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Documentary, Ben Fogle New Lives In The Wild S05E05 Ibiza

#BenFogleNewLivesInTheWild #NewLivesInTheWild
Transcript
00:00I'm Ben Fogel, and over the next few weeks, I'm going to live with different people who
00:08inhabit some of the most remote locations on earth. There is nothing here. From the
00:14mountain forests of Northwest USA, to the freezing Mongolian tundra, the barren
00:20Hungarian countryside, to the wild African bush, a Mediterranean island, and the deep
00:27Canadian wilderness. These are the people who decided to make a massive life change.
00:35I said, so what do you think? Should we just do it, give up everything? And she said, okay.
00:41Are they daring, or just downright crazy?
00:44Come on, Ben. We didn't even know where Mongolia was.
00:49This is who I am. It's not who you want me to be.
00:52I want to find out what happens when you quit the rat race.
00:55If the whole world folds up, my pension is here.
00:59And create a new life in the wild.
01:11Today, I'm in the secluded mountains of Ibiza, living with ex-merchant Navy man Chris Dewes.
01:17I'll discover why he's built a home from junk in the untamed heart of the island.
01:25If the whole world folds up, my pension is here.
01:28Where are you, the monster?
01:30How he's become the leader of a wild tribe.
01:32You're looking slightly alien like that.
01:34Yeah, you're going to look in the mirror, mate.
01:37I'm going to be funny.
01:38And why he's building his own self-sufficient community.
01:43If nothing changes, I think we've got five years left and it's all over.
01:46Five years?
01:47Yeah, as short as that may.
01:53My journey begins 2,000 kilometres away in the south of Ibiza.
01:57Ibiza is the home of clubbing, isn't it?
02:10So it does seem quite a strange place to come to find someone who's living in the wild.
02:15But my host lives deep in the interior of the island.
02:19So I'm heading 16 kilometres north into the mountains.
02:22I tell you, this already feels a million miles away from the party lands of tourist Ibiza.
02:36That is where I'm heading.
02:37So 100 metres, I think it must be this dirt track here.
02:45Finally, I reach the abandoned farm, which has been Chris' home for the past 25 years.
02:52It sort of has a slightly wild hippie vibe to it.
03:06It's much bigger than I thought.
03:08You can't live alone.
03:15Hello?
03:16Chris?
03:18Oh.
03:19Oh, yeah.
03:20How are you?
03:21Nice to meet you.
03:22Yeah, nice to meet you.
03:23The sun's come out.
03:24The sun has come out here.
03:25What an amazing place.
03:26How many of you live here?
03:27It can't just be you.
03:28No, there's like about 10 of us at the moment.
03:30Really?
03:30To like 15 maximum.
03:32And we've been working since very early in the morning, so we're having a little break.
03:36It's yester time.
03:37Are you telling me you're a slave driver?
03:39No.
03:41I'm captain.
03:4263-year-old Chris Dews was born and bred in Yorkshire.
03:50He joined the Merchant Navy aged 21, working as a radio officer.
03:54Young Chris enjoyed life on the open waves.
03:59He sailed around the world a staggering 17 times and was paid good money, too.
04:05By the height of his career in the mid-80s, Chris made £1,500 a month.
04:11But after 12 long years, Chris wanted a change from life at sea.
04:15And in 1985, a handy tax rebate gave him the opportunity he was looking for.
04:25With cash in his pocket, he hot-footed it to Ibiza to begin a more back-to-basics lifestyle.
04:32Venturing inland, he came across a deserted farm.
04:36And by 1991, he'd persuaded the landowner to rent it to him for £130 a month.
04:45Over the past 25 years, Chris has turned arid farmland into a unique commune, full of quirky structures.
04:58And the captain's quarters are the most unusual of the lot.
05:02What is this?
05:03Um, yeah, this is where I sleep normally.
05:07Down there?
05:07Down here, yeah, yeah, check it out, man.
05:09You go down there, yeah.
05:10You live below ground?
05:11I sleep below ground.
05:12And at lunchtime, of course, that's a siesta palace.
05:16Oh, wow.
05:19Chris.
05:20This is amazing.
05:22Do you sleep here alone?
05:23Is there a Mrs. Chris?
05:24No, this bed is not too small.
05:26You can have two people in it.
05:28That's another story we'll talk about in a minute.
05:31You've intrigued me now.
05:32I'm assuming I'm not down here as well.
05:34No, you're sleeping somewhere else.
05:38Hello.
05:39Hello, Lord.
05:39Look at that.
05:41The mad hats are in there.
05:43Putting you in here.
05:44Can I go in?
05:44You certainly can, sir.
05:46Oh, look.
05:47You've got a table if you want to invite somebody for dinner.
05:49Is there anyone likely to want to come for dinner with me?
05:51You never know what you're going to do, yeah.
05:52So, you know, you've got to be a bit free like me, I understand.
05:55You know, I've got room in my case.
05:56It's a double bed, you know.
05:57I'm not sure what my wife will say about that, but you're going to get me into trouble, Chris, aren't you?
06:00I'm going to get more trouble than you're going to get me into.
06:02The commune isn't connected to the mains.
06:07Solar panels and a wind turbine provide their power.
06:11It is all very tidy and neat.
06:13Look at this.
06:13Yeah, by the way, that's the drinking water, just so you know where it is.
06:17Okay.
06:18Where does the drinking water come from?
06:20From the rain.
06:21Rain?
