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

What did you miss?

Ben Fogle has said he is sometimes "overwhelmed" by the moving stories of people who feature in his New Lives in the Wild show.

The TV star has been making his Channel 5 show about people who live off the grid for over a decade, and it is now returning for a new series. Fogle spends several days with those who are on the programme and during an appearance on The One Show revealed he tends to take their emotions and experiences on board.

He said that while he "wouldn't change it for anything", it can be "an emotional rollercoaster".

What, how and why?

Fogle was on the BBC show on Monday, 6 January and told how his upcoming series features a couple who bought a house in Bulgaria sight unseen and went there from the UK to start a new life, and a man from the US whose story takes a big turn.

Asked what he had taken from making New Lives in the Wild, he told hosts Alex Jones and Lauren Laverne: "I describe myself as an empath so I absorb emotions from people. So on a positive, I have taken away loads of hopefulness and loads of ideas and loads of amazing stories but it can also be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster."

He continued: "People will be really surprised I think, this series. The second episode, that will be on next week, is actually Jimmy, an American, who moved with his boyfriend to Australia and the story has a pretty extraordinary turn.

"I find myself absorbing all of these things. And it does, I say it takes its toll, sometimes I do feel slightly overwhelmed because I am not trained in psychology but I do spend time with people who have had really difficult experiences. And it's a really intense week you know.

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"The filming is a week. Sometimes we are there for the whole time, staying on site, sometimes I am there for a handful of days."

What else did Ben Fogle say on The One Show?

However, Fogle — who has been open about his own past “mental health wobble”, which saw him dealing with “crippling paranoia and anxiety" — went on to say that he "wouldn't change it for anything".

"I love all the people and the whole series is about them, it's about the countries," said the star.

"I hope, in January, when lots of people are suffering the January blues, that this will be maybe some other couple or individual's inspiration for maybe making a move themselves."

Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild starts on Tuesday, 7 January on Channel 5.

The One Show airs at 7pm on BBC One on weekdays.