Isolated from the rest of the world a collection of reality television contestants were left to build a community of their own on an uninhabited island.
Now, a quarter-of-a-century later Ben Fogle has said he wants to recreate the experience of Castaway 2000 all over again, and would love to be left on the Hebridean island of Taransay once again.
Since appearing on the programme Mr Fogle, 51, has spoken about his enduring affection for what is Scotland’s largest uninhabited island and once even wanted to buy it.
At the turn of the Millennium he and 35 other people were sent to the island for what the BBC billed as a ‘bold new experiment’ as they fended for themselves in the Scottish wilderness.
It wasn’t without its problems, but Mr Fogle said the older he got the ‘more nostalgic’ for the past he became.
The broadcaster, whose career started on the programme, said: ‘We were isolated from the rest of the world.
Ben Fogle’s TV career began with his appearance on Castaway
‘Without phones, computers, social media, newspapers, television or outside interference, we were forced to live in the moment.
‘We communicated and lived. Really lived in the moment of our own timeline, rather than someone else’s.
‘We lived, we loved and we laughed. I’d love to try and repeat the experiment a quarter-of-a-century later.
‘They were some of my happiest, most carefree days.’
Castaway 2000 was broadcast on BBC One throughout the year and it followed the group of men, women and children as they were taken away from the comforts of their homes and told to become a community of their own.
In the 12 months they were on Taransay they were to grow their own vegetables and kill their own animals.
It wasn’t plain sailing with those taking part putting up with foul weather, a revolt against programme makers, smuggled mobile phones, a flu outbreak, blazing rows and even a contestant in a speed boat escape.
Of the 36 who joined the show just 29 remained, including Mr Fogle, and there was no winner nor cash prize for their ordeal.
The site on the island of Taransay in the Western Isles where the Castaways lived as part of the BBC’s show
However, since being on the island the Mr Fogle has told how much he adores being there and has returned several times.
Such is his love for the place when it went on the market for £2million he wanted to acquire Taransay and transform it into a wildlife reserve.
In 2011, as he made public his ultimately unsuccessful desire to buy it, he wrote in The Telegraph: ‘Each day I spent on Taransay, I went exploring with my black Labrador, Inca.
‘By the end of the year, we knew every rock, bog and loch on the island, which is about four miles wide and three miles long, navigating effortlessly across the Machair and along the beaches.
‘We would clamber our way up to the islands highest peak Ben Raah, and look out over the Harris mainland. The view will stay with me until the day I die.
‘Bleak, treeless and windswept, the island should have been a godforsaken place, but it was without doubt the most beautiful place I have been.
‘The constantly changing weather and light altered the island like an artist’s canvas.
‘The talc-white sandy beaches and the turquoise waters were more striking than any Caribbean or Pacific island I have visited.’
