10,000BC - Behind The Scenes Part 4

Now I don't think Mel needs any introduction but she was Steve's number two at the start, we just didn't see any footage of that (See Part 2) and then when he left, Mel stepped into the vacant leader position.

Everyone I have spoken to from the tribe has spoken highly of Mel, and at the end of this guest post there are some Final Five comments to confirm that.

So here you are.....

MEL

I think most of the camp mates would agree when I say, ‘watching a series in which you took part in, is a frustrating exercise’. In fact to watch a very heavily edited version of your life events can, I’ve found, occasionally mar the actual experience; changing perspectives of our memories and the victories that we earned during a pretty hard two months.

Since the show began, Twitter has been a constant source of joy and anger. It is a brilliant tool for an audience to engage with a show at distance; however it is also a platform that permits and even encourages some negativity. 

It’s easy to judge and this provides people the ability to ‘sling-mud’ and slander from afar. I know that in my contributing to this blog I am in fact fuelling the debate but I hope at least to address some of the criticism towards us.

Whilst debate can be very positive and should be encouraged; insults and rudeness are not part of a healthy or constructive debate. I understand this was an experiment, based on observation and that was therefore guaranteed to start discussion. Yet it’s easy for an audience to forget that we were just twenty people trying to do our best. 

Its true things did not go to plan. Yet this was never due to our laziness or for a want to ‘coast’ along. We all wanted this project to be a success; just as much as the production did. 

Two months is a long and valuable amount of time for anyone to invest on a project. Therefore I’m going to address a few of the subjects I have been asked about over the last ten weeks. I’ll try to explain why, from my perspective, we made certain choices within the camp.

Subjective viewing/Editing

First and foremost I would like to highlight something that everybody who chooses to watch and engage with reality TV shows, should really already know. This is an edited program; narrative and structure are added in the editing suite and very rarely do they convey the reality and complexity of a real life situation. 

I understood this going into the show. I had no illusion otherwise. That said, I have watched most of the show quite wide-eyed and frustrated. There’s truth in every second but without the context surrounding the events, I barely recognise my experience from the one on your TV screens. 

Training 

The general consensus among the cast was that the show would have been very different if we had been trained. I agree with this whole heartily; as just a week before I left I was given a “Training Guide”. This consisted of a booklet and a DVD and maybe this should have been a clue about what we were really wading into. 

I love being outdoors, as did many of the participants. Though I would never claim to be remotely expert on these things, I know how to look after myself in a ‘wild/outback’ situation. So I was looking forward to the two months being potentially gruelling. As I really wanted to be pushed to my limits. 

I’m not a middle-ground kind of girl. If I’m going to do something, I do it right and to the very best of my ability. So receiving a printout of You tube links and a couple of pages on what was edible on the forest floor was really quite a worrying start.

I believe it’s unhealthy to ruminate on anything; including what this adventure could, would or should have been. Yet I do know that whilst we received survival training materials, we were never trained in the importance of organisation and the need for social mobility in this situation. So the first few days were pure chaos!

When confronted with a situation, whereby every individual is trying to shout the loudest, for fear of not being heard, I found quite petrifying. If we had started with a calm and logical centre point, that we had gained from a real training experience together or through our cohesive knowledge base; then maybe we could have become more of a team from the start.

I also acknowledge that: yes it was chaos, yes mistakes were made and yes for the most part we ran around like headless-chickens; practically licking trees and wondering whether we could eat it, burn it or save it! However there were times very early on where we did bond and come together as a team. 

It’s just a shame that the edit decided to focus on the very small amount of drama. (I mean there’s almost a whole episode over a human shit?!)

This disregarded what was happening with the majority of the camp. As those moments of collaborative effort showed the best of what the camp and its occupants could be. I guess it’s just easier to sell a story of failure.

Structure/Intervention

When I came into the project I knew nothing of what it was going to be like. My preconceptions went to the extreme of likening it to a Bear Grylls, celebrity-style, survival program or some adventure like scenario. 

I had visions of being dropped in the middle of the Scottish highlands with nothing. No clothing, no food, no tools and being left to it. As you see this was clearly not what the program was. It was in fact much better than this. It was flawed but still a better concept. 

