Eden contestants leave wilderness to find out show hasn’t been on air for eight months

Channel 4's 'social experiment' was last broadcast back in July 2016 
Pulled: The Eden contestants weren't aware they weren't on the air
Channel 4
Jennifer Ruby24 March 2017

The contestants on Channel 4’s reality show Eden have left the Scottish wilderness to discover that the show was taken off air eight months ago.

After nearly a year in the remote West Highlands, the remaining 10 men and women have now returned home, only to find out that the last episode of the programme was broadcast in July 2016.

The original roll-out plan was to air an episode showing each month’s progress over the course of one year, but low viewing figures prompted Channel 4 to take it off air altogether.

Ratings dropped from 1.7 million to just 800,000 viewers and a reported 13 of the original 23 contestants pulled out of the ‘experiment’.

Eden, Channel 4 - meet the contestants

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In a statement, Channel 4 has clarified that the contestants’ remaining time on the island will be condensed into a special episode that will be broadcast later this year.

“The appeal of Eden is that it was a real experiment and when filming began we had no idea what the results would be and how those taking part would react to being isolated for months in a remote part of the British Isles,” it read.

“That’s why we did it and the story of their time, including the highs and the lows, will be shown later this year.”

The original premise of the show was for a group of people to create a new society from scratch in a remote location, situated on the estate of the Ardnamurchan peninsula in the west Highlands.

The aim was to show viewers “what they would do differently if they were to start again, drawing attention to some of the facets of 21st century living that we could all do without.”

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