Tribe who came to tea
Gogglebox star recreates her UK home alongside cattle herders in dusty Namibia
IN its usual County Durham setting, Scarlett Moffatt’s home would simply be a modest terraced house much like those around it.
But in a dusty village in Southern Africa where her neighbours live in huts made from wood and mud, it stands out like a dwelling from another planet.
The Gogglebox star and her family had an exact replica of their house built in Otjeme, a remote village in Namibia, complete with running water, electricity and wardrobes full of clothes.
It was used for Channel 4’s reality TV show The British Tribe Next Door, which begins tonight with the family getting to know their new neighbours, the semi-nomadic Himba tribe of cattle herders.
Scenes from the programme include members of the tribe popping in for tea, taking a tour of the house and being astonished at seeing themselves in a mirror for the first time.
And after they tackle their fear of climbing stairs, they are shocked by the amount of clothes and shoes in Miss Moffatt’s bedroom compared with the single outfit each of them owns.
Miss Moffatt’s mother Betty takes one Himba woman around the kitchen as she cleans, showing her how to stack the dishwasher and iron clothes.
The British family also learn about the cattle herders’ way of life. Miss Moffatt, 29, is taken to the local watering hole to collect water, while her mother and her sister Ava – managing to detach herself from her phone – help to clean a Himba hut.
Miss Moffatt’s father Mark introduced some of the Himba men to his favourite pastime – metal detecting. Intrigued by the gadget, they are seen scouring the village, finding a whistle and a bullet.
The programme looked at issues of body confidence as Miss Moffatt refused to dress in the tribe’s traditional outfits because of her feelings about her appearance.
The local women wear goatskin skirts, as well as a range of neck pieces and hair styles that indicate their status in the tribe.
Men, meanwhile, wear loincloths, and both sexes rub their bodies with red ochre and fat to protect themselves from the sun.
The Himbas tried to convince Miss Moffatt, who won the reality TV show I’m A Celebrity… in 2016, to dress like them, but she became emotional at the thought of exposing her body.
She said: ‘In our society, I feel like there’s a lot of pressure to have a body that’s this perfect Barbie figure.
‘Since I was young I have really struggled with body confidence and anxiety around that. ‘I think when you are judged on the way you look it does affect you… but it makes you a stronger person.’
The family, including Miss Moffatt’s grandmother Christine, spent one month in Namibia to film four episodes of The British Tribe Next Door.
Producers said the programme is a ‘reverse anthropological exchange’ as the British family face questions and judgments from their hosts, and are forced to reconsider their own way of life.
The series is said to explore cultural differences regarding body image, beauty, the wealth gap, social media, sex and infidelity, consumption and waste.