I was amazed we had been given so much! I was foolish in my previous expectation; this was never meant to be a survival program, (it became one, it really did!) it was intended as a platform to see whether 21st century man can live in 10000bc. This didn’t mean it was about living and dying by the success of our next hunt, it meant survival together, testing whether we can live as a community and dealing with the hardships our ancestors could have faced together. 

Overcoming our current built-in, fast-food, rapid-response, high expectation lifestyles’ and seeing if we could let go of our modern sensibilities. I believe now, these were the hurdles all of us faced and that many of us fell at. We expected to thrive, we expected to be brilliant; no-one willingly walks into hell with a smile and though we knew it was going to be difficult, we had visions of becoming the ultimate badass and truly mastering our environment. Why step up to a challenge unless you think you can master it?

When the intervention came on day ten, I was disappointed. It felt like we had failed already. I understand peoples criticism; their expectations had matched my initial misconceptions, but what I don’t think was particularly well exemplified was other peoples grit, the drive to make this work. We didn’t take the boosted rations thinking, “Great! This is our safety net. We needn’t try so hard as production will just bail us out.” We thought we cannot let this happen again. 

There had been so many pitfalls in the first few days: the loss of the deer meat, the ill fitted and badly produced clothing as well as the insufficiently tanned skins we had which lead to the maggot infestation, were just a few! 

We felt like it wasn’t just the environment against us but circumstance too. Yet none of us wanted to break-apart what was promising to be a potentially life changing event. Again… Yes production had to intervene, and yes it changed the dynamic of the show but this wasn’t the death of the experiment for most of us on it. 

People can sit astride an intellectual ‘high-horse’ and question the validity of the show but I think these people fail to question how realistic the experiment could be in the first place. Trying to replicate a nomadic people who lived in a mind-set of prepping for months if not years ahead, just to survive. 

Tribes who would have had a stock of food for the harsher months, a people who had a largely different physicality as they did these tasks daily. They were a unit who hunted in large groups, in well-known areas. We are and were none of these things and no amount of reading would have prepared us for this hardship. 

The short-fall is that we did not start this experiment in spring, when food may have been bountiful, nor did we have years to hone our bodies for hunting and hardship, or even months together to bond and learn the skills we needed. The short fall was, we are 21st century people and we struggled like hell and that was the whole point!

Hunting

When I first became involved in this whole project my initial excitement was about the hunting aspect. This may come as unexpected to viewers. As I feel the edit portrayed me to be anti-hunting, which isn’t particularly fair or accurate. I actually wanted to hunt. 

I wanted us to be completely successful and I found it was portrayed that in some sense I was quite happy for us to live off nuts and berries because it was the easy option. However this is far from the truth.

I did take control of the rations but this wasn’t to ‘eek’ them out for as long as possible. It was to avoid what had previously happened within the first few days of the experiment. 

I’ve taken a lot of criticism via social media over this choice and it is easy to disregard what it meant to take this control and responsibility. It was difficult to be “that girl” – what I felt was the voice of reason in a dire situation. 

I was hungry low energy and struggling, yet the edit does nothing to show the work we all did to prevail. Every single day was an uphill haul but only the hunters were shown in this light. No mention is given to those doing the lake trips, the fire wood collection and the root digging that is so massively physical and draining and happened every day.

I wasn’t particularly comfortable in this role. I can organise, as this is essential to my everyday life but I’m not a natural ‘manager of people’. I am terrified of confrontation and of offending anyone. On numerous occasions we as a group discussed what to do about the food we’d been given and no one wanted to take ownership, or make a decision. If at some point the group had decided to eat everything and see what happens; I would have supported that. But the truth of the matter is, that isn’t what we did. 

It became a matter of survival and being realistic about the situation. My favourite comment on our chances of making a kill and our hunting technique, made by one of our rangers there was “It’s like your trying to do rocket science, when you don’t know how to read.”

The entire time we were there I saw one pheasant. The small game we had hoped for just didn't seem to exist! And yes there was mice but we discovered later on that they were not safe for consumption as they may carry tuberculosis... 

So we hedged our bets on what we had. Rather than on what was becoming increasingly a futile exercise in the circumstances. This can be criticised but this was the reality of the situation. 

