TRIBAL GATHERING
GOGGLEBOX FAVOURITES GET TO KNOW THEIR NEW NEIGHBOURS ... THE HIMBA TRIBE FROM NAMIBIA THE BRITISH TRIBE NEXT DOOR Channel 4, 9.15pm
SCARLETT MOFFATT may have been Queen of the jungle in I’m A Celeb, but that’s nothing compared to what she faces here. Rocking up in the Namibian desert with her big wheelie suitcase, she and her family will live with the Himba tribe for a month.
The idea is that the 100 seminomadic cattle herders and the Moffatts, best known as Goggleboxers, will learn about each other’s cultures.
And so, in an extreme move, an exact replica of their County Durham terraced house is built in the desert. Complete with running water, electricity, wi-fi and around 20,000 of their possessions, it’s as if a tornado has whipped up the house and it’s landed there.
It’s a weird concept, taking reality show formats to slightly odd levels – but that doesn’t mean it’s not fascinating and entertaining.
We’ve seen documentaries following tribes, but you never see how they react to Western living.
“Why would you have two floors? What kind of crazy person would sleep up there?” asks one tribesman. None of them have ever climbed stairs before.
One woman marvels that a washing machine and dishwasher do everything for Scarlett’s mum
Betty. And there’s confusion over everything from Scarlett’s sequinned cushions to dad Mark’s barbecue tongs.
There is plenty of emotion too as Scarlett is forced to wrestle with her body consciousness among women who wear barely any clothes and have never even looked in a mirror before.
“We have everything at our fingertips, but our society is full of stress,” says Scarlett. “I’m really curious to see what we can learn from them.”