The WORST episodes of Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild
Every episode of Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild!
Ben Fogle travels round the world to visit people who have given up the rat race.
#1 - Missouri
Season 21 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/24/2026
In the USA, Ben meets Randilyn, a woman on a perpetual walk across the country, uncovering what first set her on this never-ending path and the harsh realities of travelling her way.
#2 - Maine
Season 19 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/8/2025
Ben's journey takes him to an off-grid home nestled deep in the forests of Canton, Maine, where he meets Arthur, a hunter-gatherer with a PhD in botany.
#3 - Tenerife
Season 21 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/12/2026
Ben Fogle heads to the island of Tenerife to visit young couple Emma and Edo, whose ambition to rescue a few horses has created a community farm and very different wild sanctuary.
#4 - Cheshire
Season 21 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/5/2026
Ben experiences a different kind of wild living - 'continuous cruising' on a narrowboat - staying with his host Dave, whose move to an off-grid life on the canals became a lifeline after personal tragedy.
#5 - New South Wales
Season 19 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/14/2025
Ben heads into the forests of northern New South Wales to meet Jimmy, and learns he has faced multiple tragedies, including bereavement and natural disasters, since leaving urban America.
#6 - Great Blasket Island
Season 18 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/9/2024
Ben explores the Great Blasket Island off the coast of Ireland, staying with Dan and Emily who are island caretakers on Europe's rugged western frontier. Ben discovers how the couple have adapted to their new lives on the island and what they've achieved while living there. Plus, he experiences fixing a water pump, catching sheep, foraging seaweed and swimming with seals.
#7 - Spain
Season 19 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/25/2025
In Spain, Ben meets 50-year-old free spirit Nara, who has spent most of his adult life without modern conveniences. Ben learns how Nara's unconventional childhood shaped his distinctive outlook on life.
#8 - Norway
Season 21 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/22/2026
Ben ventures into the forested wilderness of Scandinavia to stay with two remarkable artists, throwing himself into their world of art and nature, and tackling the physical tasks the pair now struggle with.
#9 - Uganda
Season 21 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/15/2026
Ben visits former war journalist Ali Porteous to find out what took his host to a remote island on Lake Victoria, learning of the events that bind her to Uganda's violent past.
#10 - New Mexico
Season 19 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/11/2025
Ben travels to the desert near Roswell, meeting 70-year-old Karen, rolling up his sleeves to help, and learning about the hardships she has faced throughout her life.
#11 - Japan
Season 20 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/28/2025
Ben meets Brit Rupert (57), who resides in a traditional house in the mountains of Japan. Rupert has fully embraced the culture of his adopted homeland but his peaceful existence arose from hardship.
#12 - Botswana
Season 20 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/14/2025
Ben meets Norwegian Aleks, who now lives in Botswana, learning of her incredible journey and meeting her adopted family, the Ju'/hoansi people, who have called southern Africa home for many thousands of years.
#13 - Italy
Season 19 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/21/2025
Ben ventures into the snowy mountains of Piedmont, where he meets Father Johannes, who lives an isolated life while fulfilling duties as a priest. Ben discovers they have more in common than he expected.
#14 - Portugal
Season 18 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/13/2024
In the wilds of central Portugal, Ben meets creative homesteaders Luke and Sarah, a Maltese couple who gave up their careers to put down roots on a deserted sheep farm
#15 - Isle of Rum
Season 14 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/23/2021
Ben returns to Scotland to revisit the Goddard family, who were living a wild and weather-beaten existence in an off-grid static caravan on the Isle of Rum. Now five years later, Ben discovers them living on the mainland, having swapped their caravan for an actual house. Still remote and surrounded by wilderness, they open up about how they altered their circumstances to make wild living work for them.
#16 - Australia
Season 19 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/4/2025
Ben embarks on an epic journey to meet one of the most remote families he's encountered, uncovering what drove academics and married couple Bec and Reece to leave civilisation for complete isolation.
#17 - Thailand
Season 18 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/23/2024
Ben travels to Southeast Asia, meeting entrepreneur Niall who now helps the country's street-dogs after trading in his previous career. The pair explore his self-built dog sanctuary on the island of Koh Samui, where Ben is joined by volunteers and other dog-loving locals to help out with daily chores. Niall and Ben prepare food for the pooches in the sanctuary and across the island, before making dog beds from oil drums and a canine splash-pool.
#18 - Panama
Season 9 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/30/2019
Ben travels to highlands of Panama to meet a couple who turned their backs on a comfortable lifestyle in the US to try their hand at coffee producing. During the busy harvest season, Ben learns the finer details of how to craft his favourite drink.
#19 - Sri Lanka Revisit
Season 18 - Episode 11 - Aired 4/2/2024
Ben Fogle heads back to the jewel of the Indian Ocean to catch up with British vet Janey, who set up a rescue centre for Sri Lanka's street-dogs. Five years on, Janey's centre looks even more impressive. The vet speaks about her new struggles, such as being left alone during the pandemic, and Ben witnesses the impact her charity is having.
#20 - Morocco
Season 19 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/18/2025
Ben heads to the African continent to visit former army officer Mark, who, over 17 years, built a stunning home on the Moroccan coast. Ben learns of the struggles as Mark's fmaily face ever-worsening drought.
#21 - Revisit: Cambodia/Thailand
Season 18 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/5/2024
Ben reconnects with his friend Paul Ferber to discover why his family left their Cambodian island home and moved to Thailand - and whether their battle with pirates continues.
#22 - Norway
Season 18 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/16/2024
Ben travels to an island on Norway's coastline to meet his host Elena, a former Middle East peacekeeper, and experience the hardships of living in the environment. Ben joins Elena and her partner on a mountain climb, before helping them finish their guest house, cleaning a beach, kayaking on frozen waters and gardening in the harsh landscape.
#23 - Portugal
Season 16 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/4/2022
Adventurer Ben Fogle journeys to the mountains of central Portugal, to live with Alex, a British man who traded in his lucrative retail career for his own mountainside hideaway.
#24 - Morocco, Atlas Mountains
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/13/2016
Documentary series. Ben Fogle meets people who have given up the rat race for an alternative lifestyle. Dina Zughyar and Mostafa Jabbour turned their back on the American Dream to start from scratch with a handful of rabbits and chickens on a small patch of barren land in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains. In their mud house in Morocco, the couple confess to Ben that it has been much harder than they thought...
#25 - Khatgal, Outer Mongolia
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/29/2016
Documentary series. Adventurer Ben Fogle meets people who have gone back to basics in remote parts of the world. Ben meets Micky and Trina Cofer, who along with their four children, left behind the comforts of America to become missionaries in the freezing tundra of Outer Mongolia. In temperatures of below minus 20, Ben builds his own ger (yurt) to sleep in, uses a freezing outhouse, attempts ice-fishing, joins a wolf-hunt and learns how to wrestle.