It wasn’t just a TV show to us; after the weeks had ticked by everything became very real. Our small world became all we had and surviving it became a matter of holding on and buckling down. A very real and a very human reaction.

Typical day

A typical day was not monotonous but very structured. It always felt like we were fighting for daylight and against the dark. Every day we had certain regular goals we needed to achieve, just to ensure tomorrow would be possible for us. 

First and foremost was the firewood collection. I found it’s easy to underestimate how much wood is required to maintain a fire burning 24/7; not to mention the amount of wood required to create ember beds large enough for cooking on.

After all this came the specific goal for each day. This changed depending on what was required. Some days, usually every third day, we would take a trip to the lake. This was for food and cat-tail roots, whilst others would forage or shore up the camp. Whilst this may seem frivolous from outside. It was essential for our sleep, which was something we were all struggling with. 

It may be easy to assume we lazed around in an attempt to preserve energy, this is far from the truth. I honestly can’t think of one day where I stopped. We created ‘Stand-down Saturday’ - Where a few members choose to lie in. We also had ‘Honey Wednesdays’ the day when we ate Honey rations in the morning.  Though these in my experience were not particularly restful, it gave the tribe as a whole something to look forward too.

The evenings were dominated with preparing the evening meal and ensuring we were prepared for the night ahead in regards to fire wood.  We tended to turn in relatively early by modern day standards. We would try to complete tasks by firelight but this was surprisingly difficult and exhaustion usually won out!

The nights were a systematic routine of: Sleep a couple of hours. Wake up and realise you can't see the fire. Panic that it's gone out. Get up and find the embers, then get it going again. 

Once we were all sleeping the tepee after the intervention, this responsibility mostly fell-down to myself and Mike. Many times I would take this as an opportunity for some ‘alone time’ and these peaceful moments are something I sorely treasure from the whole experience.

Leadership

I was always reluctant to be referred to as a leader. It's a term that can be tainted with negative connotations and puts a lot of pressure on an individual. 

The edit seemed to hide most of us girls for the first few weeks. Most of the social feedback surrounding me attempting to, "step-up" was that I seemed to come out of nowhere and that is somewhat true.

For the first few weeks I was frustrated with the manner in which the experiment was unfolding and so mostly kept my head down busying myself with chores that sorely needed doing. 

In that time I made satchels for foraging trips, attended lake trips, jerked meat. I also made alterations to the tepee customising it for so many bodies and narrowing the door way to help with heat problems. 

I was very much intimidated by this mass of people and didn't feel capable to hold my own in the situation. Saying that, people did recognise my work ethic and there were some wonderful moments where many of us came together to help get tasks done. Particularly in regards to improvements of the tepee, in which I did tend to take a leading role.

After the snow there wasn't really a moment where I felt it necessary to step up. It just happened naturally. The men were out with Klint, being shown traps for almost the entire three days and so I started taking charge within the actual camp. 

I understood the importance of organisation and was trying to give structure to our group. I was lucky that my camp mates were patient and supportive of me. I felt the pressure of wanting to provide the best experience for everyone involved. We all needed to be survivors here. 

Though we did develop a code word for the moments I may have gotten too big for my britches or too militant in general. The code word was "Roger". In hindsight maybe our "safety word" shouldn't have been something that left me ‘Roger-ed’. I blame cognitive failure on that one...

So there you have it. A pretty good round up of events by Mel there, I'm sure you agree.

And now we will bring the 10,000BC blog to a close with some comments about the final 5:

Going in to camp, for me, was a shock to the system! It hadn’t even crossed my mind of all the everything I would miss. I felt very unsettled for the first week or so and was unsure if this experience was for me; even though I would of stuck with it anyway.

Bobby was my main man and I was gutted when he left. He made us laugh with his out spoken words and his prayers for burgers and a cold can of coke. 

Mary and I were also very close in there and she actually came with me for moral support for my first time going to the… eeeeerrmm bathroom……which wasn’t until day 5! 

Me and Mumma (Josie) bickered a lot and so did JP  and I. He drove me nuts at one point but we had words and moved on. I think he saw me as a little sister that he could take his frustration out on but you just can't help loving the lad. 

