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Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Noel Edmonds' Kiwi Adventure has more in common with Meghan Markle than Jeremy Clarkson
Never one to knowingly undersell himself, Noel Edmonds has been busily promoting his show as the new Clarkson's Farm. Having watched it all, I can tell you that this would only be true if Jeremy Clarkson abandoned all self-knowledge and spent every episode behaving like a complete prat, while sharing a shedload of pseudo-scientific woo-woo. Clarkson's Farm vs Noel's Funny Farm. There's really no contest. Edmonds upped sticks several years ago for a new life in New Zealand, where he has spent tens of millions of dollars on an 800-acre estate called River Haven. It boasts – 'boasts' being an appropriate word to use in the Noel-sphere – a vineyard, restaurant, wellness centre and a pub named The Bugger Inn. At one point he suggests taking on Clarkson in a pub quiz: 'I quite fancy The Bugger Inn taking on Diddly Squat. We'd wipe 'em out.' But however much he tries to copy elements of Clarkson's show, from farmyard sidekicks to messing around with heavy machinery, Noel Edmonds' Kiwi Adventure actually occupies the midpoint between With Love, Meghan and Castaway with Phillip Schofield. Which is to say that it mixes prettily shot lifestyle nonsense with a transparent yearning to reclaim the affections of the British public and a determination to address perceived slights. Like Castaway, it is revealing in ways that the subject never intended. Before we get into the psychology of the thing, though, let's explore Edmonds' health regimen. The show opens with him having a cold shower in his garden, which he tells us is one of the six components of his lifestyle formula. He's undeniably in great shape for a 76-year-old, so maybe we should all give it a try. Eating well and exercising seem pretty standard, even if he refers to the exercising as 'tranquil power' (this just means using an exercise machine quite slowly, as far as I can tell). Then things get a little more mad. Edmonds has thrice-weekly stints in a hyperbaric chamber with an oxygen tube up his nose, and lies on a bed below what look like a row of cheap Christmas lights but are apparently quartz crystals surrounded with something called 'orgone' which help him to connect with 'the bigger matrix, the universal energy system'. Mm-hmm. He 'VIBEs', which stands for 'visualisation of body energy'. Then there's the 'structured water', which is somehow magnetised and 'doesn't have to process through your liver, kidneys and all that other malarkey'. Edmonds thinks he knows a lot about science. 'Why, at the point of what some people call death but I call departure, why does the body weigh less than it did when it had life? And that is a scientific fact.' Well, it isn't, but Edmonds believes it's because your soul has left your body. The best thing that Edmonds has going for him is his wife, Liz, a former make-up artist on Deal or No Deal, whom he dubs his 'earth angel'. This is the one crossover with Clarkson's Farm – Liz even looks like Lisa, Clarkson's other half. They met (in 2007) at six minutes past 11, and so the clocks in their house are perpetually set to that time as a reminder of their love. This seems a little… intense. Edmonds, a good TV presenter and a great creative mind in his day, is at pains to come across as warm, self-deprecating and brimming with humour. He taps into the zaniness that was his calling card on Noel's House Party. But there are hints of brittleness and an Alan Partridge self-regard. He has commissioned the props studio behind Lord of the Rings to make a giant sculpture of a knight which commemorates his victory in a financial case against HBOS. When an employee says they were together in a past life, Edmonds seems rather worried that the employee might have been above him in the pecking order back in Ancient Rome. He goes on about his partnership with Liz but refers to their 50:50 efforts as the work of 'Team Noel'. There is a brief reference at the outset to the fact that his arrival wasn't universally welcomed by the locals. 'There were a few people not being very kind,' he says, but glosses over it. When he relaunches his pub, the crowds seem quite sparse – in contrast with the queues at Diddly Squat – but it's unclear whether that is down to a likeability gap between him and Clarkson, or because River Haven appears to be in the middle of nowhere. Don't expect an honest, fly-on-the-wall documentary. Check the credits and you'll see that the 'series consultant' on the show is, um, Noel Edmonds.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Noel Edmonds complains he is 'haemorrhaging money' on £15m New Zealand estate
Noel Edmonds reveals he is losing money with his business in New Zealand when the pouring rain puts people off coming to his pub. "We're haemorrhaging money at the moment," he says in ITV's Kiwi Adventure. The Deal or No Deal presenter, 76, set up life across the pond in New Zealand, leaving behind the UK forever in 2018. He bought up a £15m estate, River Haven, of 12 properties including a pub called The Bugger Inn and his own vineyard. Inviting the cameras into his life once again, the TV star has filmed a fly-on-the-wall reality show Kiwi Adventure which is now streaming on ITVX. In dramatic scenes in episode two, Edmonds is stood watching the downpours at the start of the season where he shares that the business is losing money as a result of the weather. He says: "When you come to New Zealand, you change your view about your relationship between the weather and the economy. "We're haemorrhaging money at the moment because you have to take staff on in anticipation of the guests coming. We're going to have to have a spectacular November and December to balance the books." Ever the optimist, Edmonds doesn't lose hope that things will turn out for the better. He says: "I believe in the cosmos. I believe everything happens for a reason." Although, he does admit: "Just struggling at the moment to