Latest news with #BruceParry
The Independent
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Projectile vomiting and ayahuasca ceremonies – Bruce Parry on how ‘Tribe' has encouraged him to travel closer to home
B ruce Parry, the adventurer, activist and former Royal Marine, became a household name in the early Noughties for his BBC TV series, Tribe, which first aired 20 years ago. He seemingly had no fear and, teamed with a relaxed demeanour and a willingness to immerse himself fully in remote indigenous communities around the world, he captured the imagination of his viewers. In previous series, Parry has willingly joined in with rituals and traditions, often putting himself through extreme pain, including having his septum pierced with a large sago thorn ('by far the most painful thing'), consuming powerful psychedelic plant remedies, as well as sleeping on a floor made from cow dung and eating live insects on camera. Parry has lived with the Adi people in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India, the country's hardest to reach state that not that long ago was closed to foreigners; the Kombai in West Papua, a group still associated with cannibalism and male witches; and the Penan community in Borneo 's rainforest whose home is threatened by logging. For many, including myself, watching as a teenager, the programme ignited a lifelong interest in cultures around the world and the environment. This new series promises to be just as exciting. It has three episodes, starting with the Waihama in Colombia, who believe they are deeply connected to the forest. Parry joins them in cleansing his body through induced projectile vomiting into a river after drinking a bright green liquid made from plants. He also snorts chillies and takes part in a lengthy ayahuasca ceremony in a bid to connect with forest spirits. 'I have become a believer in the plant medicines I have taken with indigenous peoples. They have changed my life beautifully and beyond measure.' Parry says he was initially 'terrified' of presenting the show, explaining, 'I wasn't a trained anthropologist, [I was] fearful of how I was going to be seen talking to the world about this very complex and important subject.' Ultimately, the series was a success, and Parry felt very lucky to have taken up the mantle. After six years, three series, several spinoff series, and a Bafta award, Parry decided to take a break. While he continued to advocate for indigenous people, the break from TV lasted 10 years. 'I'd see the impact of [these things] on the planet and then return to a nation still debating climate change. I realised that you can raise lots of money, make a film and say whatever you want to say, but you're only speaking to the people who want to hear it. I felt like a tidal wave was about to land on us… and I needed to act.' Being confronted with the problems faced by remote groups, from the effects of globalisation and climate change to pollution from illegal cocaine production, has been tough for Parry to come to terms with, and he says: 'I wouldn't mind if I didn't travel again. That's not my drive. I'm not there to make entertainment. I'm doing it because we need to learn from these people.' The responsibility to make programmes ethically weighs heavily on his shoulders: 'It's true that I can and have had an impact, but it's nothing compared to the miners, missionaries and traders. The extraction of resources is still the number one impacting factor on indigenous people,' he says. 'It's the impact of our world on theirs [which results in] a loss of land and water. That hasn't changed and, if anything, it's accelerated.' Parry has revisited some of the communities over the years, and is still in touch with almost half of them, but notes, 'I met most of them before social media was a thing.' He admits that much has changed over the past 20 years and is aware of his privileged position. 'Things have changed for me and for the audience and the tribes I visit. We all have a greater understanding of sex and gender, and different understandings of colonialism and appropriation.' In March this year, he returned to our screens, rebooting the series under a new name: Tribe with Bruce Parry. He is aware that some people may question why he needs to visit remote communities, where outsiders have never visited, let alone stayed the night, but maintains: '[On TV] I can speak to people in their homes, and that's a powerful thing.' In the second episode of the new series, Parry stays with the almost entirely self-sufficient Mucabal group in the Namib Desert, southern Angola, one of the driest and most isolated communities that now has to dig daily for its water supply. This is the most controversial episode, with Parry being asked by Chief Keluie to sacrifice a goat by suffocation. To the camera, Parry describes it as 'the most gruesome thing I've ever done', and is visibly upset by the experience. In another scene, a difficult-to-watch circumcision of a group of young boys takes place, and in another, a beauty ritual sees an 11-year-old girl's bottom teeth knocked out with a stone. A gentle David Attenborough nature documentary, this is not. The final episode covers the Marapu in Sumba, Indonesia, who live in a village among their buried ancestors. Parry is adamant he's not much of a linguist, but after spending four months in Indonesia without a translator, he's now able to hold a conversation with ease. It's there that the community tells Parry they feel sorry for him when they learn he doesn't know his ancestors or live near their remains. They say he's like a nut without a shell. Despite making a career from travelling to some of the world's most remote places to learn from indigenous communities, he doesn't advocate for others to do the same. Instead, he says there's plenty of 'mind-blowing' places to visit closer to home in Wales or Scotland. 'I'm not trying to say you shouldn't go travelling,' he says. 'I think travel is the university of life, it's about how you travel. Go to places where things are different, speak to the people who live there and listen.'