I stuck up for JP right from the beginning, when I thought he was being picked on by the rest tribe. He always stuck up for me too and that wasn't shown enough in episode nine, he was there for me 100%. 

Melissa is just….. well super human! Such a talented girl and I feel she's going to go far in life. Mel always praised me and mum which wasn't shown either. She understood we were completely out of our comfort zone and admired how mentally strong we both were.

Mike is just the loveliest man ever. Such a family man, I felt I've known Effy and Little Legs (Mike’s wife and daughter) for years. 

Jodie

Mel, well what a girl , so talented and she did so much more than was shown. Such a tough girl too . Mike, a great all rounder. Devoted husband and father, kind, helpful and honourable. JP !! I saw him grow up in 10000bc, he is so honest it's brutal but a kind young man who stands up for what he believes in - the truth. We will remain good friends. And my beautiful daughter so strong , kind & tough.

Josie

The edit favoured a negative narrative about many of our tribe and I need to say a little about the remaining few. These guys made the experience what it was. Once the snow set in the option to walk away became unbearably attractive. I hope people can see past what's portrayed on the screen and acknowledge the grit and strength of character it took to stick it out. Of the remaining five I was possibly more comfortable in the ‘alfresco’ lifestyle. So the determination it took from the others is even more commendable.

I found the show has been a little dire to watch; drawing attention to the hardships while distorting the reality. It was a human experience; the people made it what it was and what it was a privilege. We sung together. We joked together. We laughed together. We cared for each other. This was the best part of the 10,000 B.C. experience. Just as I'm sure it was the best part of life 12,000 years ago.

Mel

10,000BC - Episode 7 Will He, Won't He?

10,000 BC Episode 7 

*For a brief background to the show, a who's who, and who is still participating  please scroll to the bottom.

Captain Caveman eat your heart out. 

Day 28

And we are halfway through the . 

Mel continues in her self appointed leader role and she take Josie & Jodie foraging. They are looking to top up the small amount of rations with wild root vegetables and to collect willow to make things with. There is no way that Mel has been a shrinking violet up until now and that's not a criticism against her but how the show has been edited. It looks ridiculous that Mel suddenly comes to the fore after a month of not seeing her on camera at all.

After 3 nights in the production camp medical tent, Paul is deemed well enough to go back to the camp. It's no surprise though that having been back in the camp just 5 minutes and he pissing people off straight away. He disregards anything that Mel has said / has planned and decided that the time has come to go out hunt and he won't returning to camp until he has caught something. Actually he was of the opinion that the rest of camp that would agree to his plan and it was originally "and WE won't return to camp until WE'VE caught something" but Mel put him in his place. 

Day 29

Paul is putting his hunting plan into action and the first job is to find animal tracks in order to lay snares. Whilst doing that he spots a  wild boar and goes after it despite not being armed. Perhaps he was hoping it might be spider pig looking for a new home?! It goes without saying that he didn't catch it 

The rest camp are making communal beds but JP and Paul are not joining in. Paul thinks it's a waste of time and JP is happy with the bed he already has. He has it totally sussed with his fire rock hot water bottles to keep him warm.

Day 30

Its the morning after the first night, that some of the tribe have slept in the communal bed and apart from some rolling into each other they had the best sleep so far. However JP wants an extra hour in bed as he was up 3 times in the night to keep the fire  going. Fair enough because no one else wants to keep the fire going through the night. I'd want to have a lay in if I was JP.

Mel, Mike, Josie and Jodie go back to the lake, whilst Paul and JP go trapping.

While down at the lake Mel holds an impromptu meeting, which seems a little unfair seeing as Paul and JP aren't there to defend themselves. This is then proved when JP over hears about it on the crews radio (I'm sure that was no mistake). 

Understandably JP and he starts to head back to camp to be alone but Paul convinces him to stay and help with the snares, to prove them wrong. 

At the end of the day Paul goes back to camp but JP remains in the woods, alone with his thoughts.  The others return to camp shortly and find out whats happened but they appear to be past caring as they feel JP is not pulling his weight.

Whilst still in the wood JP speaks of the breakdown of his relationship with his mother, just before his father died, 15 year ago when she had a mental breakdown. This experience has made him realise he is misses her and that all he wants to do is tell her he loves her. He has been drinking and partying pretty much non stop since his father died and this experience was to be his rehab. 