come up with a good reason here!" It's early spring and The Bugger Inn pub should have lots of customers but there is barely anyone in sight because of the rain — despite their best efforts of trying to get people to come in. Earlier on, Edmonds had admitted it has been hard setting up his own business. He tells the cameras: "New Zealand is a great place to come to but it's not the easiest place to set up a business. We've done a fascinating thing with the River Haven adventure. Will it be the move that sustains us for years to come? Watch this space!" Despite the struggles, it's clear that Edmonds loves his new life in New Zealand with his wife Liz. "We were drawn here by the energy of the area," he says. Their new life in New Zealand is a far cry from their lives when they first met on the set of Deal or No Deal in the UK in 2006. It's been six years since they packed up their lives in the UK. The TV star has the chance to share why he decided to leave the UK for good in 2018. He says in Kiwi Adventure: "When people say to me, 'What do you miss at the UK?' I find myself going back to why I left. Because all the things I miss about Britain are the reasons I left. By that I mean that the country changed so much, so fast, so fundamentally, that I found myself missing a quieter country... We are not trees so you can move." Edmonds reveals he aims to have no regrets when he "gets to the end". Elsewhere, Liz also explains the couple had not initially thought they would set up the business. She says: "None of this was planned. None of it was planned at all. There was no plan whatsoever to buy a vineyard and do this. I don't know it was just a feeling of we could work on this, we could develop this." Noel Edmonds' Kiwi Adventure airs on ITV1 and ITVX on Friday, 20 June at 9pm.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Noel Edmonds' Kiwi Adventure review: Noel is the greatest tragicomic character of our time and this dark horse has as much charm as Clarkson's Farm
Noel Edmonds ' Kiwi Adventure Rating: The pitch for Noel Edmonds' Kiwi Adventure must have been: let's do Clarkson's Farm, but with Noel Edmonds. Yes, let's. And it does not disappoint. It's as if one of Alan Partridge's most desperate pitches finally got made. I had, in fact, stopped holding out for 'youth hostelling with Chris Eubank ' or 'arm wrestling with Chas and Dave' but now feel hopeful again. This is top-quality entertainment, possibly not for the right reasons, but I watched two episodes (of the six) and was transfixed. Edmonds may be the greatest tragi- comic character of our time. Noel Edmonds moved to New Zealand in 2018. Ah, so that's where he's been for the past seven years, you probably hadn't been wondering. He was no longer a fan of Britain. He says: 'All the things I miss about Britain are the reasons I left. It changed so much, so fast, so fundamentally, that I found myself missing a quieter country.' He then adds perceptively: 'We are not trees so we can move.' His estate, River Haven, is a monumentally stunning 800 acres. Here he is attempting to run a restaurant, a pub, a vineyard, a wellness centre, a general store and a coffee shack. He wants to be clear: this is not about him. He and his 'earth angel' wife, Liz, 'could sit in a big house somewhere but we feel we need to make a difference'. He met Liz when she was his make-up artist on Deal or No Deal. She first walked into the make-up room at 11.06 on October 6 in 2006, so now all the clocks in their house are set to 11.06. 'I knew she was in the room before I turned round,' he remembers. 'You will never pull us apart… we are one.' They are happy together. They have warrior statues in their private garden 'because Liz believes I was an emperor or leader of men in my past'. (He also has a giant praying knight statue to counter 'dark forces'.) It's one fascinatingly bizarre moment after another. They look through a box of old photos and he finds one fromLive Aid. 'My company organised the air transport,' he says, 'at no cost to them.' He later says, randomly, 'I pay my tax.' It feels as if he's pleading with us: how could you not love me? How? That's the 'tragi' part, I guess. He is 76, with hair that still defies gravity and, you could say, fashion. He looks remarkably unchanged. He has, it turns out, quite the wellness regime. It involves lying on a bed under suspended crystals, pulse electromagnetism therapy, 'tranquil power' – using a multigym slowly, from the looks of it – saunas, ice-baths, a hyperbaric chamber ('it shoots pure oxygen into your body; I'm rocking!') and also 'VIBE'. This he explains, is his acronym for 'visualisation of body energy'. (Let's all pretend we haven't noticed it should be 'VOBE'.) He and Liz only drink 'structured water', which they make themselves. (Look it up.) Wikipedia describes it as a 'scam' but he says it is better absorbed than regular water. He likes to round off his sentences with: '…and that's a scientific fact'. Later it is: 'Your body is lighter after death because your soul weighs something… scientific fact.' No one has yet identified the scientific universe Edmonds gets his facts from. Remember when he said bad vibes could give you cancer? Or did he mean vobes? All this, and we haven't even got to his business yet! So, his pub is not called The Farmer's Dog and he doesn't sell a beer called Hawkstone. Instead, it is called 'The Bugger Inn' and his beers include Tits Up, Boring Bastard and Old Git. There is also a Dickens Cider 'that is very popular with the ladies.' No one has yet identified the humour universe he gets his jokes from either. He doesn't draw Clarkson-style crowds. On the day his restaurant opens for the season only a couple of people turn up. (It is pouring with rain, to be fair.) The pub stages a Halloween party that seems to have all the atmosphere of an underpopulated Saga event. He worries that the local community won't accept him but, lest we forget, 'there are people who have lived here all their lives who are saying thank you, thank you'. No, thank you, Noel. This is a blast.
