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.
#2 - Uruguay
Season 17 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/24/2023
Watch as Ben Fogle journeys to South America to visit Rhona, a British born actress who left the bright lights of Hollywood to live alone in a remote valley in Uruguay. Ben is instantly intrigued by the juxtaposition in lifestyle and learns that ill health, a difficult childhood and disillusionment with Tinseltown culture have all led to his host's new life. He discovers that Rhona is now committed to rehabilitating horses and the pair attend an animal auction looking to rescue any mistreated animals. There Rhona reveals that she has had to adapt to the machismo culture of rural Uruguay… or rather it to her. Rhona has also nearly been seriously injured while venturing out onto her land. Ben realises that if something does go wrong, Rhona's isolation means she has no one to call on. That night he experiences nature's fury for himself when a violent storm hits while he shelters in a fragile biodome. But despite the difficulties, his fellow Brit insists that this is the best role she's ev
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#3 - California
Season 17 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/17/2023
Ben heads to Slab City in California to meet an extraordinary homeless artist called DNA, who Ben had previously met whilst in the area making another documentary. Ben joins DNA in his 'Mad Max' camp on a desert hill, an extreme place to seek refuge, but like most residents in Slab City, he discovers DNA had few choices. Ben learns the harsh reality of what it's like to be homeless in the US, and the downward cycle that people can find themselves in.
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#4 - Australia
Season 17 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/10/2023
Ben heads Down Under to meet Bette, an elderly woman living alone in a ramshackle house in the wilds of northern Queensland. She is a no-nonsense personality and refuses to cook Ben any dinner. But as the week progresses she warms to her guest and explains what drew her to the harsh Australian wilderness 30 years ago. She also talks about her complex relationship with men, and reveals how she has been seriously threatened when defending the natural world around her from development.
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#5 - Sierra Nevada
Season 17 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/2023
Ben travels to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the USA to meet Mike Basich, a snowboarder who left the world of professional sport behind to reconnect with nature and pursue a quieter life. Ben joins him in his extraordinary hand-built log cabin and follows him as he embarks on a life changing project.
Watch Now:Amazon#10 - Oxfordshire
Season 16 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/22/2022
Ben is much closer to home than usual - he's in rural Oxfordshire with a multi-generational family. Ben learns about the obstacles the family have overcome and how they've spent two decades honing their skills and living off the land.
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Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/8/2022
Ben journeys to one of Britain's furthest outposts, the Shetland Islands, to meet Helen and Jason, a couple just a few years into their new life on the edge of the weather-beaten island of Yell. He discovers why they needed to escape the demands of urban life, and witnesses the obstacles they now face as they pursue their wildest dreams on this beautiful, historical and remote island.
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#16 - Tuscany
Season 17 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/31/2023
Ben heads to Tuscany to visit British couple George and Sophie who breathed new life into a Tuscan farmhouse. Ben discovers how George's adolescent desire to live a self-sufficient existence seeded an ambitious plan to create a lifelong project and how a chance encounter enabled Sophie to find what seemed improbable. Ben travels into the heart of the stunning Casentinesi Forest National Park to join his hosts and their young children in their progressive off-grid home, a three km walk to the top of a mountain. Their continuing renovations of the ancient, ramshackle buildings sees Ben put to work in return for his stay as he embraces honey collecting, tends their extensive vegetable garden, makes homemade pizza and gruelling repairs on the track up to their house so they can get a vehicle to it, and deals with their wayward cow who destroys all their crops.
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#17 - Scottish Hebrides
Season 15 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/21/2021
Ben travels to a unique, tiny island in the Scottish Hebrides where he meets ex-social care worker Philip, who has embraced a new way of life in this small, alternative community. In his company, Ben spends the week cut off from the outside world, in an old lighthouse keeper's cottage, where he experiences the unusual routines of the island's community.
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#18 - Suffolk
Season 15 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/14/2021
Ben journeys to the Suffolk countryside and a secretive patch of woodland, to spend the week with unique character Will, 50, who could be described as a true British caveman. Ben embraces Will's Stone Age-style existence in the forest and discovers how a childhood passion carved Will's future, the price he paid for following his dream, and how he is steering it back around as Ben meets him at a new stage in his prehistoric life.
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#19 - Wales
Season 15 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/7/2021
The presenter meets the Powell family who are living an off-grid existence in a hidden valley in the Black Mountains in Wales. Whilst in their company, Ben climbs into a ravine to maintain the family's hydro electrics, explores the forest with the spirited children, and helps plant the biggest new woodland in Wales for a generation.
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#20 - Ullapool
Season 15 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/30/2021
The presenter ventures deep into the Scottish Highlands to meet Iona and her young family on the near-10,000-acre wilderness estate that she grew up on. Whilst in their company, Ben drives cattle on horseback, digs out a dam to ensure the family's hydro-electricity supply and gets to grips with the annual deer cull, and hears how Iona's past prepared her for this extraordinary life in the wilderness.
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#21 - 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.
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#23 - Fair Isle
Season 14 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/9/2021
Ben journeys to Fair Isle, the most remote inhabited island in the UK, where he is reunited with Tommy, an American who has lived in an off-the-grid stone cottage for 15 years. Tommy reflects on how recent world events have led to the island becoming even more isolated than previously, reveals how he copes with turbulent weather, and invites Ben to join him in painting the rugged landscape.
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#24 - Devon
Season 14 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/2/2021
Ben meets a family that has created a new home in the Devon countryside - but having had to fight to be allowed to build on the land, they now find peace hard to adjust to. Nevertheless, they continue in their drive to be as self-sufficient as possible. However, Ben spots a new development in their lives that could present them with their next big challenge.
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#25 - Wales
Season 14 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/23/2021
Ben revisits Emma, who lives a completely organic and off-grid life in an overgrown Welsh woodland, and has managed to make herself completely independent from the outside world. Emma reveals how she has needed to adapt her lifestyle as she has got older, and introduces the others who have joined her. Ben helps them to construct a communal mud hut and learns about the building's spiritual purpose.
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