Day 31

Mel and the tribe are up and doing a stock of the rations and they realise that they actually have much more than they thought, including Jerky; But JP remains in bed again but he is still pissed off with yesterdays events. Sometimes JP doesn't help himself.

Paul is still not happy with the amount of food they have though and thinks they are surviving instead of thriving.  So he takes Mike out to check the snares, sadly there is nothing trapped but instead there are signs that a cheeky boar has been coming up really close to the camp. This shows that the animals are no longer afraid and quite frankly couldn't give a flying fuck about the new humans.

Josie and Jodie try to clear the air with JP as, quite rightly, it can't continue like this for the next three weeks. Unfortunately JP is still hurt and defensive so he's not interested and wants to walk.

Day 32

Looks like I spoke too soon, JP had a hot rock on the end of bed last night and it caught the bed on fire. Sorry but PMSL. Paul had a laugh with JP about it but Mike is taking it very seriously, he is a firefighter after all. However it seems a little harsh when he says JP needs to go because of the incident. He had previously warned JP to using the hot rocks responsibly but lets be honest unless you're a fireman you wouldn't think that after using for all this time with no problems, that they could cause a fire. Same as that Nutella jar on a window sill that's in the news today!

JP is still talking of walking and no one can be bothered to talk him out of it but as the leader of the tribe Mel wants to take him down to the lake, one last time to clear the air and see if she can change his mind. On the journey there she admits that she honestly thinks he hasn't been pulling his weight but she knows he is a nice guy. JP affirms that he has not been himself the whole time he has been there. JP shows his strengths whilst down at the lake and Mel is impressed with all his effort. JP however adamant on going home so that he can re-start the relationship with his mother.

Day 34

At  first light Paul and Mike go out hunting with a spear and bow & arrow. It looks like this might be a more improved bow to the one the tribe were given at the start of the experiment. They are look like they are hitting the target 9 times out of 10. Paul and Mike come across a deer but despite trying to be as quiet as possible the deer scarpers. 

After two hours they admit defeat and decide to return to camp with nothing to show and for the first time Mike gets really emotional as what he had hoped to get from this experience was "To be the man that my daughter thinks I am". The disappointment of still not getting a 'Kill' to provide for the tribe has hit him hard. 

JP goes foraging with Josie as she wants to take the opportunity to try and convince him to stay but she also points out that people are getting pissed off with hearing he wants to walk every five minutes. They have a good heart to heart like he did with Mel.  

When the tribe gather to say their goodbyes to , they all thank him for his effort in the last few days. He becomes tearful and apologetic that he is leaving and he doesn't want people to feel he is letting people  down or shirking responsibility. He remembers something his mum used to say to him "You start things but don't finish them". This is the extra push that JP needs to stay because he not only wants to makes his mum proud but also show her that he has finally turned a corner and is now finishing things he starts.

Mel thinks he was sincere in his promise that he won't quit. Jodie however is of the opinion that JP is like a broken record about leaving and can't understand why he has decided to stay when he clearly hates the whole thing.

JP realises that he needs to  "stop being quitter and start being a finisher" 

What is 10,000BC about?

20 volunteers, from a cross section of people of the 21st Century, were sent into  a Bulgarian hunting reserve, similar to prehistoric Britain, to survive 8 weeks in the Stone age, without any help from 2014 (Filmed through October & November 2014)

The chosen ones for the experiment, from a cross section of modern day Britain are: 

Paul Barnes - Lorry Driver  (Wanna be Bear Grylls and someone that clearly lives on his    
                                            own for a reason) 

Mike Soumelides - Simms  - Firefighter (All round handy guy to have around and always                 
                                                                 positive. Has a degree is hugs)

Josie & Jodie O'Rourke - Bookmaker / Event Manager ( Mother & Daughter )

John Paul Mullen (JP) - Club Promoter (Looked like he might walk to begin with but has           
                                                                knuckled down and getting on with it / Chatterbox)

Melissa Selling - Prop Maker (Possible contestant for Where's Wally?)

