Castaway hopeful is cast off

From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published Thursday 20th Jan 2000.

WOULD-BE castaway Jack Holden today spoke of his experiences and said: "There are certain people I'm glad I won't be sharing that deserted island with."

Jack, 69, was one of 36 adventurers shortlisted by the BBC as potential "castaways" to spend a year on the bleak uninhabited Scottish island of Taransay - with only each other and a TV crew for company.

The brave recruits will live in eco-cabins on the island and will have to be self-sufficient, farming the land and creating their own community without 21st century gadgets and luxuries.

But even though Jack of Oxford Street, Darwen, wasn't one of the final modern-day Robinson Crusoes picked out by the BBC's team of experts he doesn't regret his experiences one bit.

Retired businessman Jack said: "If I was rich I'd be tootling round the world now, and if my wife was still alive we would be going out and about together, but it wasn't to be so I have to get the most out of life."

"I might be 69, but I still feel like an 18-year-old. This was my moment of fame. Over the last two nights BBC One viewers have seen Jack and the others compete for places on the island by rising to challenges including survival exercises, farming and orienteering so that the TV experts could pick out the final team of castaways.

And Victim Support volunteer Jack became one of the main characters of the show as he got himself involved in more than a few confrontations.

But on last night's show Jack was told he wasn't one of the chosen few and he had to say goodbye to some of the firm friends he had made during the preparation week in Wales and Hereford. He said: "There were some great people there during that week. But unfortunately as you walk along life's highway it depends upon the cards you are dealt how things finish up, and in my opinion I was put in a group with an absolute plantpot - Des."

Des and Jack were filmed on the show having a row over one of the group exercises.

But even though Des was one of the ones selected for the project and Jack lost out, Jack is glad that he won't be sharing the island with him.

He said: "I had made my own group of friends and if I had been with my friends, including Ben who I think is going to be the star of the show, then things might have been different.

"In the end Des has been picked, and so has Ron, two of the people I didn't click with. On that island there are people of stable mentality and then there are the plantpots. But if the producers just picked the people of stable mentality then it wouldn't make for good TV. I think certain people have been picked to cause conflict."

The final castaways chosen for the project by the BBC have now been on the island since the New Year and Jack has been writing letters to his new pals to find out how they are getting on.

He said: "I think Ben will definitely be the star of the show."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.

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