Kevin McCloud's Escape to the Wild

[Workingman]

I have watched two episodes of this series and I am not impressed, in fact I am quite disturbed.

What we appear to be seeing is parents with mid-life crises who want to become ageing hippies and so have, literally, gone to the ends of the earth to live the dream. However, they have taken their young children with them to live miles from anywhere with no neighbours and no friends to play with. To me it is a kind of child cruelty.

Last week one young boy decided that he had had enough of South Sea island paradise and begged to be allowed to go thousands of miles from Tonga to boarding school in New Zealand. This week's family were only five miles from and active volcano in the Chilean Andes. The nearest road was an hour's horse ride away.

[debih]

I thought it was just me that thought it was very unfair on the kids.

Mick heard that last weeks house had now vanished after a really bad storm. I must google it.

[debih]

He must have dreamt it - I can't see anything about it.

[Diflower]

No no no no no...I haven't watched, having read the (not all negative) reviews.
You don't have to go to those extremes to escape the bloody rat race and the worst of modern living

[Ally]

No no no no no...I haven't watched, having read the (not all negative) reviews.
You don't have to go to those extremes to escape the bloody rat race and the worst of modern living

No Di, you don't and we are an example.

What might seem like an idyllic life for adults marooned on an island somewhere beyond civilisation is usually totally unacceptable when is comes to a 'normal' life for kids.

When we first house hunted over here we were shown the most beautiful villas in 'campo' - fine if you want to have no neighbours, shops, bars, schools etc, and be quite isolated.
Not fine when you have 2 ten year olds that just want to have a normal life and make friends.

Escape to the Wild sounds awful.

[Kaz]

I've not seen it either but it does sound very worrying, mostly for the reasons you have raised Ally I dislike reality type programmes mainly for the fact that, actually, they distort reality and manipulate the lives of the people taking part, all for the sake of a tv programme

[debih]

I've not seen it either but it does sound very worrying, mostly for the reasons you have raised Ally I dislike reality type programmes mainly for the fact that, actually, they distort reality and manipulate the lives of the people taking part, all for the sake of a tv programme

This isn't a reality show Kaz, sadly. It is actual idiot parents who have upped sticks and moved their young families to the middle of nowhere. The first family moved to this remote island, living in tents whilst building their house, whilst their youngest son was about 18 months old. They then had two more sons. She home schools them and they are miles away from other people.

[Kaz]

So they weren't tempted into it, by being offered money or cameras following them? In that case more fool the parents, home schooling combined with being in the middle of nowhere sounds disastrous for those children's futures, they'll almost certainly be social misfits I'll try to watch a bit later so I can comment properly

[saundra]

Saw the desert island one poor kids
Fell asleep half way through last night's
I think parents shoulde t isolate there family kids need friends and people in there lives
Grownups can go to a dessert island to escape there kids later

[Workingman]

Grownups can go to a dessert island to escape there kids later

Saundra, Ben Fogel did a similar sort of programme a while back and his 'hippies' had done that. Their children had either gone or were on the verge of striking out on their own - few of them stayed.

Debih is right, Kaz. These barmpots have been doing their own thing for years, Kev's stuff is just follow-up. To me they are putting their children through a sort of Hell in order to live their dream.