06:21Yeah.
06:21When it rains, it fills up a tank underneath my house with rainwater, and it comes out there.
06:28Captain Chris likes to keep things ship-shape.
06:30Look at this.
06:31There you go, mate.
06:33Very nice.
06:34Especially when it comes to his toilet.
06:37So, there are strict orders on how to use this compost loo.
06:40You don't just do your stuff in there and run off.
06:43Oh, okay.
06:43No, no, we don't let people do that in here.
06:46You do your donation in here.
06:48You throw the toilet paper in here as well.
06:51Yes.
06:52Let me tell you something else.
06:52If I find the seat open, I'll know it's you.
06:54Why?
06:55Because you're a new boy in town.
06:56Oh, because everyone else has been whipped into submission.
06:59Anybody who doesn't put the seat down is asking for trouble.
07:02And the skipper lays down the law on using the shower, too.
07:06I open the shower.
07:07Yeah.
07:07I get wet.
07:08I turn off the shower, put the soap.
07:09I open the shower, wash the soap off.
07:10I've used three litres.
07:11Three litres.
07:12That's not very much, is it?
07:13No.
07:15With just a pane of glass between me and the laundry room, a little nervous about flashing
07:20whoever's doing the washing.
07:21Nakedness and Ibiza seem to go hand in hand anyway, really.
07:24I passed a few years here every summer.
07:26We just didn't wear any clothes.
07:27Really?
07:28So you lived a long time here with no clothes at all?
07:30Yeah, in the summer we never wore any clothes.
07:35It's obviously a liberal place.
07:38Maybe there's like a bell rings and suddenly everyone takes their clothes off.
07:41I have no idea.
07:48Luckily for me, that bell just means it's dinner time.
07:53And a chance for me to meet my other shipmates.
07:58Hello, everyone.
08:00Wow.
08:00Where did everyone come from?
08:01Hello, Ben.
08:02This is amazing.
08:03I'm not going to remember everyone's names.
08:06I recognise you from the kitchen before.
08:08Hello.
08:09Is this for me?
08:10That's for you next to me.
08:11This is amazing.
08:12Exactly.
08:12Hello.
08:14How are you all?
08:16Wow.
08:17I'm Ben anyway.
08:18Hi, Ben.
08:19Who's this little one?
08:20Vito.
08:21Vito.
08:22Hello, Vito.
08:23Yeah.
08:25Where's everyone from?
08:26I'm from Cuba.
08:27Cuba.
08:28Wow.
08:28Everyone up?
08:29Seattle, Washington.
08:30Seattle, okay, yeah.
08:31Canada.
08:31Canada.
08:32One up for Canada.
08:33I'm half Canadian, not many people know that.
08:35Holland.
08:36Holland.
08:37San Diego, California.
08:38California.
08:39Estonia.
08:40Estonia.
08:41Madrid.
08:42Madrid as well.
08:42Okay, so we've got like the whole world here.
08:44In the middle of Ibiza.
08:47I'm presuming none of you knew each other before coming here necessarily.
08:50So this is just a...
08:51I knew this man.
08:53You knew it, yeah.
08:53Yeah, it's kind of useful if you've got a baby.
08:57We're brothers and sisters.
08:59Oh, you're brother and sister?
09:00That's cool.
09:00Can I expect lots of hard work over the next few days?
09:03Is he a hard taskmaster?
09:04Yes.
09:04How can I get on the right side of him?
09:08How do I need to make him happy?
09:10Work hard?
09:10Work hard.
09:11Work hard.
09:11And don't complain.
09:12Don't complain.
09:13Don't complain.
09:14If you put out a captain, where is it going?
09:16Tell you where it's going.
09:17It's going round in circles and it sinks.
09:19A lot of people would say that I was a dictator.
09:22And I would say, no, because a dictator, he doesn't ask anybody what's going on.
09:27He just dictates what he thinks.
09:29I mean, obviously I'm going to listen to everybody's point of view because any captain that doesn't
09:33listen to his crew is an absolute idiot.
09:35So the best thing to do is to do a democracy.
09:38Now, in a democracy, which is what this is, the dictator listens to the rest of the ship
09:43and he makes the final decision where we go.
09:49It's a really intriguing place.
09:51This extraordinary, eclectic mix of people from all over the world.
09:55Chris, by his own admission, he's got a democraship here.
10:00I'm not quite sure how you combine democracy and dictatorship, but it's apparently what he
10:05does.
10:06And it kind of intrigues me.
10:09To the next few days.
10:11Yeah, cheers, everyone.
10:12Yeah, cheers.
10:12Salud.
10:13Salud.
10:19I'm in the mountains of Ibiza.
10:29Eight o'clock on the dot.
10:30Bit like being back at school.
10:32Living with ex-merchant sailor Chris Dews.
10:35Hello.
10:36Good morning, everybody.
10:38As well as the rest of the crew of this rural community.
10:41No sign of anyone, so I've decided to have a quick shower.
10:52Everyone here earns their keep, and I'm no exception.
10:56Morning, all.
10:57Morning, everybody.
10:58I might be running late, but I'm not getting out of my share of the chores.
11:02OK, well, what I've got on my list, there's quite a few jobs to do.
11:06As captain of the ship, Chris issues jobs for the day.
11:09OK, cheers.
11:10Let's go, then.
11:11Once everyone has their orders, it's all hands on deck.
11:14Could you just leave it there, Ben?
11:15Yeah.
