Ben Fogle inspired couple to quit old life and buy farm on internet

What did you miss?

Ben Fogle was told "it's your fault we did this" after meeting a couple who quit their old life and bought a tumbledown farmhouse in Bulgaria on the internet.

In the latest episode of his Channel 5 show New Lives In The Wild, the TV presenter went to stay on a remote Bulgarian farm with Jordan and Lewis Vye and their two children, Fae and Leo. They revealed they quit their old life in Bournemouth and bought the dilapidated rural cottage they had not even visited after binge-watching his show.

Meeting the couple for the first time Fogle asked them what they had thought when they first arrived. Jordan laughed: "What the f*** have we done?!" She also joked: "Somebody said we're the pound shop version of Escape to the Chateau!"

But later in the emotional episode, which aired on Tuesday, 7 January, Fogle spoke seriously to the couple, who both revealed they experienced traumatic childhoods. Lewis confided that he been a victim of abuse, while Jordan's mother suffered from addiction.

They both admitted that they had been in a cycle of drinking and partying to escape their unhappiness and stress while living in a two-bedroom council house, working hard and struggling for money. But in Bulgaria they had found peace and a happy family life surrounded by nature.

What, how, and why?

Fogle arrived at the farm to find the family all sleeping in one room while they renovate the farmhouse they want to live in. Jordan and Lewis document their journey on Youtube channel From Bournemouth to Bulgaria, which makes them around £300 a month in revenue. They grow their own vegetables and keep chickens, but currently have to collect drinking water from the nearest town.

Fogle was told he would be sleeping in the caravan the family originally lived in when they first moved. Jordan revealed they would sit out on a sheet of tarpaulin with their baby Fae, knowing there were snakes, but relishing the beautiful wildlife.

Asked why they moved Jordan revealed: "During lockdown we binge watched all of New Lives In The Wild. You made us do this!" She added: "It all happened just so coincidentally. I went with a friend shopping. She bumped into her friend, and she said, 'Yeah, I just bought a house in Bulgaria for £3000.' And I was like, What?

"We've always kind of struggled to make ends meet. That really pushed us to come here because you're 30-years-old and you own two acres of land and a house, three buildings, outright, no mortgage.

"We both worked full-time jobs and we were like passing ships in the night. I would wake up at 7am, I'd go to work, come home at 7pm, Lew would then go out at 7pm 'til 11pm, and we would just constantly miss each other and still not be able to afford things. It was that wheel of constantly in the rat race, we both felt like there had to be more to life than what we were doing."

Back in Bournemouth Lewis worked as a massage therapist and personal trainer while Jordan worked in retail. They had their first son Leo when they were just 19.

Speaking about the decision to leave his old life behind, Lewis confided in Fogle about his difficult past.

He said: "Mum was a single mum, my childhood was a lot worse than maybe it should have been because I was left with people that I probably shouldn't have been left with. It's a hard thing for me to talk about, to be honest. Think of all the worst things that could happen to a kid, you know, that's if you can paint a picture of how you want to paint it. It spanned over a good period of my childhood until my stepdad came along. He came in and he provided a little bit more stability and, you know, a little bit more finances and things kind of stabilised a little bit.

"I think there's a very strong period in my life where I couldn't control myself on a very regular basis. I was doing things I shouldn't have been doing far too regularly, and I think it feels like I'm in a better place when I'm here. When I'm here, that cycle is broken. And I'm just a guy who's renovating his house, who's farming his land, who's being a great dad, who's being a great husband, and I'm closer to the person that I want to be here."

Read more: Ben Fogle

• Ben Fogle admits New Lives in the Wild can be 'overwhelming'

• 'My mum was raised by monkeys – I’m not worried about snakes in my jungle kitchen' (The Telegraph, 9 min read)

• Ben Fogle battled 'crippling paranoia and anxiety' in 2023 (BANG Showbiz, 2 min read)

What else happened on Ben Fogle's New Lives In The Wild?

Fogle stumbled across some "vintage porn" while foraging through rubbish dumped beside the road. He joined Jordan to sort through piles of roadside rubbish, hunting for junk she could salvage and restore to make her own bar.

Picking up a blurred-out DVD box Fogle commented: "Vintage porn." Then added: "There's no tape in it, it's just a box."

Talking about why she salvaged rubbish Jordan confessed she got a rush from it. She said: "I wish I could stand here and say I'm really trying to do my bit for the environment, but I'm not. That would be a lie. I just get an excitement from it. You know, the finding of it, the rescuing it, making it nice again."

She then became emotional as she admitted back at home she had been overstimulated by material things, but when she left for Bulgaria with just three boxes each, she felt free.

She told Fogle: "My mum's always suffered with addiction, so I'm always very aware that drinking is a big crux for me. My relationship with alcohol's changed a lot since moving here. I just don't feel like I was the best version of me there, and now I feel, I think I'm better. I'm getting there. I'm a forgiving myself and versions for me and getting really angry at people in my life who maybe didn't show up. I kind of use the house as like a visualisation of me."

Ben Fogle's New Lives In The Wild returns at 9pm on Channel 5 on Tuesday, 14 January.