Ben Fogle's day gets 'weirder' as he hears tale of UFO encounter
The TV presenter revisited 82-year-old twins Bill and Bob Stone who live in the canyons of Utah and are paranoid conspiracy theorists.
What did you miss?
Ben Fogle admitted his latest New Lives in the Wild Revisits turned "weird" as he listened to the story of a UFO encounter.
The 50-year-old TV presenter revisited 82-year-old twins Bill and Bob Stone who live in the canyons of Utah and are conspiracy theorists. Fogle was concerned for their health and safety being so isolated and cut off from health services, and somewhat disturbed by their paranoia at being attacked by outsiders.
But he admitted his day got even "weirder" as Bill told him about how they had been visited by a UFO.
What, how and why?
Fogle has been making the Channel 5 show about people who have chosen to leave the rat race and live off grid for 10 years. And in the new series, New Lives in the Wild Revisits, is returning to see how they are getting on. In the latest episode he returned to the elderly twins to find Bob's health has deteriorated and Bill is now a fulltime carer for his brother.
Fogle asked if much had happed since his last visit. Bill told him: "Not much, except that UFO that landed over there." Fogle replied: "Whoah?! You saw a UFO? How do you know it was a UFO?"
Bill told him: "Landed right down there with that cedar tree by the house. What else was it? It did not make any noise at all. They just had a whitish bluish glow to it like static electricity going around it all the time. That had it lit up.
"I was sitting reading the magazine and Bob started stoking the floor and pointing and I thought, first thought he was having another heart attack he kept pointing out. So I got up out of the chair and looked down. Here comes this whatever this thing was, lands on the other side of the cedar tree right by the house."
The brothers then showed Fogle an image of an alien Bob had carved onto a rock.
Fogle said: "I should say Bill and Bob are not alone in their experiences. That said, I do worry that aliens are just one more thing for Bill and Bob to feel anxious about. The day just got a little bit weirder. There's a lot of eccentricity here, but it's tinged with sadness 'cause there is a very real paranoia and I think a lot of that paranoia is born through news, they consume. But, you know, there's a sparkle of mischief as well and there's something kind of charming about that."
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What else happened on New Lives in the Wild Revisits?
Bill also showed Fogle a cave filled with food provisions the 82-year-old had gathered, in preparation for the 'end of the world'.
Fogle said: "This is my third time visiting Bill and Bob and I think what I think is they really like this. They like the game, whether there's an enemy that's real or not.
"It's not for everyone. And I don't want to be disrespectful. Maybe, you know, maybe they're right. But I don't know whether they are waiting for that moment or they hope it never happens. Possibly thinks that they've just enjoyed the process."
But despite not agreeing with their opinions, Fogle said he felt a "strange connection" to Bill and Bob.
He said: "All these people who I've visited over the last 13 years or so have changed me profoundly. I feel incredibly lucky to have met such an eclectic bunch of people who I would never normally have had a chance to meet because I feel they've put my own life into perspective.
"And it's easy to come and meet the Bill and Bobs and to kind of laugh at prepper lifestyle that they've lived. But there's many Bill and Bob's out there. It's opened my eyes to a whole new world and it makes you think differently and I'm not about to go home and buy a cave and fill it with guns and food. But I do look at people differently and that is all. Thanks to the Bill and Bobs of this world. I owe them a lot."
Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild Revisits airs on Channel 5 on Tuesday.