11:16That's great.
11:16The local farmer abandoned this land years ago because of the poor soil, in which nothing
11:21grew.
11:22But Chris has transformed it using a magic ingredient that everyone has contributed to.
11:27So this is human shit.
11:30Yeah.
11:30It doesn't smell too bad.
11:32It's shit, piss, toilet paper, even the toilet roll, middle, and sawdust.
11:38So how old is this, though?
11:40This is at least four months old.
11:42The majority of this greenery now is down to your hard work and lots of your poo.
11:47We've had 80 cubic metres in the last 20 years, and that's what's transformed it from
11:52basically a desert into a paradise.
11:55So once we've put this on the ground, how long until you can use that land?
12:00Well, I would say I would leave it three years before you start eating anything from there.
12:05So just follow me.
12:07Chris has got his eye on a bear patch that he wants to use in a few years' time to grow produce.
12:13So this is the land you want to rejuvenate eventually.
12:16Yes, so we're just going to prepare it with some of our humanure, is it what they call it?
12:23Good, we're about to do it.
12:23Just dump it here and we'll move it around, that's it.
12:27There you go.
12:27Lovely.
12:29Thanks to his efforts, Chris now grows an abundant harvest, which supports the community.
12:35Aloe vera is their most successful crop.
12:38This desert plant grows well on the sun-soaked island.
12:41Carlos moved here from Madrid to learn how to live off the land.
12:47Does it take lots of maintenance?
12:48Do you have to water this a lot?
12:50Well, only once a week.
12:51It hasn't been raining at all, and we have this hidden water system, and once a week, one hour.
12:57So they get fat and juicy.
13:00What are you actually harvesting this for?
13:01Is this for the stuff to put on your skin?
13:03Well, you can put it on your skin, of course, but you can also eat it.
13:06With one of these, we make about one liter of juice.
13:10And we add mint, lemon, and honey.
13:13We also take it to our local market.
13:16It's very fruit-like when you see it like this.
13:19Nice.
13:21The tricky part is now getting most of the gel.
13:24That's what we want.
13:27Look at this.
13:27This looks now like sweets.
13:30Yeah.
13:30Can I try that?
13:31Yeah, you can try.
13:33Doesn't really taste of anything.
13:35Would you like to try to take it there?
13:36Now you flatten it, see, because the other part is round.
13:40So with your hand, flatten it.
13:42Flatten it down.
13:43Yeah.
13:44You may lose a bit of jelly here.
13:47There you go.
13:48And you mentioned the market, so you're going to take this juice and sell it.
13:51Yeah.
13:51Do you sell it by the glass?
13:53Do you sell it by the jar?
13:55Yeah, by the glass.
13:56By the glass.
13:56And how much do you sell a glass for?
13:57Yeah, a glass is two euros of minimum donation.
14:01With one leaf, we make about five glasses.
14:04Ten euros or so.
14:05Yeah.
14:06So gooey.
14:07Look at that.
14:08Yeah.
14:09This is what makes the juice like a milkshake.
14:12Mm-hmm.
14:12It's an interesting plant.
14:13It doesn't need a lot of water.
14:14And you can eat it.
14:15You can put it on your skin.
14:17It's very nice.
14:18The annual income from donations is 8,000 pounds, which helps to buy provisions the community
14:25can't produce themselves.
14:31Don, his girlfriend Elsa, and their son Vito moved here from Holland.
14:36But in the summer heat, the yurt they're living in is too hot for the baby.
14:40Where are you going, mister?
14:42So my next job is building Don's new home from recycled materials the community has salvaged.
14:50This is the ego wagon.
14:52There's already 150 pallets in this structure already.
14:57And presumably the floor that we're going to put down now is also going to be pallets,
15:00is it?
15:00Yes, over there we have pallets, yeah.
15:02Okay.
15:03And what's it like having a child here?
15:06I mean, this is your first child, I assume.
15:08Yes, and we moved here when Vito was two months old.
15:11For Elsa, of course, she was still a little bit recovering.
15:16And so it was a quite stressful period.
15:18And also people are continuously changing.
15:22It's not the easy way.
15:24Since he moved here, all sorts of newcomers have lived alongside Don and his family before
15:30moving on.
15:32What about tensions?
15:33Do people ever lock horns?
15:35I think some people could have, like, issues.
15:39It depends on what kind of people you have around you.
15:42And what about Chris?
15:42Do you ever disagree with him?
15:45I'm here to learn.
15:46So I'm not here to judge.
15:49Of course, he is also learning and he's also, I see he's changing also.
15:54And that's his path.
15:57You're planning to live here for?
15:59For a while, yeah.
16:00I want to finish this wagon.
16:02I want to live in it and I want to learn as much as possible, which I can learn here.
16:08And maybe then something comes on my path for the future.
16:13And I don't know.
16:13We will see.
16:14It sounds to me like Don and his family, much like many of the people here, are nomadic.
16:24They'll come and go, dip in and out.
16:26It seems that Chris is the only one who's in here for the long term.
16:29And as the day wears on, I'm realising this is no holiday home for hippies.
16:48More than 800 people have been drawn to Chris's community over the past 20 years.
16:52I think I'm getting a sense of what it is to live here.
16:59You don't come here to lounge around.
17:02You work for your food.
17:03You work for your accommodation.
17:05If someone comes here and they're bumming around smoking weed all day,
17:08I don't think Chris would suffer fools.
