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One of Channel 4’s most controversial TV shows ever is not returning for a second season after immense backlash.
Go Back To Where You Came From sparked uproar when it aired earlier this year, with charities speaking out against the show.
It followed six ‘opinionated’ Brits with varying views on immigration being put in the situation asylum seekers face when they make the terrifying journey to the UK on boats.
The four-part series wanted to give viewers an ‘unflinching look at the truth of immigration’, featuring interviews from people in refugee camps in war-torn Syria and Somalia, and showing how vulnerable and desperate they would be to flee their homes in search of a safer life elsewhere, often leaving family members behind and taking deadly routes.
Go Back To Where You Came From was widely condemned for ‘sensationalising’ horrific real-life experiences and slammed for platforming people who make remarks like: ‘Supporting illegal immigration is like supporting rape and murder.’
And now, it won’t be back for a second series.
According to The Sun, the first episode had an audience of one million viewers, but the final one lost a third of those.
An insider claimed: ‘Of course, Channel 4 will maintain they only made this as a stand alone show but the scope to continue the show with another batch of Brits was obvious.
‘If the ratings were higher then it might well have had a sequel but it didn’t seem to capture the viewers imagination, even if some of the contestants’ views did inspire a fiery response.’
A Channel 4 spokesperson added: ‘Go Back to Where You Came From was commissioned as a single series of event television, and we are immensely proud of what it achieved in creating national conversation about a hugely important issue.
‘Any allusions to this programme being “cancelled” are entirely false.’
Among the contestants taking part were a GB News regular and a former The Apprentice star, with another telling Metro: ‘I think it’s opened a lot of ears and it’s made people talk. But the thing is, you’ve got two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as hard as you speak with this show, because you’ve got to listen to it from my side, and you’ve got to listen to it from all the contestants’ sides, because we’ve all got our own opinions.’
‘It’s got so many people talking about the topic because it’s such a yes or no topic, there’s no in between,’ haulage business owner Nathan Rimmington went on, saying the ‘left people are against the right and the rights are against the lefts.’
Stressing that ‘everyone’s entitled to their own opinion’, he insisted that this show could never have helped people meet in the middle, despite the topic being life-threatening for immigrants and refugees.
‘It’s such a diverse topic, you’re never going to be in the middle,’ he said.
The show had been met with immense criticism, and blasted as ‘A Place in the Sun meets Benefits Street’, with Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director Steve Valdez-Symonds calling it ‘deeply disappointing’ that Channel 4 attempted to challenge people’s views about refugees and immigration in this way.
He told The Times: ‘The miserable title, along with the prospect of seeing a handful of Britons sampling experiences they can never really share with the people who truly endure them for months or even years on end, may be sensational enough to attract viewers.
‘But serious subjects like the plight — and all too frequent death — of people seeking asylum deserve more sensitivity, more attention to real experience and more education about their circumstances and rights than this show seems designed or capable of offering.’
Immigration Nation
Immigration Nation is a series that aims to destigmatise the word ‘immigrant’ and explore the powerful first-person stories of people who’ve arrived in the UK – and called it home. If you have a story you’d like to share, email james.besanvalle@metro.co.uk
Steve Smith, chief executive of Care4Calais, also said: ‘You can’t mimic the experience of war, torture, persecution and modern slavery through the sanitised lens of reality TV/
‘No one who takes part is ever going to face the heart-wrenching need to leave their home because they are not safe there. Nor will they face the imminent threat of violent death.
‘This A Place in the Sun meets Benefits Street-style show will do little to convey the true reality of what refugees have had to endure before fleeing to safety.’
Metro has approached Channel 4 for comment.
Go Back To Where You Came From is available to watch on Channel 4.
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