Steve Nicholson - Archer (Amateur survivalist / Tribe Leader / Strategist) - WALKED

Rachel Harding - Education Assessor (Mother of the Camp / Organised)
Paul Wilshurst - Fence Contractor (Stubborn But Hard Worker)

Emily Harding - Graphic Designer                                                      WALKED

Mary Harding - Student
Alice - Restaurant Maitre D' (Willing to help out every day)

Perry Brookes - Landscape Gardener (Geezer) - WALKED

Kym Hall - Marketing Manager (Strong, Organised, Natural Leader) - WALKED

Oliver Farr - Electrician (Terris's Boyfriend / Survivalist Skills / Keen to Try Anything and        
                                     Embrace Stone Age Life) - WALKED
 Terri Perry - Florist (Oliver's Girlfriend/ Positive Person / Kind & Caring) - WALKED 

Caroline Mortimer - Retired Secretary (Stone Age enthusiast) - UNABLE TO CONTINUE 
                                                             POOR HEALTH

Aamer 'Bobby' Hussein - Council Duty Manager ("We're gonna die out here" / Self  
                                                                               Proclaimed Lazy) - WALKED

Tom Reader - Digital Content Creator (Keen team member/ not shy of hard word work/        
                                                            Nature Lover) - WALKED

Kam Khaira - Housewife & Shopkeeper  - WALKED

10,000 BC - Episode 1 & 2 Catch Up

10,000 BC Episode 1 

20 volunteers, from a cross section of people of the 21st Century, were sent into  a Bulgarian hunting reserve, similar to prehistoric Britain, to survive 8 weeks in the Stone age, without any help from 2014 (Filmed through October & November 2014)

The chosen ones for the experiment, from a cross section of modern day Britain are: 

Perry Brookes - Landscape Gardener (Geezer)

Rachel Harding - Education Assessor    
Paul Wilshurst - Fence Contractor
Emily Harding - Graphic Designer >>>>> The Harding Family
Mary Harding - Student
Alice - Restaurant Maitre D'

Paul Barnes - Lorry Driver  (Wanna be Bear Grylls) 

Mike Soumelides - Simms  - Firefighter

Josie & Jodie O'Rourke - Bookmaker / Event Manager ( Mother & Daughter )

Oliver Farr - Electrician (Terry's Boyfriend)
Terry Perry - Florist (Oliver's Girlfriend) 

Caroline Mortimer - Retired Secretary (Stone Age enthusiast)

Steve Nicholson - Archer (Amateur survivalist)

Kim Hall - Marketing Manager

Aamer 'Bobby' Hussein - Council duty Manager ("We're gonna die out here")

Tom Reader - Digital Content Creator

John Paul Mullen - Club Promoter (Known as JP)

Kam Khaira - Housewife & Shopkeeper

Melissa Selling - Prop Maker

The only training the volunteers received was a survival skills DVD and Manual.

Day One

First order of day is to put phones, metal and plastics - any modern living times into a plastic bag with their names on, for safe keeping. There are piles of skins and furs, with each persons name on, that will be their clothes for the duration of this experience. There is not however any instructions on how each individual piece is worn. In the stone age people didn't wear shoes but because the volunteers feet aren't conditioned to rugged terrain they have to wear boots and sock.

As the ladies are getting changed Josie announces that she is a strict vegetarian and against hunting, she is only the second most stupid person so far though beaten by the people that wore wedges and brought handbags with them! And yes that's after they've given in all there 'modern' items in.

Caroline doesn't even get her skins on, it is unseasonably hot for October and she falls ill, and is deemed unfit to continue with the experiment.

Requirements of 2014 health and safety dictate that the producers provide: 

Shelter - 4 Mesolithic Huts 
Clothing - Skins & Furs
Purpose built source of fresh water 
Enough Apples, Berries, Nuts, Rock Salt and Honey to sustain them for a fortnight
Flint, Tools and a Bow
24 hour supervision by Survival Expert & Doctor  (only intervene if serious)

Klint Janulis Stone Age Archaeologist & survival expert will stay with them for  2 days, to acclimatise them to stone age living.

There is a clearing, where the shelters are situated, that will provide there living and working area. Only 18 remain. 