17:11As long as people pull their weight, then he's happy.
17:15And it's time to report back to the taskmaster himself.
17:20Can you just leave the barra at the end here?
17:22Yeah.
17:23What we're going to do, this is nice, wet compost.
17:26We're going to put it round each tomato plant.
17:28Okay.
17:29There's a bit of mush.
17:29Should I take some?
17:31So if you can start at that end, just put it round the tomato plants.
17:34I'm going to come next to you and I'm just going to show you like that.
17:36Just like that.
17:37Do you enjoy doing all of this?
17:38Yeah, I love doing everything.
17:40I'm a workaholic.
17:41You're a workaholic, really?
17:42Yeah.
17:43Have you always been a workaholic?
17:44Yeah.
17:45Yeah.
17:45Yeah.
17:47I really enjoy, I like to be busy.
17:49I think it's a nice way to live.
17:52You've obviously got Don and Elsa here and they've got a young child.
17:55Have you thought about family, youngsters, kids?
17:58No.
17:59I do have an aversion to small children.
18:01In what sense?
18:02The noise they make, many of them, for me it's like polystyrene on a window.
18:07And it really kind of cuts right through my head.
18:09I can't concentrate.
18:10I'm just trying it out.
18:12My big baby here is the Casita Verde.
18:14And the people that I have here, they're my family.
18:16But, you know, we changed them now and again and we had some more.
18:19And so my family is whatever I want it to be.
18:22Mm-hmm.
18:25In the early days, Chris took advantage of a more solitary existence.
18:32But, as is tradition on the island, his friends wanted to visit and party on his wild patch of Ibiza.
18:38His years in the Merchant Navy had taught Chris that many hands make light work.
18:46So when his friends wanted to stay and join in with his back-to-basics lifestyle,
18:51he began to turn his home into a self-sufficient community.
18:54And so his commune was born.
19:00But I want to know how the taxman helped Chris jump ship in the first place.
19:05So how did the Merchant Navy man end up here on Ibiza?
19:11There's a phone call.
19:12It's my accountant.
19:13Chris, I've just come back from holiday.
19:14Very sorry to call you this late in the day.
19:16Just opened your file.
19:18You've got to leave tonight.
19:19Tonight, well, because of the timing?
19:21Yes, yeah.
19:21If we could prove that we arrived to the country for ten months of that income tax year,
19:25they would actually return our income tax, which gives it back as a cheque.
19:28So I went to Scarborough to buy a ticket.
19:31Otherwise you'd lose all that?
19:32Lose all that income tax.
19:33It was nearly £2,000.
19:35And what date are we talking now?
19:37£85.
19:38So I drove into Scarborough.
19:40First, the first travel agency I could find.
19:44And, look, can I have a ticket going south, please, before midnight?
19:47Well, the only one we've got, sir, is...
19:49Actually, it's an 1830s holiday club, like, but there's one seat left.
19:55The last ticket south.
19:56And this was going to...
19:57Ibiza.
19:58To Ibiza.
19:58And did you know about Ibiza?
19:59No, no, I didn't.
20:00I made a quick call to one of my brothers who was still there.
20:03I said, Ibiza, have you been to Ibiza some time?
20:05And he said, yeah, yeah, you'll love it, mate.
20:07It's like, you know, four girls on every corner, discotheque, sunshine, 300 days, sunshine a year.
20:13So I said, wah, heh, looks like I stuck a lucky note there.
20:16So I arrived down here, 8th of May.
20:18And I fell in love with the island like everybody else does.
20:20Do you think your time at sea gave you a chance to think about what you eventually wanted to do?
20:26Maybe this is where this lifestyle was born.
20:30I became very, very sensitive about the environment.
20:33So I saw more destruction.
20:35I saw loads of plastic garbage from the Panama Canal all the way to the Sea of Japan.
20:41And you get into the Sea of Japan and then, urgh, it's like sailing into a rubbish tip.
20:47And then, you know, you come to a place like Ibiza after that.
20:50And then you start observing what was going on.
20:53The sea was filling up with garbage and basically, you know, starting to destroy what I'd learned to love very much as a gem.
21:03At that time, I'd had this idea about saving the island.
21:11Chris is obsessed with preserving his own wild enclave.
21:15But he's been compelled to venture further and further afield.
21:23Since he arrived on Ibiza, Chris has seen the garbage washing up on the beach's shores increase year on year.
21:32We're heading out to take on this mess.
21:34It's the biggest weekly duty for this already busy community.
21:43We're journeying for hours.
21:46Chris often persuades friends to lend him their boats so that he can get to rubbish-filled, hard-to-reach coastlines.
21:53How many beaches do you think you've cleaned over the years?
21:57Maybe 500.
21:59500 beaches?
21:59Yeah, well, I've been cleaning beaches since more or less 88.
22:03Have you ever calculated how much rubbish you might have removed over those years?
22:06I don't know. Some hundreds of tons, for sure.
22:08This is part of what you do.
22:10Well, yeah, this is my mission.
22:11Because I hate garbage.
22:13Absolutely test garbage.
22:14Here we go.
22:20Right away, you've got a piece there.
22:21First piece.
22:21Your first.
22:27It's a pretty amazing transition to Yorkshireman who then went to sea,
22:32seeing stuff discarded over the side, seeing tanks emptied in the middle of the ocean.
22:38But I suppose it's him giving back.
22:39It's him trying to redress the imbalances that perhaps he was part of.
