Extreme Dreams With Ben Fogle Series One   Starring: Ben Fogle Acorn Media UK RRP: £29.99 AV9732 Certificate: E Available 11 May 2009

Travel presenter and adventurer Ben Fogle gives four groups, each consisting of five members of the public, the chance to realise their dreams and conquer some of the world's most extreme environments. Embarking on a voyage of personal discovery, each candidate is tested mentally, physically and emotionally while undertaking the journey of a lifetime...

The first series of Extreme Dreams is made up of four different challenges - each consisting of five 30 minute episodes. The challenges the would-be explorers have to face are a grueling hike to the lost Inca city of Choquequirao in Peru; an exhausting trek through the virgin rainforest during rainy season to the Kaieteur Falls in Guyana; a punishing climb to the peak of the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania; and an arduous voyage across Spitsbergen to Temple Mountain, one of the highest peaks in the region.

The groups have to rise above altitude sickness, the risk of hypothermia, heat stroke, unusual cuisine, deadly creatures and sheer exhaustion, constantly being forced - sometimes against their wishes - to work as a team to conquer the inhospitable environments. In these unrelenting circumstances extreme dreams can soon turn into their worst nightmares.

It would have been interesting to learn how the show's producers chose the participants and what the original ad attracting them to apply for the show had said. There's more than a couple of people that don't really seem to be up for any challenge. And there are at least a couple of participants who think they're off on a free holiday with no challenge involved - this is especially the case in the last episode (Arctic Circle) in which one participant has packed 42 pairs of knickers and asks if anyone is taking an iron. She also has to leave her hairdryer behind, as she's told that (unsurprisingly) there won't be any electricity where they are going.

Over the four different challenges not everyone makes it to the final destination, and not all of them fit into the teams well.

My only real complaint about this series is that a sense of heightened peril is woven into the show so that everything's a bit of a drama - and on due to sloppy editing it's easy to spot when things are not really as bad as we're led to believe. Also, while the challenges are no doubt hard going, the camera men don't seem to have any problem keeping up.

Also... maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let a guy with a slight speech impediment narrate the opening of the show... or at the very least his script could have been worded a little better. Fogle's opening speech on the first episode (which is thankfully altered for some of the later episodes, buy oddly remains intact for others) is: "We pit ourselves against the World's most extreme environments." However, Fogle makes it sound like: We p*ss ourselves against the World's most extreme environments."

Extras are a little thin on the ground, with only text based ones on offer: Ben Fogle Biography; Fact Files; and Picture Gallery. But then to be perfectly honest there's not much else you could really want - the shows alone are worth the £30 retail price.

9

Darren Rea