‘It’s just a simple life’: Ben Fogle reveals plans to spend retirement on a remote island with his wife and says he wants to ‘abandon the material world’
Ben Fogle has revealed that he wants to spend his retirement on a remote island with his wife Marina.
The writer and adventurer, 48, has told how he would prefer a ‘simple life’ when he gets older and that he wishes to ‘abandon the material world’.
It comes as the star’s Channel 5 programme, Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild, returns this week for a new series that marks 10 years since it began.
Dreams: Ben Fogle has revealed that he wants to spend his retirement on a remote island with his wife Marina
The father-of-two told The Mirror of his future plans: ‘I think we all have our retirement mapped out. For some people it’s a golf membership, a convertible car and lots of wine for lunch.
‘For me, it’s always been a little cabin on an island somewhere with my own canoe and loads and loads of dogs and I just forage.
‘That’s basically what I’d do all day. My grandchildren and children will come to visit me and my wife and it’s just a simple life. That’s all I want, a little off-the-grid house.
‘Right now I’m hooked into the material world and I’ve always liked this idea that maybe I could abandon all of that.’
Plans: The writer and adventurer, 48, has told how he would prefer a ‘simple life’ when he gets older and that he wishes to ‘abandon the material world’ (pictured with Marina last year)
Ben’s new show sees him travel the globe to meet people who have swapped traditional lifestyles for lives full of adventure.
The TV star shares his two Ludovic, 11 and Iona, 10, with wife Marina who he married in 2006.
It comes after last year Ben revealed that he doesn’t have ‘tough enough skin’ to take part in a reality show in the ‘age of social media’ after appearing on Castaway which kickstarted his rise to fame two decades ago.
He recalled his experience on the BBC reality show which saw him spend a year in Scotland battling the elements.
Speaking to The Express, he revealed that he wouldn’t appear in a reality show today, adding: ‘Would I do it today? Probably not. In 2021, I don’t think I would want to appear on a reality TV show in the age of social media.’
It’s back: It comes as the star’s Channel 5 programme, Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild, returns this week for a new series that marks 10 years since it began (pictured on Castaway in 2000)
‘I don’t think I have a tough enough skin to endure it.’
The adventurer had been working at Condé Nast for a year when the BBC announced the first reality show which Ben then applied to be a part of.
‘It was very different to reality shows now, it was for a whole year and it had an innocence about it,’ he explained. ‘It was pre-social media and a much easier time to be a reality show contestant than it is today.’
After appearing on the show, which was his TV debut, Ben recalled how he suffered a breakdown.
‘Back then, yes, I had a small wobble after I came off, but that was pretty short lived,’ he explained.
He went on to admit that he would’ve still participated in the show if he knew of his struggles that would follow his experience – adding that he is ‘pretty robust’ – but said he wouldn’t encourage his children to ‘ go out of their way to humiliate themselves on TV.’
Family: The TV star shares his two Ludovic, 11 and Iona, 10, with wife Marina who he married in 2006