22:52But this clean-up operation isn't just the selfless act of an eco-warrior.
22:58Another man's trash is Chris's treasure.
23:01The island's plentiful supply of rubbish is a lifeline for this community.
23:11With Chris at the helm, they've used the tons of garbage to build their shelters.
23:17And each of the 800 people that have come and gone have left their mark.
23:23Chris's junkyard is the product of the community's foraging efforts.
23:27And it's become a precious bank of building materials,
23:30which allows him to maintain his existence on this rented plot.
23:34Everything's quite kind of ordered.
23:36Well, the idea is that it needs to be more ordered.
23:38So I've actually thought about something you can let me do today.
23:41Oh, yeah?
23:41Because I'm sick of walking on all these pipes on the floor.
23:44Passing some of these pipes?
23:45Passing these pipes and I'll lay them where I want them.
23:46OK.
23:49How many years hoarding is this, do you think?
23:52Well, this place, I think it's been around about 15, 16 years, this one.
23:56So, yeah, quite a few.
23:58I've seen something that might be useful to us,
23:59like a piece of water pipe like that.
24:01It's all really good material.
24:02It's not garbage.
24:03You don't have very strong roots here.
24:06Does that worry you?
24:06Do you mind not having...
24:07Lots of people like to have security, I suppose,
24:10is what I'm trying to put it down to.
24:11But maybe that doesn't bother you.
24:12Does that bother you?
24:15Let me just tell you something, Ben.
24:17If the whole world folds up, my pension is here.
24:20The best thing you can do is plant some stuff in the garden,
24:23have loads of solar panels on your roof,
24:24drive an electric car.
24:26That's your insurance, that you've got a future.
24:34He's sort of a contradiction.
24:35In one hand, he's looking to the future
24:36because he's worried about the planet and what we're doing.
24:39But on the other hand, he's living for the moment.
24:40There's no investment for the future.
24:42Now, arguably, this is his investment,
24:45all of this stuff, junk.
24:46This is his pension, I suppose.
24:48He doesn't see the fragility of that.
24:51It doesn't worry him.
24:54I'm in rural Ibiza,
25:08living with Yorkshireman Chris Dewes.
25:11It's a perfect day today for drying tomatoes,
25:14so I can see there's quite a few ready to go.
25:16Who has turned barren land on this sun-soaked island
25:20into a thriving commune using hard graft.
25:24Chris is the wave that never stops.
25:28It's quite intense, you know, living in a commune.
25:31You're constantly being watched.
25:35It's quite hard to find your own space.
25:38Here we go, chickens.
25:39After a busy few days,
25:50my commander-in-chief is giving me some well-earned downtime.
25:54But his idea of R&R is more than I bargained for.
25:58What I'm going to do today is what I normally do
26:00if I've got a chance with some beautiful girls,
26:03I'll bring one down and invite them for breakfast.
26:05I made a beautiful omelette.
26:06And so imagine, you know, you're my date for today.
26:08OK.
26:10Chris is giving me a unique spa treatment
26:12using a beauty product he's dug out of one of his caves.
26:16I brought a bucket of mud.
26:17Yeah.
26:17We're going to take our...
26:18Very romantic, Chris.
26:19Very romantic.
26:20So now we have to take our clothes off, obviously,
26:22because we can't put this on top of the clothes.
26:26So normally I would be a beautiful girl with you now.
26:29Yes.
26:30You're OK completely, are you?
26:32I'm going to take everything off.
26:34I've got all my body treated.
26:35If not just the pieces you can see.
26:38I would argue that it's quite a forward date, but, you know.
26:42I would start with your feet.
26:43Yeah.
26:44The mud, when dry, draws out impurities
26:47and will leave my skin silky soft to the touch.
26:50If you actually were in a spa,
26:51you'd probably pay £150 for this.
26:53Yeah.
26:54Especially here in Ibiza,
26:54we've got all the pieces hanging around.
26:57Well, I tell you what you haven't got today
26:59is a beautiful girl with you.
27:01I think I can manage that for one day.
27:03I'm going to ask you, actually, to do my back.
27:05This is a first, can I say?
27:07Yeah.
27:07All right, thanks.
27:08All the bits that I've missed.
27:12So, this is so...
27:14This is just so strange.
27:15It feels like I'm wearing clothes.
27:17Let's get it in your eyes first.
27:18Don't put it right inside your ears,
27:20otherwise it might not come out so easy.
27:22So, just do your bits that you can get to.
27:25Sounds like you're...
27:26This is through trial and error again
27:28that you've discovered.
27:29I've done a few thousand-month battle.
27:31Have you?
27:31Yeah.
27:32I know they've turned in my hair.
27:34I've got that much hair anyway.
27:35Oh, your hair as well?
27:36Yeah.
27:36Oh, wow.
27:38If I've got enough to make some horns here,
27:41this would be nice.
27:42Am I looking like I've got...
27:43Yeah, you do.
27:44You look...
27:44A little davel now.
27:45Yeah.
27:45You look completely like you're from a tribe somewhere.
27:51I'm from the tribe of Chris.
27:53That's it.
27:54Would you describe your community,
27:57your commune, as a tribe?
28:00It's a bit like a tribe, yeah.
28:02A bit like a...
28:03Yeah.
28:04A cult?
28:05Well, people used to call it a cult,
28:07but it's not really a cult.
28:08I would say it's...
28:08So, what's a cult?
28:10What separates you from a cult?