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bruce Parry compares tribal food to like 'eating a battery'
Tribe with Bruce Parry returned to BBC Two on Sunday, 13 April, with the documentarian paying the Indonesian island of Sumba a visit. In this third and final episode of the series, Parry lodged in a Marapu-practising village where ancestors are buried under huge rocks in plain sight between the various huts, while his arrival demanded the blood of sacrificial chickens. Never one to wimp out on the local customs, Parry gamely sampled some crushed betel nut one morning, which apparently tasted like the inside of a battery. "Breakfast is coffee and a local stimulant called betel nut," he narrated, before the cameras caught him asking his host: "How does it feel? What do I expect?" "In my head I feel awake," was the response. Parry proceeded to chew on this fruit of the areca palm as a bunch of entertained villagers watched on. "Wow!" he said, spitting out remnants. "Ohhh lordy lord! It's a little bit like opening up a battery and just eating the innards. I'm trying hard to put on a smile, but I'm struggling," he admitted to the film crew. Read more: Tribe viewers call Bruce Parry's 'gruesome' BBC series an 'impossible watch' Celebrity Bake Off contestant creates 'repulsive' Alien-inspired pie Freddie Flintoff's life since Top Gear crash and settlement Betel nut chewing may date back thousands of years, but the sought-out stimulant inside (named 'arecoline') carries with it great danger to humans. We can succumb to oral and oesophageal cancers, plus cardiovascular disease, and chewing with tobacco only exacerbates the effects - sometimes causing stillbirths for pregnant mothers and even fatal strokes. Later on in the programme, Parry got involved with the younger generation as they engaged in Pajura training on the beach. Pajura is a fighting ritual where the most wounded combatant is said to receive the best harvest. When darkness fell, men from rival villages squared off against one another, showing no mercy with their leaf-wrapped bludgeoning fists. "As the night goes on, they become increasingly aggressive," Parry informed viewers. All three episodes of Tribe with Bruce Parry are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
The Independent
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
BBC star Bruce Parry issued warning by Peta after he suffocated goat on TV show
The leading animal charity Peta has issued a warning to BBC star Bruce Parry, who suffocated and killed a goat on his rebooted TV show, Tribe. In the second episode of the series Tribe with Bruce Parry, the adventurer meets the Macubal, a community living in Angola's harsh Namib Desert, where he is gifted a goat by one of the group's leaders as a welcome. He was told by the members of the tribe that he must kill the animal, which initially left the presenter horrified. Parry eventually went through with the ritual out of fear of offending the hosts, and told cameras about how the animals are essential to the tribute as symbols of currency, gifts and sustenance. He said: 'This is the most gruesome thing I have ever done,' adding, "I wasn't given any time to consider it or anything. It's like they held it and said you have to hold this now... so I did.' Peta UK's President of Programmes Elisa Allen said in a statement that Parry would have been facing 'criminal charges if his abominably cruel goat suffocation had occurred on British soil'. Allen added: 'For selfish ratings 'shock value', a gentle being who otherwise loved to play and jump spent her final moments in abject terror – gasping for air, struggling to stay alive, and bleating for mercy that Parry failed to grant. 'Parry's excuse of cultural immersion is a failed attempt at washing his hands of an act of wanton cruelty to animals, and the BBC must answer for enabling such cruelty.' Allen suggested that, if Parry wants to make amends, he should make a 'sizeable donation' to a goat sanctuary. A spokesperson for the BBC told The Sun: 'The goat sequence in episode two accurately portrays an essential part of Mucubal life in Angola, and it is traditional for Mucubal communities to ask visitors to slaughter a goat.' 'As the programme explains, the Mucubal believe that stabbing an animal is cruel and suffocation is a more respectful death. 