That Time Contestants Lived in the Wilderness Despite the Show’s Cancelation

The Big Picture

• The 2016 reality show
  Eden
  cut off contestants from the outside world for a year.
• The show was canceled after 4 episodes, but the contestants were not notified and continued to participate in the experiment unaware of the cancelation.
• Only 10 of the 23 contestants stayed for a year, with hunger, fighting, and boredom leading to their departures.

Watching reality television from the comfort of your home makes it easy to forget that the contestants you’re watching are real people, and the predicaments they find themselves in aren’t just falsified for the camera. Whether it be a Real Housewives episode, or an episode of Survivor, these are people’s actual lives being shown to us for entertainment. Of course, when signing up for a reality show, the contestants usually know what they’re getting themselves into, and, in the case of certain shows, are cut off from the outside world until filming concludes. This includes their cell phones, the internet, and general communication from friends and family to ensure that whatever show they’re a part of, be it a game show or an experiment, stays meddle-free. It leaves viewers with a more authentic feeling, as there are no outside distractions pulling the contestants away from the focus of the show. But in the case of one reality series, this cutoff from outside civilization almost did more harm than good.

‘Eden’ Cut Contestants Off From Civilization

In 2016, a brand-new reality TV show was thought up. It was to be called Eden and the idea was to send 23 men and women into the remote Scottish Highlands for one year. During that year, the group would have to create their own community, complete with rules and laws that must be abided by. They also had to source their own food and build shelters. Essentially, it was a controlled Lord of the Flies-esque experiment. During the experiment, they were cut off from everything outside their community. This included simple things such as cell phones, and major things such as news and current events. They were well and truly isolated. But that was the goal. It wasn’t completely cut-throat, as the contestants were allowed to leave at any time, but it was still a drastic experiment.

In a way, Eden is reminiscent of Survivor. Both shows bring their contestants to remote locations and force them to build shelter, find food, and generally just survive the elements. But the difference is that Survivor is a lot more put together in its experiment, with crew members constantly nearby, allowing for immediate medical assistance if required. Eden had the contestants fend for themselves entirely. Not to mention the length of the two shows. Survivor runs for a month, sometimes slightly longer depending on the season. Eden was a year-long experiment, which is a long time for inexperienced people to be thrown into uncharted territory by themselves. Yes, they willingly signed up for the experiment, but surely someone had to see the flaws and potential for disaster in the premise.

No One Told the Contestants That the Show Was Canceled

Eden’s first four episodes aired from July to August in 2016, and depicted the early days of the cast’s time together. This included shelter-making, plans for food, and getting to know one another. Throughout the episodes, the contestants are seen bonding with one another, with some forming strong relationships, and others being left on the sidelines. But after the fourth episode, the show was canceled, with no new episodes airing despite much time left in the experiment. It was an abrupt pull from the air, but what’s more baffling is that the creators of the show didn’t bother telling the contestants, and instead let them continue on with the experiment, unaware that it wasn’t even being shown.

Following the show’s cancelation, Channel 4 released a statement defending their decision not to tell the contestants of the series’ end:

“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.”

‘Eden’ Returned For Season 2 But the Damage Was Done

In August 2017, a full year after the last episode of Eden, the rest of the footage was finally released. Aptly titled Eden: Paradise Lost, we saw the long-awaited results of the experiment, but things didn’t go as smoothly as the creators had hoped. By the end of the experiment, only 10 of the contestants stuck out the full year, with 13 leaving throughout the run for a variety of reasons. Hunger, tiredness, and boredom were among some of the larger reasons for contestants departing the show. But claims of jealousy and fighting among one another also contributed to departures. Said departures also left the series with a serious gender imbalance, with more males than females dominating the cast. Since leaving the experiment, cast members have since spoken out about the nightmarish experiment, and how misleading it was. With contestant Tom Wah taking to Twitter after his departure, saying:

“I left because it wasn’t what I was told it was going to be, what you see on TV is all bullshit.”

Overall, Eden had a fascinating concept but failed in its execution. The experiment quickly went from a Utopian paradise to a nightmare, and it was seemingly for nothing, given the cancelation. Yes, the rest of the footage was eventually aired, but it doesn’t diminish the effort put into the experiment by the contestants, and all they went through. At the very least, the contestants should have been given the choice of whether to stay or not. Instead, all autonomy was stripped away as the cancelation was withheld, forcing them to stick with the experiment when there was really no need to anymore.

Eden is available to watch on Channel 4 in the U.S.

Watch on Channel 4