28:13Well, a cult is something...
28:14Yeah, it's everybody follows.
28:16I suppose it is a cult, yeah.
28:17He said, look, I've just followed you.
28:19I mean, you could argue.
28:19You've just managed to get me like this.
28:22You're looking slightly alien right now.
28:24Yeah, and you go and look in the mirror, mate.
28:27I don't know if you find it you're from.
28:34Goodbye, Matt.
28:42Whoa, that's nice.
28:44But our date isn't over yet.
28:59Well, what you just do with it, basically,
29:00is stick it all over yourself.
29:02To round off our beauty treatment,
29:05homegrown aloe vera is used as a moisturiser.
29:07And I'm even treated to a glass
29:13of the community's famous aloe vera juice.
29:16Cheers.
29:16Oh, there's here.
29:17Yeah, very nice.
29:22That's very good.
29:23Delicious.
29:24And finally, we're on to our romantic meal for two.
29:27I don't know if I'm going to come back to your cave with you,
29:30but you've done a pretty good job, I have to say.
29:32Once you've wooed all the girls with your mud,
29:36you then knock them over with your omelette.
29:39Back at headquarters,
29:50the rest of the crew are hard at work.
29:53It's mid-summer,
29:55and with average highs of 30 degrees
29:57and very little rainfall,
29:59Chris's land is parched.
30:01Growing food is an uphill struggle.
30:03No, that's rubbish.
30:06Chris needs additional water storage
30:07to collect the rain when it eventually comes.
30:10So he's working on a solution,
30:11and I'm helping sort through the rubble
30:14for future building.
30:15Behind us, or this hole as it is now,
30:17what is this all about?
30:18Well, this basically is going to be
30:21a few ponds like this or installed.
30:24Putting an infrastructure here
30:25so that you don't rely on anything else
30:28from outside there.
30:29That is my goal.
30:30That's been my goal for a long time.
30:32Of course, you can't do it overnight,
30:34but I would say we're getting close.
30:35I think I would say we're at least 75%
30:38along the way to self-sufficiency.
30:40Would you say water is your biggest
30:42or your most prized asset here?
30:45It's going to be the biggest challenge
30:46to survival in the future,
30:49especially if the rainfall is less every year.
30:54We're going to have to really, really think
30:56about how we do things on an island like this
30:59where as the climate dries out,
31:01which it's doing, we're really relying
31:03on the rainfall to provide life.
31:05Is it fair to say that you have
31:07a slightly pessimistic view
31:09of the future of our planet, though?
31:12If nothing changes, I think we've got
31:13five years left and it's all over.
31:16Five years?
31:16Yeah, as short as that may.
31:18We used to talk about it's five to midnight,
31:20you know, and there was, you know,
31:22the 11th hour and all that stuff.
31:24You remember all that stuff.
31:25We're in five to midnight and it's one minute to midnight
31:27and we've got half a minute to sort it out.
31:29There's no point in arriving at game over
31:30at the same time as the game over.
31:32You've got to arrive before, leave a window
31:34to sort out the mess before the S hits the fan.
31:37And that shit, what is that?
31:40Is that no more rain?
31:43Basically a complete breakdown in the ecosystem
31:45that's supporting the planet.
31:48And that's the next big question.
31:51How are we going to survive into the future?
31:53Are you a prepper?
31:54Are you preparing for the end of the world?
31:56No, no.
31:58I'm hoping it's not going to happen,
31:59but I just want to make sure that
32:01I'm not the first one to go.
32:03I mean, you know what I mean?
32:05We'll be the last people to get wiped out
32:09because we'll be more prepared than other people.
32:12In some ways, he is a doomsday prepper,
32:14someone getting ready for the end of the world.
32:16He gives it five years or so.
32:18And, you know, there's not the only one in the world
32:20that thinks that we're destroying the planet.
32:23I'd like to think we've got more than five years.
32:25But you have to work towards something.
32:26I suppose if you're working on a principle of survival
32:30and extreme sustainability,
32:32which is his ultimate goal,
32:35then it's probably good to have a target.
32:41And as the clock is ticking,
32:44Chris has turned his home into a training ground
32:46for people who want to know
32:47how to survive a global meltdown.
32:54Kubanito has been living and learning here for four years,
32:57and I catch up with him clearing land for food growing.
32:59What kind of things are you going to be growing here?
33:04Well, it depends on the season,
33:06but basically we don't eat meat,
33:08so we need to look for food with protein,
33:12like mint, that could be good.
33:16Ooh.
33:18I think this one's gone, Kubanito.
33:20It turns out I'm not as skilled with a machete
33:23as this seasoned veteran.
33:25We'll carry on with yours.
33:27Do you trust me with this?
33:28Yeah.
33:35Oh, God.
33:36Kubanito, I'm really knackering your blade.
33:38You almost did.
33:40You told me to do the big one.
33:42Sorry about that.
33:43It wasn't my present.
33:44I feel terrible.
33:46Having trashed Kubanito's blades,
33:49look at me,
33:50he shows me how it's done.
33:53OK, just chopping away.
33:56There.
33:56Nothing.
33:57Nothing.
33:58OK.
34:02Obviously, Casita Verde is very important to you.
34:05What about Chris?
34:07Where is he in your life?
34:08He's a kind of father for me.
34:10Is he?
34:11Yeah.
34:11And do you think he sees you like a son as well?
34:13Yeah.
34:14Bring happiness for me,
34:16present.
