The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Troubled reality show set to return to Channel 4
Show taken off air after just a few weeks is to make its return next month
Channel 4 bosses have confirmed troubled reality show Eden will return to our screens next month.
The survival series followed the fortunes of 23 young people as they fended for themselves on a secluded estate near Lochaber.
The group, featuring Perthshire woman Rachel Butterworth, were filmed as they tried to form a selfsufficient community in the wilderness.
The series began in March last year, but was taken off the air after just a handful of episodes.
Shortly afterwards, about a third of the group walked out.
Channel 4 said the show would return before the end of 2016, but no new episodes ever materialised.
Now the broadcaster has dismissed reports the show had been axed and confirmed it will start up again in the coming weeks.
“As we have always maintained, Eden will return to Channel 4,” a spokeswoman told The Courier.
“Filmed over a year, the programme makers observed from a distance as the cast filmed everything themselves and documented life as it unfolded over 12 months,” a statement from Channel 4 explained.
“But were those in Eden able to completely resist the lure of modern living? And without societal constraints was the promise of utopia actually realised, or did life in Eden descend into something that no one could have predicted?”
All contestants left the estate earlier this year, not knowing that the show had not been broadcast.
In March it was reported that production company Keo North had run into financial difficulties.
The Eden cast were not paid and there was no cash prize, but programme makers had to spent money on preparations, including helicopters, infrastructure around the 600 acre estate and a 7ft boundary fence.
Contestants filmed each other with bodyworn cameras, and there were a further 42 static units dotted around the site.
Before taking part in the show, Rachel from Coupar Angus visited the Jungle refugee camp in Calais after leading a successful drive to gather donations of aid from local businesses.
She said she wanted to show selfsufficient living is easier than most people think, adding: “I lived in a bell tent for five months because I had nowhere to go. It was a really happy time. You don’t have to conform to the prescribed society.”
Rachel will also feature in the coming series.