A recently killed Deer is provided for them to harvest food, clothes and tools from it but it has to be done with in the first couple of hours. 

A lot of the women get tearful about seeing the dead deer but admit they are going to get to have to get used to it. 

Paul W, Paul B, Terry and Melissa all have a go at separating the Deer up.  Both Pauls are at odds with each other as to the best way to do it but Melissa is enjoying herself.  All the butchered parts of the deer are stored by hanging them on trees. The meat cannot be cooked and then stored away as it will make them sick.

There are wolves, bears and boars in this area and a fire is the only way to keep themselves  and their possessions safe is a fire. Oliver uses a bow drill  to try and start the fire, but it's not easy especially with the mosquitoes biting every one. They finally get some flames but had no kindling ready so it blew out. It's nearly dark and has started to rain but luckily Paul B finds some remaining burning embers, which they keep alight by blowing on until enough kindling is gathered. 

Rachel and her 3 daughters took on the task of digging a latrine and collecting leaves for toilet paper. As they do so, just an hour into the experience, Rachel is  already thinking ahead and starts eating worms.

Perry is the first to poop but would have preferred to sit on a log with his bum hanging over the side then just squatting but he manages. Already I'm less survivalist than these people because I can't even wee if I'm squatting. 

The deer is being cooked and Bobby makes the point that they can't even see each other in the dark so how will they know when it's cooked. They all tuck in though and no one is bothered that they are eating Deer, Terry even comments how nice it is.

As he leaves the camp for the night, Klint is worried that they are still treating this as a camping trip not a way of life. 

As everyone starts turning in, Paul B plans to set some traps tomorrow and catch at least a boar, Steve is worried about the strong dynamic and current lack of leadership. 

Day Two

Steve organises a team meeting to find out everyone's skills, after they find out that all the provision that were left by the production team like the fruit and and veg, even the flint. For his effort he is voted in as the group leader.

Klint shows the volunteers how to make flint blades in order to correctly cut the meat. Fair play to everyone sorting the meat out they're picking out eggs and maggots, where the flies have been.

A small group are then taken out by Klint who shows them where to hunt and Paul B is of the opinion that Steve should be out there with them because he is an archer. 

On the way back Paul B comes across a little stream, and has a little cats lick. Who knew such a simple thing could get you totes emosh for home comforts.

Meanwhile Perry and Steve upgrade the latrines so they are more 'pleasant' and they chat as they work, Perry is soon in tears about his missing his Nan but more so that he has recently had his best friend, who passed away and for that reason he feels he shouldn't be there and sadly leaves. 

The team of 20 is now down to 18, only two days into 8 weeks

Before he leaves the came for good, Klint shows the last group, that includes Josie, what resources are available to help them day to day and how to harvest burdock root which grows wild in the area and is like a sweet potato. Josie is pleased to be picking them as that's what she'll survive that, and a pound of acorns a day. 

Everyone is back at camp readying for the evening and Bobby finds flies in the hides that are supposed to  be using as covers at night. A guy from the production support team comes out to try and get the larvae out of the skins but there are too many, so for the time being the volunteers are given Blankets from 2014.

With that Klint bids his goodbyes and remind them once he leaves now, they are on their own for the next 2 months.

10,000 BC Episode 2

Day Three

The tribes first day with Klint helping them and they are worried they've not retained enough of the information given to them by Klint. 

Steve is pissed off because everything is a mess and someone has even burnt half a mallet.  Paul B and Kym are in agreement that Steve needs to take charge and a meeting is held. 

He suggests that they start getting organised with food and shelter, planning in advance. He then makes the mistake of asking if anyone had anything to say. Paul B pipes up that he didn't like being told to shut up by one of the Harding Daughters last night, who were trying to sleep. That escalates very quickly into an argument between Paul W & Paul B. Oliver steps in to point out that arguing like this, already, is toxic and they need to start working as a team. 

Paul B wants to catch something, possibly the size of an elephant given the size of the trap he makes. JP, Oliver, Jodie and Paul B set off in search of a game trail in order to lay the trap and arrive at the tribes water source. Just as they start setting it up it starts to rain, so they abandon it for now but Paul B still reckons they'll "fucking heroes" despite leaving it unfinished. 

