the way, discovers what makes each island unique.
The dad-of-two, who spent a year marooned on the previously uninhabited Taransay with 35 other castaways, said: “This series is my love letter to Scotland and my thank you to the Western Isles. Castaway changed me in so many ways. I was not the star of Castaway, the island of Taransay was, the Outer Hebrides was, Scotland was.
“I owe everything to the year I spent on Taransay. It changed my life. It launched my career and I’m under no illusion that I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Scotland.
“I’m fascinated by all of Scotland’s islands. The remoteness, the peace, the wonder – I even named my daughter Iona after one. I’m lucky to have been to a lot of places but to me these islands are the most beautiful on Earth. This is where my roots really are, where I feel spiritually at home. This is my dream series.”
The broadcaster, who in the first episode travels across the Inner Hebrides, visiting Tiree, Coll, the Treshnish Isles and Iona, added: “Although I have this ridiculously posh southern accent, I am part Scots, as my late grandfather came from Glasgow.
“He emigrated when he was a young boy to Canada but I have lots of family still in Scotland and my heart is still there and this series is representative of that.
“It’s not just another celebrity travelogue. I like to think it is much more profound and thoughtful. I wanted to understand more about the different islands of Scotland and what they mean to the people who live there.
“Someone I met on Iona put it very cleverly. She said an island is a mirror to yourself. If you go to an island, you might be looking for something and will find it reflected in the landscape around you.”
One thing Ben learned while filming the series was, although his love affair with Scotland will last a lifetime, his spiritual connection to Taransay has come to an end.
This has happened partly because some of the Castaways have since died. Trevor Kearon, who found love with Trish Prater on Taransay, died of a heart attack in Spain a few years ago and Hilary Freeman has also since passed away.
Ben, who failed in his attempt to help the local community purchase the island in 2011, said: “I have been back there a
number of times and I took my wife Marina there for our honeymoon but there was a sense of melancholy. It’s because some of the Castaways have now passed away. With each of those deaths a bit of that experience has also gone.
“Going back there is no memory of our time there whatsoever. All the buildings have been removed. It is now in private hands and owned by someone different. It felt like the end of my connection to Taransay.”
Ben, who is dad to Iona, 10, and Ludovic, 11, added: “What was exciting about this series was that it allowed me to explore and visit other islands and to fill the void that is Taransay.”
Although, Ben’s reality TV experience changed the course of his life for the better, he says he would never dream of venturing on to a similar show today.
The New Lives in the Wild presenter, who helped his fellow Castaways set up their own sustainable community, grow their food, kill their own meat and set up their own school, said: “Reality TV is a very different beast now. When we did Castaway it was a very naive and innocent project. Nowadays it’s all about aesthetics and how you appear. It is a lot shallower.
“I wouldn’t go anywhere near a show like that now. I’m not being disrespectful but there is a time and a place. TV has changed a lot in 21 years.”
The presenter says social media has made reality television a different and dangerous beast. He said: “We didn’t have internet. When I was on Castaway I didn’t even have an email address.
“It was a really innocent time and all we had to deal with were some excited journalists from the Daily Record and Sunday Mail who supported us and championed us and we loved it. Now even with 20 years of experience I still feel stung by criticism and trolling on social media.
“For youngsters going into the reality game it’s a new landscape filled with lots of different pressures.” His best friend James Cracknell has made it to tomorrow night’s final of Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins but Ben insists he has never been tempted to take part in the show or in Strictly, despite being asked numerous times.
He said: “I don’t need to embarrass myself on national TV with a terrible dance or by breaking down in front of Ant Middleton. I would rather empower people to embrace the wilderness and empower themselves.” ●Scotland’s Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle, BBC Scotland tomorrow at 8pm.
I owe everything to the year on Taransay. It changed my life BEN FOGLE ON HIS EXPERIENCE IN CASTAWAY 2000