Date: 1 December 2002
Originally published in: The Independent on Sunday (UK)
Written by: James Morrison
Celebrities will be shown vomiting and analysing their bowel movements in a new Channel 5 reality show that promises to offer the ultimate form of exposure for struggling C-list stars.
Eighties singer Kim Wilde and comedian Richard Blackwood will be among four “contestants” sent to an island to undergo a week of enemas and colonic irrigation in the interests of science – and voyeuristic television viewers.
The one-off programme is a spin-off from Detox Camp, a little-watched documentary screened on Channel 5 last month. It focused on an island paradise off the coast of Thailand, where over-indulged Westerners are encouraged to swap their home comforts for a “diet” of fasting and enemas.
A Channel 5 spokeswoman said the new show, to be broadcast next year, would not shirk from focusing on the scatological ordeals of its celebrity subjects. But it was likely to stop short of dwelling too closely on the gorier details.
“The celebrities will have to survive for a week on oral enemas, which basically means drinking things like olive oil,” she said. “They’ll also be analysing their own poo and things like that.”