Keep out of Eden!
Tourists flock to ‘remote’ area in Highlands where reality TV colony is in fight for survival
IT has been billed as the groundbreaking social experiment that will see a group of 23 volunteers cut ties with society and ‘start all over again’.
But the producers behind Channel 4’s new survival show are struggling to keep the outside world out.
Despite obtaining an exemption order revoking the public’s right to roam on the 600-acre site on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, they are finding it impossible to keep fans away.
Although measures have been taken to stop people getting to the site by foot, last night’s episode showed members of the public landing on a beach near the set.
Now the company in charge of the show, Keo Films, is appealing to people to stay away from the beauty spot in the Lochaber ‘wilderness’.
Andrew Palmer, the programme’s executive producer, urged the public to pay heed to the exemption order under section 11 of the Land Reform Act, which was
‘Absurd to call it a wilderness’
approved by Highland Council on the grounds that unidentified intruders would pose a risk to those taking part.
‘It is up to the community if they wish to interact with the outside world,’ he said.
‘However, for the integrity of what the group hope to achieve in this remote location, we would hope that people leave them to it and observe the section 11 order.’
Even before the first episode aired, locals were questioning the use of the word ‘isolated’ and blasted the programme makers for picking a spot close to a pub, newsagents, chip shop and bakery.
The filming location is less than five miles from the village of Acharacle, Argyll, which is also home to a fishing store.
Dr Michael Foxley, ex-leader of Highland Council and former councillor for Ardnamurchan, said the notion that the area was a wilderness was absurd.
‘The sands are very popular picnic area for the village of Acharacle which is not very far away,’ he said.
‘In Acharacle there is a primary school, a GP surgery, a garage, a shop, bakery, hotel and bar, tea shop and other tourism businesses, so the idea that somehow they are going to be in a wilderness far removed from civilisation is absolutely absurd.’
The participants in Eden range in age from 24 to 54 and include two doctors, a fisherman, a plumber, a yoga instructor, a gamekeeper and a chef. They set off for the woodland site – on the grounds of a private Highland estate – in March this year with a starter kit of potatoes, barley, salt, turnips, oil, onions, vinegar and oatmeal to get them through the first 100 days.
They were also given seeds and livestock – pigs, chicken and sheep – to enable them to sustain themselves long-term.
They will spend a year on the site, filmed round the clock by 45 cameras, and must decide together on their own rules and laws as well as how they grow or catch their own food and raise their animals.
The BBC programme Castaway, which saw 36 adults and children attempt to live on an island in the Western Isles, faced similar problems keeping gatecrashers away.
Television presenter Ben Fogle, who took part in the programme in 2000, said: ‘One of the biggest mistakes the BBC made with Castaway was to show the series while we were still on the island.
‘Journalists arrived by fishing boat and helicopter, and suddenly we became aware we were being watched – and realised how we were perceived back home. Behaviours changed and personalities became exaggerated. The Eden team has built a fence around its compound but the public has already sought them out.’
Eden, which aired for the first time last week, has already sparked controversy. Ten viewers complained to the Ofcom regulator over footage of a pig being slaughtered in the first episode.
Others took to social media claiming the show was too easy, and dubbing it ‘Hipster Big Brother’.
On Twitter, viewers complained about seeing two of the volunteers in the same hammock after drinking a home brew, and participants eating gnocchi.
‘Sands a popular picnic area’