Return to Eden as producers plan new show
A REALITY TV show filmed in a Scottish wilderness is set for a second series – despite the first series being off-air for months following a mass exodus.
Only four episodes of Eden have been shown – the last in August – and Channel 4 has refused to confirm when the next one will air.
Almost half the original 23 participants are understood to have left the year-long ‘social experiment’ – an updated version of BBC’s Castaway – amid claims of hunger, boredom and bullying.
Yet the maker of the programme, due to continue until March, have applied for planning permission to continue using the site on the remote Ardnamurchan Peninsula in Argyll for a second series.
Keo Films believes the first series has been a ‘success’ and has asked Highland Council to extend the temporary change of use from forestry land to film set until September 2018.
Filming began on the 600-acre site, near Acharacle, when the cast arrived in March and the first episode aired on July 18.
With electronic items prohibited, the group had to ‘start again’, building their own accommodation and finding food.
By summer, some had already quit. First to go was life coach Tara Zieleman, 34, who told the MoS she had seen ‘a dark side in people come out’.
After the fourth episode on August 8, viewers were promised others would be shown in late autumn – but they are still waiting. Some have taken to social media to question Channel 4, only to be told: ‘It will be back ASAP.’
The new planning application, submitted by agent Bidwells on behalf of Keo, says the first shows had an average weekly audience of more than 1.7 million – ‘live’ viewers and those using catch-up services – and will generate £1 million for the local economy.
It adds: ‘It is this success our client wishes to build upon in the new series.
‘Our client is looking to cast a new group (between 20 and 24) of contributors to undertake a similar community-building documentary programme as shown in the first series.’
But a Channel 4 spokesman said last night: ‘Any application by Keo to extend the dates of filming for a second series is purely speculative at this stage.
‘Filming is still under way and further instalments of life in Eden will air at a later date.’