My life as a Castaway: Reality TV on a deserted island two decades
20 YEARS ON Star of ground-breaking fly-on-the-wall series THE CASTAWAYS
Before Big Brother, before Love Island and before all the others, came Castaway, the first reality show to have Britain glued to the sofa. Exactly 20 years ago, Castaway 2000 turned 28 adults and eight children into Britain’s first TV reality stars after stranding them on Taransay, an island off Harris in the Outer Hebrides. Compared to the reality shows to come, Castaway and Big Brother which started three months later seem serious-minded and intent on charting a social experiment. The castaways tackled hardships and problems, played power games, suffered broken bones and braved the waves to smuggle booze onto the island. There were clashes, romance, and even the conception of two new lives.
Two decades on and the castaways are still in touch. Two are sadly no longer with us: fun-loving Trevor Kearon, and Hilary Freeman, the woman with a heart of gold.
Ben Fogle went on to become a famous broadcaster and adventurer, while Edinburgh-based Mike Laird is also a global explorer. Glaswegian Trish Prater found her replacement paradise on another tiny Scottish island where she still lives. Here, SALLY MCDONALD talks to some of the people involved in the TV landmark from the castaways to the creator and show psychologist.
Mum- of- four Trish Prater is still living the Taransay “dream” – this time on the tiny island of Rousay off Orkney where she spends her days delivering the post and tending her land and polytunnel.
“It’s my piece of paradise,” says the 57- year- old, but her dream has been hard won.
Four years ago, Trish battled an advanced and aggressive cervical cancer that came close to claiming her life.
Trevor Kearon, the islander she fell in love with and with whom she conceived “Castaway baby” Erin, was the rock who helped her through the ordeal. They moved to Orkney together to run a pub after their Castaway experience, but parted in 2009. Yet the bond they formed on Taransay meant they remained close. His death from a heart attack while on holiday in Spain left Trish, originally from Dennistoun in Glasgow, reeling. Now she lives life not only for herself but for Trevor, with whom she captured the hearts of a nation.
“I can’t believe it’s 20 years since Taransay. I’m an old woman now, a cast-off, not a castaway,” she jokes. “Erin our Castaway baby has just turned 18. She looks so much like Trevor and her sense of humour is just like her dad’s. His loss is still very painful because he was such a big character. He was a big part of our lives. He used to visit with his new partner. We reminisced a lot about Taransay and got on better after we split.”
In 2015, Trish discovered she had advanced cervical cancer. “Trevor was with me all the way through it,” she says now. “He was my rock. I had been ill for eight months and repeatedly went to the doctor who put it down to the menopause.
“The cancer was discovered only after I found a growth. I was flown to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for a major operation that December. The surgeon said that if the cancer had been left another 18 months I wouldn’t have been here.”
Trish, who said she was given the allclear in April last year, adds: “Trevor was a brilliant dad. He had just bought a house in Wales and Erin was going to live with him and go to veterinary college there. She spoke to Trevor on the
Monday he died. He was abroad on holiday and she was going to move in when he got back. Her bags were packed. They were so excited.
“He sent photos to Erin of him and his partner in the hot tub on holiday. He looked really happy. He had lost weight and had got himself fit. His doctor said he was fine. But he came out of the hot