MissRibena
Registered User
- Messages
- 350
I waited and waited last week, hoping that someone else would start an uncharitable post about Charlie's trip tracing the course of the Amazon so that I could chime in. Have ye all resolved to be less bitter and twisted for the New Year or was I the only sneering, sniggering viewer? 
Charlie's escapades provided the most cringe-tastic telly I have seen in years. First we nearly had him keel over scaling the mountain to reach it's source; he was "knackered", "scared", "tired" etc. Then we had him whinging about the cold, the 13-hour mini-bus journey, the mossies, his dickie tum, the "conditions" in a hostel somewhere in the middle of nowhere, the worry about pirahnas/annacondas/creepy crawlies. He had his various guides driven around the bend with his cribbing and crying. I'd have fed him to the fresh water dolphins after a couple of days.
As for the reporting side of things; pathetic. Barely a word of awe or appreciation at one of the world's natural wonders. The closest it came to it was when he saw a toucan and it reminded him of Guiness, or when poor old Carlos tried to relieve his upset tummy with a natural herbal cure (which he also drank) and Charlie told the camera how he "was trusting his life to Carlos". He also shouted for a guide to get rid of an insect that had flown into his tent at night. Huge chunks of the river were glossed (or indeed flown) over and it was a real shame and missed opportunity.
I was fairly ambivalent in my views of Charlie Bird before this but now I understand all the jibes that are made about his egotism. He came across as a spoilt (if hilarious) pup.
Rebecca
Charlie's escapades provided the most cringe-tastic telly I have seen in years. First we nearly had him keel over scaling the mountain to reach it's source; he was "knackered", "scared", "tired" etc. Then we had him whinging about the cold, the 13-hour mini-bus journey, the mossies, his dickie tum, the "conditions" in a hostel somewhere in the middle of nowhere, the worry about pirahnas/annacondas/creepy crawlies. He had his various guides driven around the bend with his cribbing and crying. I'd have fed him to the fresh water dolphins after a couple of days.
As for the reporting side of things; pathetic. Barely a word of awe or appreciation at one of the world's natural wonders. The closest it came to it was when he saw a toucan and it reminded him of Guiness, or when poor old Carlos tried to relieve his upset tummy with a natural herbal cure (which he also drank) and Charlie told the camera how he "was trusting his life to Carlos". He also shouted for a guide to get rid of an insect that had flown into his tent at night. Huge chunks of the river were glossed (or indeed flown) over and it was a real shame and missed opportunity.
I was fairly ambivalent in my views of Charlie Bird before this but now I understand all the jibes that are made about his egotism. He came across as a spoilt (if hilarious) pup.
Rebecca