10,000 BC Episode 4
*For a brief background to the show and a who's who please scroll to the bottom.
Only one day of rations left ......Day 8 & 9
Steve has decided to abandon hunting and forging and just concentrate to on the lake, so he takes 9 of the tribe out with him to the lake (Tom, Paul W, Rachel, Kam, Bobby, Emily, Jodie, Mel and Mike). Smart Lad Tom has carried embers in a horseshoe mushroom, so that they can have a fire down by the lake. Steve has a lot of respect for Tom because he' not shy of hard work but he also brings some great thinking to the group.JP is left in charge of camp, by Steve, in an effort to get him more involved and prove that he is a team player. Unfortunately it seems that whilst Paul B is moving the fire wood under a tree (to protect it from rain) and Josie is preparing the remaining acorns, JP is just surveying his manor for the time being and washing his feet.
The rest arrive at the lake, after a 2km trek and find that the traps have only caught 2 Crayfish. So Steve and Paul W set about trying the fishing lines again, whilst the rest of the group make more fishing traps.
Bobby isn't bothered about doing any work and instead goes to admire his surroundings. This results in him getting stuck in the sinking sand mud, yes you guessed it "I'm gonna die out here", luckily there is fireman (Mike) in the group that is used to saving plonkers that insist on walking in mud.
Funniest of all though is as soon as Bobby is out he runs over to Steve to ask if they can go back to camp now, like he's on a boring family trip to the seaside and wants to get back to his XBOX.
Paul B is complaining about JP's managerial skills, fair enough he doesn't seem to be pulling his weight but complaining he's bossy is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.
With still no sign of fish at the lake, using the fishing lines, the group have a lunch of Crab apples and Rose hips. Not happy with the lines, Steve has made a weighted fish trap but it only catches one. Never one to not try, try, try again he goes into the lake with his bare hands and catches 7 more. Probably would have been a good idea to get the rest of the group to have a quick go seeing as that seems to be the most effective method yet; but who am I to talk as I sit cosy drinking a nice cuppa.
Mike fully engages with his hunter gatherer self and catches a mouse for his tea. I'm sure he would have happily shared but the tribe let him skin, cook and eat it himself.
Josie, the vegetarian, has only eaten Crab apples & Leafs and ironically is the one to get food poisoning.
Despite having 10 crayfish it still isn't enough and moral is very low, so low that even Tom is thinking of walking.
The production team medics have been monitoring the tribe and they are concerned that they are all starting to get dangerously ill. They attend the camp to check everyone out and find that they are all Malnourished and tell production that the tribe are too ill to continue.
The experiment is put on hold temporarily and the production team provide the tribe with Isotonic drinks, Honey, Jerky and Meat. They are told to rest until the medics are happy that they are well enough to continue.
The camp is divided about the production teams intervention. Tom is not happy because he is fed up with carrying people and feels that the intervention has only reinforced that idea some peoples minds, that there will always be someone to help them out if it gets too difficult.
Mike and Paul B are thinking along the same lines as Tom and express disappointment that some of the tribe are not viewing this as a second chance to start the experiment and get it right. Instead some of them are now viewing it more as a camping trip.
Good old Bobby then proves them right by saying he will only stay if the production team will feed them once a week and they get one phone call a week.
Day 10 & 11
The next morning the tribe are given the OK to continue with the experiment.Over night, however, It's got much colder again and now it's raining heavily too. The tribe are stuck in the shelters but some of them still put their time to good use. Jodie, Kam and the Harding Girls are making cording. Mike, Paul B and Steve are carving wooden spoons.
Not everyone is finished with the medics though, Tom has to be taken to an emergency clinic as he has a swelling down the side of his neck and face. and poor Josie has to removed from camp because her nausea and vomiting has continued. The production doctors have said that she will only be allowed to return to camp if she makes a full recovery. In the meantime she is hooked up to a drip in the production camp, which to be honest isn't much more glamorous than the Stone Age one but at least the bed is off the floor.
Bobby has been slumped in the corner of the shelter, watching the girls make the cording, and that's when I realise his spirit animal must be the Sloth. Suddenly he's up and out the shelter .... Bobby has had enough and is walking.
Later on Tom comes back with bad news that he has a swollen gland from eating leaves and it's going to take at least 6 days to get better. He chooses that the best way to get better is to leave the experiment. As he does he quite honestly comments that he can understand how stone age man coped but sadly he is a 21st Century man and no amount of experiment is going to change that.
Steve says what everyone is thinking, another strong member of the team with excellent skills has left.
And it doesn't stop there, Kam is now talking to the production team and says that although she knew it would be really hard she is finding it much harder. She agrees to sleep on it and make a decision in the morning.
There is a definite split in the tribe now, those who want to fully participate in the stone age experience and the other that want constant 21st century intervention.Steve talks to Paul B about whether they should continue helping the tribe as a whole and hope that the slackers start to pitch in. Talk comes back round to JP and they agree to give him one last chance to be a team player.
With a break in rain the tribe are able to come out and start improving their shelters, to protect better from the rain and cold. Suddenly row breaks out between Mike and JP over hay usage and the age old saying 'Theres no I in team". Paul W takes JP to one side and says he needs to do something about it if he wants to prove to everyone wrong. JP says he just needs some direction in what needs doing and admits that, that's what might be missing in his on the outside.
All the younger lads seem to not be coping well in this experience and it all seems to come round to not having enough direction in their real lives. Be it parental guidance that's missing perhaps or too much too soon.
Steve and Mel have been out on hunting but they can't have caught anything because there are no 'Hurrahs' from the tribe, on their return.
Whilst JP is contemplating walking after today's bust up with Mike, Kam calls a tribe meeting to tell them she is walking after all.
Only 12 people left in the tribe and the decline in people, specially the strong ones, is worrying the remainder. Rachel voices the main worry that so many people have left, because there are still just as many jobs to be done but only half of the amount of people left to do them.
I tell you what, we all thought Celebrity Big Brother was mad this year. With people walking so early and the crazy stuff that was going on from the start but I think 10,000BC is going to give it a run for it's money in the 'Craziest Reality TV Series' title.
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:
Rachel Harding - Education Assessor (Mother of the Camp / Organised)
Paul Wilshurst - Fence Contractor (Stubborn But Hard Worker)
Emily Harding - Graphic Designer > The Harding Family
Mary Harding - StudentAlice - Restaurant Maitre D' (Willing to help out every day)
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 )
Steve Nicholson - Archer (Amateur survivalist / Tribe Leader / Strategist)
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
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
