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Clockwise from top: the castaways and production team; Bear Grylls; filming on the island with the other castaways
recordist, arrived sporting a hook for a hand, and though he’s undoubtedly the toughest of us all, he, like the rest of us, is no survivalist. DE I’ve worked in some extreme conditions – hot to cold, wet to dry, high to low. I’ve also worked with SWAT teams (but never carried a gun), magicians (but can’t perform any magic) and survivalists (but never had to survive). I love to film in these places with these amazing people, but that’s where it ends. I could never pose as an expert in anything I’ve ever filmed. The four of us have never had to face extreme survival challenges – 30°C heat battling exhaustion, dehydration and hunger. This is one of the fundamental reasons that the integrity of this experiment holds up. My role as a cameraman became the same as anyone else’s, no more or less important or relevant. We had to work as a group and support each other in a multitude of ways, each of us learning new things about ourselves and the challenges of surviving on this remote island. We all had to forage for food, collect the water, hunt and build a camp. We didn’t sit back and just observe and record; we were actively involved and part of the survival experience team. This was a unique experience: I was filming and being filmed. The cameras turned on me when I was sick, frustrated, furious or ecstatic. Being a part of this series really was an entirely different experience. www.broadcastnow.co.uk
‘We didn’t sit back and just observe and record; we were actively involved and part of the survival experience team’ Dan Etheridge
It was such an intense experience. There was an overwhelming sense of responsibility towards one another and everything that we did was intensified. Our actions and intentions seemed more significant, the results having a direct bearing on our successes or failures as a community. Relationships were fractious and then calm, depending on each of our physical or emotional needs. MB We all shared the elation of a catch and the feast that followed – as well as the frustrations of eating yet another sea snail stew or catching yet another poo fish. DE Our focus was on survival and the cameras were part of that experience. They documented the dehydration, the group’s divisions, arguments and achievements – the jubilation of finding honey and the unique and lifeaffirming moment of witnessing a rare
sea turtle lay its eggs on the beach in the moonlight. MB There was no fakery involved in surviving this series. Instead, it is a ground-breaking way of documenting an incredible, thought-provoking and rewarding challenge that offers the viewer a rich, entertaining, honest and informative watch. DE I’m incredibly proud to have been one of the 13 men on the island and to have been involved in the making of this series. Despite the hardships all of us have had to face, this has been without doubt a positive, enriching experience. We landed on the island as strangers and left as friends. It is this, and the incredible resilience of the human spirit, that should be celebrated. Plus the fact that we will never have to smell the pungent stench of poo fish or eat sea snail stew again. 6 June 2014 | Broadcast | 29