So I’m not sure if you guys remember, but last year Channel 4 marooned 23 strangers in the Scottish Highlands for a year. The plan was for them to create a community, for the whole thing to be filmed and for us to watch and enjoy it.
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The contestants arrived in March 2016 and the plan was to screen regular episodes about life in the ‘Eden’ camp over 12 months from July last year. However, a breakdown in the community, which had no contact with the outside world, was so bad that the show was cut from the air after just four episodes. Meanwhile the stars of ‘Eden’ continued living obliviously off-grid until they were sent home earlier this year.
The filming of the show continued throughout the year and now Channel 4 is planning on bringing the show back to our screens later this month. However, the creators have warned that the community actually ended up more like hell than Eden, saying that the show is “quite dark” as those involved reverted to their “basic instincts”. It’s been compared to a real-life ‘Lord of the Flies’.
The follow up show, titled ‘Eden: Paradise Lost’, aims to show how the experiment turned out, with reports stating that it turned into chaos, including fighting, sexual feuds and starvation. One of the contestants even claimed that the show features “cavemen” parties fuelled by moonshine that the contestants had made out of chicken feed, pine needles and potato peel. She added that there were fights and rampant sexism, where some men were filmed discussing how to share the remaining girls in threesomes.
Commissioning editor Ian Dunkley said:
Eden was a gamble, but it has paid off as fascinating telly that says something about human nature and society.
Meanwhile, series producer Liz Foley said:
It gets quite dark, but it’s what happened and it’s interesting – we didn’t manipulate the story, we just filmed events as they unfolded.
Well, I don’t know about you but I can’t bloody wait for this – it sounds like it’s going to be an intense watch and far more interesting than the celebrity BS that everyone seems to be watching these days. If you’re interested, you can catch the first episode on Channel 4, Monday 7th August at 9pm. Put that one in the diary.
For more brutal reality TV shows, click HERE.