34:17Actually, it was my present for my birthday.
34:18Was it?
34:19Sorry.
34:19No, it's OK.
34:20That was your present.
34:21No, it's OK.
34:21So I destroyed it.
34:22And he supports me in many, many different ways.
34:27And he's the inspiration for me
34:29to continue with this project.
34:31He's the captain.
34:32I am the student's captain.
34:34You're the student's captain.
34:35Exactly.
34:35So one day, though,
34:36would you like to be the captain?
34:37Yeah.
34:38Here in Ibiza,
34:39we can have a kind of university for captain,
34:42future captain.
34:44And I know he's very happy and proud
34:47if we can continue with this project around the world.
34:51We can open a new one,
34:53maybe in South America or Asia or whatever.
34:56This is part of Chris's bigger picture
35:01of spreading this to the world.
35:05As Kubinito said,
35:07who knows South America,
35:08maybe next Cuba.
35:10You know, the sky's the limit.
35:11And that's when you can start to see the potential
35:14for Chris and his vision
35:17actually making a difference
35:19beyond the shores of this party island.
35:22As the spirit of partying
35:26first drew friends to Chris's home
35:27and transformed it into a commune,
35:30today he's turned this open house policy
35:32into a tradition,
35:34often inviting friends to visit.
35:37Chris's brother, Paul,
35:38has also lived on the island
35:39for the past 30 years.
35:41He's a fantastic marketeer, isn't he?
35:43His life has been about trying to share
35:47or show or sell things to other people.
35:49You've got it with the share.
35:50You know, Christopher's like that.
35:52If he's got something,
35:53he wants to share it
35:54and he wants to talk about it to everybody.
35:56Has he sold you this lifestyle?
35:58No.
36:00And why not?
36:01No, because I like my own place
36:04with people that I like around me.
36:07Whereas Christopher,
36:08he like opens his arms to everybody.
36:10Come, you know?
36:11And you come here
36:12and there's always 30 people here.
36:14I couldn't.
36:15I couldn't stand that.
36:16And I agree that this is the way
36:20we should be going.
36:21And, you know,
36:23whether it'll actually, you know,
36:26go worldwide or not, I doubt.
36:29I don't know.
36:29Spending a few days with your brother,
36:30he's pretty persistent.
36:32He's always gone out there
36:34and done something different
36:35rather than just following the crowds.
36:37And he was doing what he wants to do.
36:39You know?
36:40He's got no rules, no nothing.
36:42He's not in our society
36:44where we do work
36:45and we pay taxes
36:46and we do this.
36:47He's gone out of that.
36:49And I think he's doing very well.
36:55As the night develops,
36:57it looks like there are some aspects
36:58of Ibiza and life
36:59Chris has found impossible to give up.
37:02Cheers.
37:02Cheers.
37:03So this is a legendary
37:05Casita Verde party, is this?
37:07It's an open invitation
37:08for people to come and join us.
37:10Join you with our fun.
37:11We'll explain to them
37:12what's going on.
37:13They can have lots of nice conversations.
37:15Actually, we do meet
37:16a lot of nice new people here.
37:18I've just been chatting
37:19to some very nice girls tonight, actually.
37:20Have you?
37:21Have you?
37:22Here we go.
37:23Go and tell me who you met.
37:24I've got a lovely girl
37:24from Italy,
37:25the one from Germany.
37:27Have you?
37:34Party night is still going.
37:37It's just after midnight
37:38night and I have
37:39come to my
37:41bunk bed.
37:44I think it may go on
37:45for some time.
37:46See you in the morning.
37:47See you in the morning.
37:47See you in the morning.
37:47I'm coming to the end
38:01of my stay
38:02in this busy commune
38:03built from junk
38:04by my host, Chris Dews.
38:08The big job this morning
38:09is to collect firewood
38:10for the winter months.
38:11On the way to the forest,
38:20Chris can't resist
38:21scouring the island
38:22for more useful stuff.
38:24Hunting litter.
38:25Litter hunter.
38:26To make it into
38:27a bit of a fun sport.
38:32Right, here's a base, look.
38:33I've got this one.
38:34I've got this one.
38:35That's yours.
38:35I feel like we need
38:36to be stealth-like
38:37sneaking up on it.
38:41I'm a good rubbish hunter.
38:43Does the litter tend
38:44to be quite samey
38:45around here?
38:46Cigarette packets,
38:48wet wipes.
38:50Our prey might be
38:51easy to get hold of,
38:52but it's not exactly
38:54what Chris is after.
38:56Fortunately,
38:57he's brought along
38:58a recent find
38:58that we can put
38:59to good use.
39:00I found this piece
39:01of rope on the road
39:02like two days ago.
39:04I thought that'll
39:04come in handy
39:05for pulling logs
39:06out of the forest.
39:07Then we've got
39:09all this kind of
39:10big thing.
39:10we can really
39:12hang on here now.
39:13So you and I,
39:15we'll pull it
39:15over here, all right?
39:17Ready?
39:17Yeah.
39:18One, two, three.
39:20Here, that's the idea.
39:21One, two, three.
39:22Well, very good.
39:23I think we'll have to
39:24be a bit further downhill.
39:24Yeah.
39:26One, two, three.
39:27Three.
39:28Well.
39:30Come on, you bugger.
39:35I think we'll have
39:37to cut the piece off.
39:40I think it had to get
39:55the right angle.