'The goat was eaten after its slaughter and to avoid including it in the programme would create an inauthentic portrayal of Mucubal life.' In the episode, Parry stays with the 30-strong family and witnesses the rituals his hosts continue to maintain. Parry first starred in the BBC Two documentary series from 2004 to 2007, which saw him live with various tribal groups to better understand their culture. The new edition of the show, rebranded as Tribe with Bruce Parry, saw the explorer projectile vomit after doing psychedelics with the Waimaha people in the Colombian Amazon rainforest. Speaking about the comeback, Parry said: 'It's been over twenty years since Tribe first aired. 'Living with people who experience the world in such profoundly different ways was eye-opening then, but today it feels vital,' he added. 'I believe we have so much to learn from those who still live in deep connection with the world around them,' the explorer continued. 'It feels a huge privilege that the BBC has allowed me to explore these places and themes once again.'
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tribe with Bruce Parry: everything we know
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Get ready for a new series of Tribe with Bruce Parry, which comes to our screens nearly two decades after the filmmaker's last work for BBC Two. In this brand new three-part series, Parry will travel to some of the most remote corners of the world to visit communities living radically different lives from our own. He believes indigenous knowledge and wisdom are needed more than ever and his return to the BBC comes at a time when the world faces unprecedented environmental challenges, millions of tribal people have left their communities and the threats to those who remain are escalating. Against this backdrop, Bruce is visiting three extraordinary communities, diving deep into their traditional ways of life. He is the first foreign visitor to live within each community, and films much of his experience on his own camera. 'It's been over twenty years since Tribe first aired," says Bruce. "Living with people who experience the world in such profoundly different ways was eye-opening then, but today it feels vital. I believe we have so much to learn from those who still live in deep connection with the world around them. It feels a huge privilege that the BBC has allowed me to explore these places and themes once again.' Here's everything we know about Tribe with Bruce Parry... The series debuted on Sunday, March 30 on BBC Two, with all episodes now available on iPlayer. Episodes 2 and 3 of the show will also be broadcast on BBC2 on Sunday, April 6 and Sunday, April 1,3 respectively. There's a trailer for the series, check it out below... Tribe with Bruce Parry episode 1 - Waihama After four days travel from the UK, Bruce visits the Waimaha people, who live on a remote tributary of the Amazon. Deep in one of least accessible regions of the Colombian rainforest, it's a region of the Amazon that he's never visited before. After rubber tappers and missionaries nearly destroyed Waimaha culture in the 20th Century, Bruce is initially seen as an outsider and eyed with suspicion. He wants to learn about the Waimaha's deep understanding of nature that allows them to thrive in such a remote region. He eats foraged insects, drinks beer brewed with saliva and lives with a family who have recently lost their dog to a jaguar from the surrounding forest. The Waimaha use a powerful form of the psychoactive ayahuasca to connect with forest spirits who, they believe, are the protectors of their lands. Bruce must win the trust of the community if he is to attend a sacred ritual where the psychoactive will be taken. To do this he is required to go through a series of purges, including snorting chilli, middle of the night river immersions, and a vomiting purge to cleanse his stomach. Tribe with Bruce Parry episode 2 - Mucubal Bruce ventures deep into the unforgiving Namib desert in southern Angola, a region only recently accessible after years of civil war and a legacy of landmines. Invited to live with the Mucubal, Bruce is the first white person some of the villagers have ever seen. In a desert that is hot and getting hotter he sees first-hand how climate change is affecting life for the Mucubal and their cattle. Bruce witnesses several practices which lie at the heart of Mucubal identity, including the ritual removal of teeth and circumcision ceremonies. Survival in the desert is tough and on his first morning Bruce is woken and given a welcome gift - a goat which he is told he must sacrifice with his bare