The Island with Bear Grylls - Season 5

For the fifth series, two separate groups are abandoned at opposite ends of a remote uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. The 16 Islanders face extreme tropical weather, limited resources and environmental hazards - with none of the home comforts everyone relies upon. The first group of castaways are wealthy professionals living off an average income of £100,000 a year - a wage earned by a fraction of Brits. The opposite group of castaways earn below the UK national average wage. The series sets out to look at the issue of wealth disparity, and whether living with vastly different economic circumstances at home has an influence on our ability to cope in the wild. When challenged to start again from nothing, who is better equipped to thrive?

After a class war on the desert island, the wealthy and less well-off teams go their separate ways and set up two camps at opposite ends of the same beach. Millwall fan Phil tries to lead his team by the scruff of the neck but his dictatorial style ends in mutiny within his own camp. Medical lecturer James finds himself frozen out by some of his wealthier teammates, making him question why he's 'bottom of the pile' even thousands of miles from home.

In the hope of finding much-needed food, Barnes decides to risk strong currents and riptides on a journey by raft to a nearby island. Both camps remain resolved to live apart. But driven by desperation, Barnes invites his less wealthy neighbours on the expedition. Mercedes, already struggling with hunger and exhaustion, is unable to help around camp, placing her relationship with her teammates on a knife-edge. Her shock decision to join Barnes' voyage has disastrous consequences.

After three weeks on the island, the castaways are malnourished. Still living at opposite ends of the same beach, the wealthy and less well-off teams finally put their differences aside in a joint hunting expedition, in a bid to solve their food crisis together. Somehow, Phil and Laura can see through the squalid living conditions, hunger and sandfly bites, as their island romance blossoms.