39:56instead of trying to cut
39:58down because it's going
39:59to close the gap,
40:00aren't you?
40:08I think it had to get
40:09the right angle.
40:10Okay, let me just show
40:11you again.
40:11Yeah.
40:12Let's get you and me on the
40:21rope here.
40:21We'll give it another
40:22piece.
40:22You still do it.
40:23Just careful of this piece
40:24swinging out for you.
40:25Okay.
40:25One, two.
40:26Three.
40:29There we go.
40:31Okay, be careful of yourself.
40:33I think it's downhill.
40:34Gravity can help.
40:36Help.
40:39Firewood is invaluable
40:40during winter.
40:42In these mountains,
40:43temperatures dip below
40:44freezing.
40:46And compulsive cleaner
40:47Chris has another reason
40:48for clearing out the
40:49dead wood.
40:51This is actually a massive
40:53fire risk.
40:54You leave all this stuff
40:55on the floor here.
40:56If anybody does throw
40:57a cigarette butt in here
40:58and start a fire,
40:59it goes off like a bomb.
41:01And pine burns really good.
41:02I mean, with all that
41:03resin in it,
41:04it's the fastest burning
41:05wood you can think of.
41:07The forest fires themselves,
41:08have they come close to
41:09your structures?
41:11Oh, yeah.
41:12The closest one was at
41:14the other side of the
41:15valley there.
41:17One of the biggest fires
41:18ever in Ibiza burned
41:19for four days.
41:20Burnt two million trees
41:21and it was running down
41:22this valley like hell.
41:24I just saw these massive
41:25flames arriving above the
41:26thing and we thought,
41:28ooh, we're going to have
41:28to get out of the way.
41:30And they just managed to
41:31put it out before it got
41:32to the...
41:32got to this end.
41:35This place is basically
41:37baked dry for way more
41:39than half the year.
41:40So forest fires are a
41:41massive threat.
41:42And if you've created
41:43your utopia and you have
41:46the real threat of forest
41:47fire, that's quite a
41:48burden to live with.
41:53Back at the commune,
41:54as always, the other
41:55shipmates have been hard
41:56at work.
41:58And my final task,
41:59rather poignantly,
42:00is pruning a fruit tree
42:02so that new life can grow.
42:04It prompts me to ask
42:05Chris about his future
42:06on the island.
42:08Is there a point where
42:10you're done?
42:11Is there a point where
42:11you retire?
42:13Or is this...
42:13Are you in this for the
42:14long haul?
42:15I'll stay in here as long as I'm
42:18alive.
42:19Can this place run without you
42:21though?
42:22Well, hopefully, yes.
42:23The measure of success will be
42:25whether the thing can run without
42:27me at the head.
42:28Any successful movement has to
42:31continue running after the
42:32inventors disappeared.
42:33then you can consider that's a
42:36success story.
42:40I do admire Chris.
42:42Anyone that's got such a focus
42:44on what they want to achieve,
42:46you have to admire them.
42:48Hola!
42:49It's time to go, I'm afraid.
42:53Bye, everyone.
42:54Let me say goodbye.
42:55Many other people I've met around
42:56the world have done their
42:58wilderness experiment in a
43:01solitary, remote corner of the
43:03world.
43:04Many people have tried to get
43:06away from others, and yet
43:08Chris has done the opposite.
43:10He's invited others into his
43:13wildlife.
43:15And arguably, a community way
43:19of wildlife is a much more
43:21realistic version of living in
43:24the wilderness.
43:25Chris?
43:26Yeah?
43:27It's time to go.
43:28I'm sorry.
43:28You're off, mate.
43:29I am.
43:30Do I get the captain's seal of
43:31approval?
43:32You certainly do.
43:33Have I pulled my weight here?
43:34I think so.
43:35You're invited back again.
43:36Oh, listen, thank you so much.
43:37Listen.
43:38It's been really lovely to
43:38meet you.
43:39It's been an amazing experience.
43:41Thank you, Chris.
43:42I hope to see you soon.
43:43Bye.
43:43Bye-bye then.
43:44Bye-bye.
43:53Next time, I'm in Outer
43:56Mongolia.
43:57Are you sure we're safe?
43:58Staying with an American family
44:00who gave up the luxuries of the
44:02U.S.
44:02for a life in a country they knew
44:04nothing about.
44:05We didn't even know where Mongolia
44:06was.
44:07We knew it was cold and it was
44:09harsh climate.
44:10I'll discover why they've made
44:11this beautiful and brutal corner
44:13of the world their home.
44:14Gotta eat.
44:15Ha-ha-ha-ha.
44:18And we thought it was getting
44:20cold here.
44:20Ben Fogel, New Lives in the Wild,
44:22is back next Tuesday at 9.
44:23Get your teeth into some gritty
44:25drama as Ian Glenn returns as
44:27Jack Taylor working the cases
44:28others won't touch.
44:30The new season continues Thursday
44:32at 9.
44:33Specialists don't know the answers
44:34but that doesn't deter the
44:35families who are desperate for a
44:36fix.
44:37A brand new documentary, The Boy
44:38Who'll Never Grow Up, is next
44:40on Channel 5.
44:41The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up, is next
44:43to the
44:44The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:44The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:45The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:46The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:47The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:48The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:49The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:50The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:51The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:52The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:53The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:54The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:55The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:56The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:57The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:58The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
44:59The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
45:00The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
45:01The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
45:02The Boy Who'll Never Grow Up.
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