Ben Fogle celebrates 'brave' people on New Lives in the Wild Revisits

Ben Fogle has returned to television for a new series of New Lives in the Wild Revisits where he hails all the individuals as "brave" for their choices, although he sometimes worries for those living in the wilderness.

Talking to Yahoo, Fogle revealed what connected all the New Lives in the Wild stories: "They are all brave. Brave enough to have abandoned safe secure lives for wilder more tenuous ones. In return there is a commonality in their happiness. They are all content having followed their dreams."

As the new series gets underway on Channel 5, here is everything you need to know to get you up to speed with the programme so far.

New Lives in the Wild returns to TV

New Lives in the Wild tells the extraordinary stories of individuals, couples or families who have escaped the rat race to lead a new life off-grid, often in the remote wilderness, in all corners of the world. The adventurous journalist, 50, makes the journey to visit them and fully immerses himself into their lives by taking on the daily challenges they face.

It's one of Channel 5's most popular shows, fronted by presenter Fogle, and has been on our screens since 2013. The latest series is on Channel 5 every Tuesday at 9pm and available to watch on catch up afterwards.

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Often in the New Lives in the Wild series there are some one-off revisited episodes but this 2024 edition of Revisits focuses on those that Fogle has gone back to visit after seeing them before in a previous series. The show was also on earlier this year starting in January.

This time round Fogle finds out what has changed in the lives of those living in the wild, with some making the choice to return to the rat race while others choose to pursue an even more remote lifestyle. The British journalist and the TV crew try to film a revisit whenever he is in a country where he has filmed a New Lives in the Wild before.

Who is Ben Fogle revisiting in the 2024 series?

This series opened with the return to Queensland, Australia, where Fogle reunited with Bette who is in her 80s and still living in the wild. The early feminist had initially not got on with the locals but after flooding destroyed her home, they all come together united.

The adventurer spent time helping Bette recover some of her belongings that had been strewn all over the woods in the flood and looked back on her experience of living in the wild.

While in Portugal, Fogle was relieved to see the yoga retreat had become a success. Three years had passed since his last visit to see Alex, who was living in isolation in the Portuguese mountains. Now the former fashion retail manager was exploring his dreams of being a photographer alongside his yoga retreat, while his friend and former dominatrix who had run the yoga place with Alex was going to move out.

In an upcoming episode, Fogle will spend time on the Emerald Isle with Georg and Bettina from series 16. They are an elderly couple from Austria and Germany who made the wild of Ireland their home nearly 40 years ago. He will find out whether the future of their wild home still hangs in the balance.

What Ben Fogle has said?

An adventurer at heart, the presenter is the ideal person to front the series and Fogle even has had dreams of living in the wild himself.

Of the series, he previously said: "New Lives in the Wild is a diverse mix of characters spanning the world from Australia to Morocco. It’s what I love most about the series, the mixture of places and people."

He added: "We try to find a perfect mix of location, story and character. If we can combine all three then we have a winner."

Fogle also told Yahoo there is a vulnerability to some of the people who he meets on New Lives in the Wild. There are two women who he worries about the most.

He referred to Marina Chapman's daughter Vanessa Forero who says she was raised by apes and now lives in the Colombian jungle, as well as actor Rhona Mitra who left behind her life in Los Angeles for a derelict farm in Uruguay after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

The star said: "I often feel there is a vulnerability to some of the people I visit. I worry about Vanessa in the Colombian jungle and Rhona in Uruguay. There is a vulnerability to many of the lives of those I visit."

Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild Revisits returns to Channel 5 on Tuesday.