TV show contestants spend a year living in wild only to find out that programme was CANCELLED last summer
Channel 4's Eden was pulled from screens in August after only four episodes
THE contestants of a disastrous reality show have returned home after a year in the wilderness only to discover the programme was CANCELLED last summer.
Dubbed the ‘hipster Big Brother’, Channel 4’s ‘Eden’ tasked 23 strangers with building a new society in the remote Scottish Highlands – completely cut off from the rest of the world.
Following its debut in July, ratings quickly plummeted - from 1.7 million viewers to 800,000 - and after only four episodes the ambitious social experiment disappeared from screens.
Now after being blind-sided by news of Donald Trump’s shock election win, Brexit and Leicester City’s improbable Premier League title success, the surviving 10 participants have also learned that the show was taken off the air last August, reports .
Aside from poor ratings, Eden was also beset by other problems - including personal tensions and health concerns - with 13 of the 23 members reported to have left early.
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It is understood that the remaining 10 contestants did last the full year in the the self-sufficient community located on a 600-acre estate on the Ardnamurchan peninsula.
Despite its troubles and cancellation, Channel 4 insists the show will air in 2017 although no other details have been given.
The broadcaster would also not confirm whether people had left the show or not during filming, which was shot by a camera crew of four and personal cameras given to the contestants.
Sexual jealousy, bullying and hunger were reportedly sources of infighting within the group which included a doctor, a chef and a carpenter.
Participant Tom Wah left in August and branded the show “bullshit” and said “it wasn’t what I was told it was going to be.”
He added: "What you see on TV is all bullshit. You’re not seeing the whole picture. The programme is extremely misleading."
This week he called the programme a “load of rubbish” when he learned it had finished.
Tara Zieleman, the first participant to walk out, said she had been bullied by other contestants.
The show had left the group to fend for themselves in the wild and create their own rules and laws as to how to run their society.
Local woman Maria Macpherson told West Highland newspaper the that some of the contestants had been treated for eating chicken feed.
She said: “The last 10 have left. Some of the participants were even seen in the dentist at Fort William needing treatment after eating chicken feed grit.
“It has not done this area any favours – it has just not lived up to expectations.”
Other local residents have said that the show became a laughing stock with some contestants smuggling in junk food and alcohol.
Channel 4 released a statement: “The appeal of Eden is that it was a real experiment and when filming began we had no idea what the results would be and how those taking part would react to being isolated for months in a remote part of the British Isles.
“That’s why we did it and the story of their time, including the highs and the lows, will be shown later this year.”
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