hands, before sharing with the community. Bruce admits this is, 'the most gruesome thing I have ever done'. Tribe with Bruce Parry episode 3 - Marapu In the final episode, Bruce travels to the paradise island of Sumba in Indonesia. Sumba is the only island in the world where people worship the ancient religion of Marapu, a religion where ancestral spirits demand blood sacrifice from its followers. Invited to stay by the priest, Bruce lives in an ancient hilltop village where houses are built next to megalithic stone tombs containing their dead relatives, and homes are built with dedicated space for the ancestors to live. Bruce discovers the villagers' devotion to living alongside the dead comes with great sacrifice. The villagers' remote location at the top of a hill with no access to water or irrigation sees them start to run out of food. They are forced to venture into the forest to hunt. During his stay, Bruce comes to learn that they would never leave - for the ancestors offer both protection in daily life, and comfort for what comes after. Parry was born on 17 March 1969 and is an English documentarian, indigenous rights advocate, author and explorer. A former commando officer in the Royal Marines, he left the forces after six years to become a trek leader in Indonesia, before seeking a career in TV. His first TV appearance came in 2002 in an episode of BBC One's Extreme Lives series entitled "Cannibals and Crampons" and he appeared in various other shows before starting work on his Tribe series in 2004. The show saw Bruce immersing himself with 15 different tribal communities whilst making three groundbreaking series, earning him two nominations for BAFTA Best Factual Series. In 2007, he spent an entire year travelling along the Amazon to explore the forces affecting the world's largest rainforest and its people. Amazon went on to win Bafta Best Factual Series 2009.
The Independent
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Bruce Parry declared a ‘true hero of modern documentary TV' as fans celebrate ‘bonkers' Tribe reboot
Bruce Parry has been heralded a 'hero of modern documentary TV' by fans for his wild exploits in the reboot of his Noughties adventure series, Tribe. The former Royal Marine, 56, first starred in the BBC2 documentary series from 2004 to 2007, which saw him live with various tribal groups to better understand their culture. For the 2025 edition, the show has been rebranded as Tribe with Bruce Parry and sees the explorer projectile vomit after doing psychedelics with the Waimaha people in the Colombian Amazon rainforest. Elsewhere in the show, Parry visited The Mucubal tribe in Angola where he suffocated a goat with his bare hands, describing the incident as 'the most gruesome thing I've ever done'. Fans were ecstatic to see Parry's escapades return to screens after a near two-decade hiatus, with memes of the former Royal Marine vomiting going viral on social media. 'Great to see Bruce Parry back doing psychedelics and shoving scorpions up his a*** to impress tribesmen,' one viewer wrote on X/Twitter. 'These undiscovered tribes must see him coming,' another person added. 'They've put chillies up his nose, made him eat cold boiled frogs and are now making him puke his guts out. And he remained cheerful!' Meanwhile, a third fan praised Parry for his 'deep immersion into indigenous cultures' dubbing the series 'both eye opening and humbling'. 'What's a Sunday night without watching Bruce Parry being sick on the telly?' another person asked, while further fans dubbed the explorer 'f****** bonkers' for taking part in the tribes' rituals. The new series of Tribe is a three-episode mini series in which Parry visits communities who face threat in today's modern world. Speaking about the comeback, Parry said: 'It's been over twenty years since Tribe first aired. 'Living with people who experience the world in such profoundly different ways was eye-opening then, but today it feels vital,' he added. 'I believe we have so much to learn from those who still live in deep connection with the world around them,' the explorer continued. 'It feels a huge privilege that the BBC has allowed me to explore these places and themes once again.' The Tribe reboot has received largely positive reviews with The Guardian's Jack Seale awarding the mini-series four stars, despite the repetitive nature of the show's format. 'It is the same old same old,' Seale writes of Parry vomiting in the jungle. 'But it feels good to reconnect.'