Tom has started a basket weaving group, having realised the genius that they have nothing to put stuff in if they go foraging etc.

Back at the camp, the tribe has not waterproofed any of the shelters and water is pouring in through a huge hole in one. The tribe all comes together to fix the shelter with the huge hole before the other shelters.

Kym feels there is a divide between old and young and Mike has named their young group 'Team Awesome'. 

Once the rain stops, Paul B heads back out to finish the trap but before he even gets there he catches a Salamander, which has to be checked first to see if it's poisonous. He then decides that he is too hungry and needs food right now so he decides to have a snack on the 3 day old rotting carcase of the Deer they cut up. Then he decides to cut up the whole thing, wash it out in their fresh water supply (!) and take it back to camp. Oliver lets Paul B know that the Salamander is deadly poisonous. 

Steve, Mike, Oliver  and Perry realise that some of the young 'uns are sitting in the shelters, stuffing there face whilst the rest of the camp is out working to find food and material to improve the shelters. So Steve gently confronts them in a nice way, just asking if they could come and help out and leave the valuable rations for now but frankly they couldn't give a damn. 

Paul B decides to burn the tree down and JP is asked to get a lit fire torch and some firewood to put around the tree. He comes back having got it all wrong and is upset that he has got it wrong and they are laughing. JP walks off from the group and ends up in tears but he's not sure why. He feels like he's not learning fast enough. He is also worries that he is being perceived as lazy.

Emily is under the impression that JP will be walking soon.

In the evening everyone has dinner of berries, nuts, mushrooms and deer ribs before turning in for the night. 

Team Awesome are pleased to have Oliver and Terry in their shelter now as they have such a positive aura. 

Day Three

In the morning it comes to light that the Team Awesome had a deal, in their shelter, to take it in turns to keep the fire going but when Paul B woke up it was nearly out. An argument starts between Paul B and JP because JP thinks that he woke up in the night and put the fire out completely but he won't listen to Paul B trying to explain he can't have because it was still going. 

Paul B still hasn't set his massive boar trap and the camp is conscious that food supplies are running low, so the group split into 3 groups to forage over  a large area but one group are barely a few metres from camp. 

Tom finds a stream with edible plants all around, in order to get a better harvest he goes back to make a bag to carry back as much as he can. He also takes Terry, JP and Alice so they can not only increase how much is brought back to camp but so they also know where to go for food and water. 

However Tom was too busy, on his initial journey, looking up at all the nature around that when he tries to take his group back he can't remember the way. They get to the meadow and realise they are going in the completely wrong  direction. So they start to make their way back to camp in order to pick up the right route.

They finally find it in the late afternoon and Tom makes the suggestion that they should start making maps of the area in clay. The abundance of nettles and burlap is foraged and JP finds lots of bone and twine. 

Steve, Emily and Melissa find a downed silver birch so they try to harvest the bark but they are unable to get it off effectively and leave it

The key to Stone Age hygiene was to keep their camp clean and unfortunately the unused deer meat was left hanging in the trees and attracted flies, which has lead to flies all around the camp. Kym and Oliver find it and clean it up but they want to have a meeting about hygiene. Steve's group return after four hours with only meagre amounts of burlap and herbs. 

There is further bad news when Kym finds that someone has done a poo in camp instead of the latrines. Mike and Steve decide the best course of action is to get the person who did it to pick it up and move it themselves, like rubbing a puppy's nose in it.

Later that afternoon Paul B and Oliver are rushing to get the Boar trap set and once set it should stake the boar in the head or body,  when it trips the switch. 

With everyone back in camp, no one is taking responsibility for the poo but a process of elimination (the fact that there was only one person to leave a shelters in the night) it's found to be JP. Whilst he says he did do a poo he says that, that one is too big to be his. Kym is in tears, of anger that JP is refusing to move the poo.

Poo-gate looks like it's finally over when JP moves the poo. A team meeting is held about general hygiene and Kym makes the disgusting but true point that if someone treads in it, then takes their boots off and then eats with their hands they are eating human faeces. 

 * Apologies if I have got anyones name wrong, it's hard to learn 20 new peoples names when they are only flashing up on screen. I will try better. I would also like to say sorry for the the possible overuse of So and But *