In what could possibly be the cruellest reality TV show ever, 23 strangers have spent 12 months living feral in remote Highlands in Scotland for a show that never aired.
The show, called Eden, was meant to be a social experiment around strangers living in a tech-free, self sufficient, self-built community.
According to reports on The Guardian, the contestants were sent to their Kibbutz-like utopia in March last year with the show airing on the broadcaster Channel Four.
However, as ratings plummeted the show was axed after three months and nobody told the contestants who were left to soldier on.
Not that it was all bad news, however. According to media reports the show wasn’t just a ratings disaster but a social experiment disaster, too. Apparently the contestants couldn’t stand the sight of one another and hunger, sexual frustration and bullying claims saw 13 of the 23 actually dropout from the program. However, the remaining 10 only learned of the show’s demise when they returned to civilization last week.
In a statement, the network said Eden would return later in 2017: “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.”
The show, filmed in Scotland’s Ardnamurchan Peninsula had also become a big joke with the local residents. Local media had reported contestants regularly skipping off from the commune to buy booze and junk food and even visiting a neighbouring doctor after a bout of food poisoning hit contestants.
