LONDON: Britain’s newest reality TV show has been slammed as “insensitive”, “voyeuristic” and even “nauseating” for recreating with six Britons the often fatal journeys made by thousands of refugees to the UK.

Bluntly titled “Go Back to Where You Came From”, the part-documentary, part-reality TV show by Channel 4 follows the group of six, who hold strong views both for and against immigration.

They are divided into two teams, with one dropped into one war-ravaged Raqqa in Syria and the other sent to Mogadishu in Somalia.

Over four episodes which launched on February 3, they “experience some of the most perilous parts of the refugee journeys” according to Channel 4 — although they travel largely in armoured vehicles. The outspoken views of some participants, as well as the show’s format, have been criticised by viewers, charities and some media.

Amnesty International UK called it “deeply disappointing” and “sensational”. Participant and chef Dave Marshall, 35, opens the series standing on the cliffs of Dover, calling for immigrants crossing the Channel to be “blown up”.

Moments later, political commentator Chloe Dobbs, 24, says that unless immigration is reined in “Britain will be a hellhole full of people wearing burqas”. In the first episode, the six are taken to markets where they meet families, play football with kids and accompany them as they search through litter for scraps. At one point, when they visit a bombed-out family home in Raqqa, Marshall and two others are invited to stay the night.

“Very kind of you for offering your house to us,” replied Marshall, the irony perhaps lost on him. “The series explores the varied and sometimes polarised opinions in our society in a fresh way,” a series spokesperson said.

In upcoming episodes, both groups undertake “challenges”, including a boat crossing and trekking through a Libyan desert. There is no winner of the series though.

The reality TV genre “exists and its success depends on actually performing shocking opinions”, said Myria Georgiou, media and communications professor at the London School of Economics.

“I’m sure the contestants are competing for that shock element — who is going to be more extreme in their opinions,” Georgiou said. Dobbs defended it as a “really fun show that lots of people will tune into”. “More so than just some bog-standard, boring documentary,” she said.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2025