Around The World In 80 Weighs review: Health tips? No, these obese Brits were treated like freaks exhibits, writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS

Around the world in 80 weights

Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild

Maggie Thatcher was wrong. “There is no such thing as society,” she famously declared. But 32-year-old Thierryi from South London can refute that… with a pack of fried chicken.

Thierryi is one of six globetrotters on Around The World In 80 Weighs (Ch4) with a combined mass of 855 kg, or 135 stone. “Society is to blame for my obesity,” she says.

“And it’s not for lack of trying. As a child I tried to lose weight and it didn’t work, because society is still society. There are still chicken shops everywhere, there are still Chinese shops everywhere. I think it’s society, more so than a person. You think: wow, does my country even care about me?’

But Thierryi and her companions were no longer happy when they ended up in a country that cares about fat people. When they arrived in a Tokyo suburb on the first part of their journey, they discovered that the Japanese don’t bother to hide their response to obesity.

“They’re so open about their rudeness,” 24-year-old Tiffany gasped. “Why would you point at another human being and laugh? It’s just cruel.’

Thierryi is one of six globetrotters on Around The World In 80 Weighs (Ch4)

Christopher Stevens rates Around the World in 80. Weighs two out of five stars

Ben Fogle visits former UN peacekeeper Elena and her partner Frode, the only residents on a remote Arctic island, during his reliably fascinating New Lives In The Wild (Chapter 5)

“It just amazes me that you’re not allowed to be who you are and that you just have to fit in,” 31-year-old Marisa agreed.

These young women were brave to face the ridicule of strangers on the street, and even braver to be filmed doing so. But if there was any support from dietitians or therapists in the production crew, we saw no sign of it.

They had to come to terms with their experiences in Japan, however humiliating, with only the help of a pair of YouTubers called Mr and Mrs Eats, who acted as tour guides.

This was tantamount to treating the six like exhibits in a freak show. Any benefit they might gain from their insights into Japanese culture would likely be overshadowed by their humiliations. An excursion at the end of the episode, where they visited a spa and discovered that the open public changing rooms offered no privacy, was a nasty trick designed to induce tears and shame.

Britain could learn a lot from Japan’s health initiatives, such as daily joint exercise classes and annual weight and blood pressure checks, which employers are legally obliged to enforce.

But to do that, we must understand what Mrs Thatcher meant about society: ultimately, each of us must accept responsibility for our own actions.

There is actually no society in Bo, off the coast of Norway. Ben Fogle visited former UN peacekeeper Elena and her partner Frode, the only residents on a remote Arctic island, during his reliably fascinating New Lives In The Wild (chapter 5).

Elena started renovating the lighthouse over ten years ago and turned it into a guest house.

When she realized in no time that carpenter Frode was willing to work as a handyman when necessary, she was of course in love.

Who wouldn’t be? A builder who shows up when he promises is an exceptionally suitable guy anywhere in the world – let alone the Arctic Circle.

What made their romance extraordinary was the revelation that Elena and Frode are cousins ​​who hadn’t seen each other since they were toddlers.

“Together we are dynamite,” she said happily, as she helped him mix “troll powder,” a cement solution used to break up rocks.

Even in summer, Bo looked a deserted place, although the windswept northern beauty was unmistakable.

And the nearest fried chicken shop is hundreds of miles away. Elena and Frode should open a diet clinic; it is the ideal place to lose weight.