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Noel Edmonds strips topless as ITV drops first look at his new life abroad after quitting the UK and being replaced on Deal Or No Deal
Noel Edmonds strips topless as ITV drops a first look at his new life abroad after quitting the UK and being replaced on Deal Or No Deal. The TV personality and radio presenter, 76, was best known for his stint hosting the Channel 4 game show from 2005 to 2016 when it ended, before its revival with Stephen Mulhern in 2023. But after more than 50 years on British TV and radio, Noel left the UK in 2018 with his wife Liz to build a new life in New Zealand. They have now opened a hospitality business in the small rural, riverside town of Ngatimoti, which includes a vineyard, coffee cart, general store, restaurant and pub. And ITV has now given viewers a first look at his new reality show Noel Edmonds' Kiwi Adventure, set to launch on June 20 - which sees the presenter literally bare all. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the Daily Mail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. First-look images of the programme show Noel stripping down to show off his toned physique, seemingly to enter a kind of plunge pool. Other pictures show Noel and Liz at work on their business, known as River Haven, with one depicting them outside its on-site pub, cheekily named The B***er Inn. With some showing them beaming, and others seeing them in deep, serious conversation, it suggests their entrepreneurial journey has not always been smooth. The couple only bought the land for their business two years ago - so it is only just now entering its second full season of trading. And Noel admits in the first-look trailer: 'New Zealand's a great place to come to. It's not the easiest place to set up a business.' The veteran presenter also confesses at another point in the clip: 'We're haemorrhaging money at the moment.' Not only are they trying to get their existing business up and running, Noel will also strive to build New Zealand's first energy garden in the upcoming show. It is a lot of pressure after moving 11,500 miles away - and the programme will see the couple battle unseasonal weather, bad press and feelings of still being outsiders. They have now opened the hospitality business in the small rural, riverside town of Ngatimoti, which includes a vineyard, coffee cart, general store, restaurant and pub It remains to be seen whether they will survive the challenges life down under throws at them It remains to be seen whether they will survive the challenges life down under throws at them. The first look at his new show comes after a bizarre moment for Noel - which saw him wear completely odd shoes during a recent video on his social media page. The legendary broadcaster danced alongside a bronze statue of the Bee Gees on their native Isle of Man on Monday - but his moves were not the only thing that caught the eye. Noel, who interviewed the iconic band many times over the years, braved the wind in a brown leather jacket alongside his bizarre footwear in the clip. The video saw him poke fun at himself over his resemblance to singing siblings Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb - with their long, fluffy hair. Noel choose to wear light brown lace-up boots on his left foot and slip-on dark brown boots on his right. He shared a clip to Instagram as he danced to Stayin' Alive and wrote: 'Great stars who became my good friends celebrated here on The Isle of Man.' Fans rushed to the comments to express their confusion: 'He's got odd shoes on!': 'I do really love him! Just noticed the shoes though'; Noel choose to wear light brown lace-up boots on his left foot and slip-on dark brown boots on his right 'Read a long while ago that he always wears odd shoes': 'He's got two pairs of those': 'I see that and thought nah he wouldn't.' But astonishingly, this is not the first time Noel has been spotted wearing odd shoes on the Isle of Man. In May 2024, stunned fans flooded Facebook with comments after spotting the presenter's strange footwear as he took a trip to the island's Laxey Beach Stop Cafe.
