Castaway 2000 - Be Fogle

Prior to Castaway, Ben Fogle, from London, was a Picture Editor at society magazine 'Tatler'. He grew up in London where he says he spent many a day dreaming of living on a windswept island. Fluent in Spanish, he lived for three years in South America working on various projects, one of which took him for a year to the now desolate Mosquito Coast, off Honduras. A keen sailor, Ben also spent three years as an Officer Cadet in the Royal Navy. He took his Labrador puppy, Inca, to the island as his luxury item.

While on Taransay many viewers fell in love with Ben's soft, well spoken tones but few realised that he was the son of cockney actress Julia Foster (who starred in the Michael Caine movie Alfie in 1966). You may assume that it is this fact that influenced Ben's interest in the media, however, I get the feeling that he was more than heavily influenced by his father, Bruce Fogle.

Ben Fogle's father, Bruce Fogle OBE, is a well known broadcasting veteran. Following graduation as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine he worked as a vet at London Zoo and later set up his own practice. He also worked as Veterinary Consultant to Microsoft Encarta and Advisor to Encyclopedia Britannica.

The origins of Ben's great love for nature are clearly associated with his childhood and influence of his father. A man of great compassion, following school, Ben Fogle took a year off to work in an orphanage in Ecuador which inspired him to read latin American Studies at the University of Portsmouth before joining Tatler Magazine.

Following Ben's experience of Taransay he received a great many offers from television companies and he soon appeared in programs such as One Man and His Dog, Country file and Animal Park. It was during his time on Animal Park that Ben Fogle became widely known to many children. The show took a documentary style look at the life of Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire, England. The park was owned by the eccentric Lord Longleat who frequently appeared on the program along with zoo keepers and the animals. Clearly aimed towards children, Animal Park introduced us to animal personalities such as Babs the Rhino.

One of the most challenging exploits following Castaway 2000 was possibly Ben's attempt at crossing the Atlantic Ocean in an Atlantic Rowing Race (2005-2006). Together with James Cracknell, Ben Fogle (pictured left) spent nearly 50 days rowing and succeeded in being the first pair to pass the finish line. They were the third boat to complete the race. However, following the calculations of time penalties, they were awarded 2nd place for the pairs.

The pairs efforts were recorded and shown by the BBC in February 2006. Through Hell and High Water was a fascinating, award winning, series of 5 half hour television programs that documented their ups and downs, their personal struggles with the challenge and the differing approaches to the competition.

Initially many expected the pair to start well as James is an English rowing champion and double Olympic gold medallist. It was expected that the relative inexperience of Ben Fogle would ultimately lead to defeat. Their approaches to the race could not have been more different, James's competitiveness was mind blowing, especially for Ben who was driven by James's utter determination. Disaster appeared to strike when their desalination machine failed and they were without fresh water. The pair struggled on reaching near madness before eventually accepting that their only option was to break open their emergency water supply. It was this that ultimately cost them first place as it held a time penalty - which explains their reluctance to open it earlier. Heading towards Christmas, alone in the middle of the Atlantic and without water the pair were near breaking point. Ben was clearly very distressed and James grew concerned but on Christmas Day they managed to get the desalinator working and were able to continue.

Forever interested in travel Ben toured as many of the remaining islands of the British Empire and wrote about it in his book "The Teatime Islands". The book was very well received and was on the short list for the WH Smith Best Travel Book award.

Whatever Ben does next we are certain to see him on television for a long time yet. Out of the 36 people marooned on Taransay in January 2000 it is Ben Fogle that has been the most successful.

You can read more about Ben at his web site: http://www.benfogle.com/

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Castaway Taransay 2000 - The People