For those of you who don’t know, Castaway 2000 has been about 36 ordinary men,
women and children who have spent a year on a remote Hebridean Island for one
year.

It however, has not been without incident. The first 2-3 months were traumatic for
many individuals and poor planning by the production company. The weather was
not a great help either. Once all 36 where aboard in February, the fun began.

Over the year, the events have been followed through various departures and
relationships, the good times and the bad times. It has really shown the community
develop and made the viewer feel as if that they are there.

In my opinion, the programs should have been at more regular intervals so not as long
would have been spent on recaps at the beginning of each run, even if only an hours
show a month. The wind down programs at Christmas and New Year were really fun
to watch showing their last hours on the island. That has finished off the year in style.

The community was made up of a wide cultural group. There were some who stole
the limelight like Ben, Toby, Philly, Tammy etc. going out of their way to show island life.
Those who led their lives as near to
normal as possible like Peter, Colin, Pat, Liz etc. and those who never seemed to be on camera like Monica and Warren. All of them deserve a medal in some shape or form just for surviving!

The kids were the true stars in my opinion.
Without them, very little light heartedness would come through the politics. We have
seen them grow in stature over the year and all should go on to great things from what
they have learnt.

Some will now struggle to get back into the ‘real’ world, the kid will struggle
re-adjusting to school life in classes of 30, some will become celebrities as soon as
they touch down onto the mainland. All however will have a sense of achievement
and thei
r life will never be like it was before Taransay.

I only wish that I had been a part of it.