Reality show contestants complete year in wilderness; learn show was cancelled 7 months ago

Reality TV contestants complete year in the wilderness - to discover show was cancelled seven months ago

Ten reality show contestants have come to the end of a year-long stint in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands, only to discover that the programme they were making hasn’t been screened for the last seven months.

Eden was launched by Channel 4 in a blaze of publicity last year as a new kind of reality show (albeit similar in tone to Castaway, broadcast in 2000), with 23 participants who signed up to live in Cul na Croise Bay, in Ardnamurchan in the Scottish Highlands, with the aim to build a self-sufficient community in complete isolation.

Filmed by the contestants themselves, as well as by some fixed cameras, they began in March last year, with the first episode going out on 18 July. However, the series was axed after just four episodes – the final one being broadcast on 8 August – but it seems that the contestants carried on, blissfully unaware that no one was watching.

Ten of the original 23 contestants made it to the end and we can only imagine how annoyed they must be. On the other hand, maybe they discovered some inner peace and true meaning to their lives while they were there, so it was completely worth it.

It is unclear if Channel 4 will ever broadcast more of the footage.

The situation is reminiscent of the famous ‘Japanese holdouts’ who carried on fighting even after Japan had surrendered in the Second World War – either dogmatically believing that the military surrender was not technically complete, or simply because no one told them as they were in remote locations. The last two confirmed holdouts were Intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda, who was relieved of duty in the Philippines in March 1974 and Teruo Nakamura, who surrendered in Indonesia in December 1974.

Well, it’s a bit like that we suppose. But – let’s be honest here – probably not really comparable.
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"They pulled the plug on our show."
"Aw damn. That's horrible."
"Lets go get a drink."
"Life is hard."
"It sure is."
"At least there's not a lot of equipment to return."
"Yeah wrapping up this show will be a piece of cake!"
"Not even. Nothing to it with this show."
"The perks of having a shoestring budget."
"So we're...just done then?"
"Yup. No muss, no fuss."
"I feel like there's something we're forgetting."
"What? Its done. Let's just put this crap behind us."
"You're right. Let's forget it ever happened."
"Forget what ever happened?
(laughter)
"Now, how 'bout that drink?"

 

"Awwww, man, all that time I could have been keeping up with Kim and Kourtnie.............."

 

I thought this thread was a joke, title sounds like a satire of an Enquirer or Onion story.

 

Thats awful. 7 months of people's lives they wasted. And for what?

If you're volunteering to be on a show, that's one thing. But if you think you're filming a show...and there's no show?

I hope these people get compensated for their time.

 

Sounds a bit like the show "Utopia" (FOX) - it was supposed to run a year but ended after a couple of months - but in this case they did tell the contestants (and they kicked them off the "set").

 

There's an M. Knight Schlemeilian script in here someplace:

Teenage boys on a desert island who've never known anything but their Lord Of The Flies existence discover that they are in fact descendants of Reality TV show contestants. And in a typically brilliant Schlemeilian twist ending, they learn that the TV show was cancelled before it ever aired.

 

Who was changing the batteries all this time? C'mon, this is nutty.

 

Isn't there a bunch of cameramen/crew working all the time and following reality show contestants? Were they unaware too?
This is a massive joke about one week too early or just a gigantic spot for that show.

 

There's no business like show business ...

 

From an article on this show, here is the "intro" picture of the contestants:



I don't think I'd mind spending a year in the wilderness with some of these female contestants, whether the show was cancelled or not.

 

According to the artible above, the show was "Filmed by the contestants themselves, as well as by some fixed cameras." So there was no cameramen or crew.