Caravanner of the Year on BBC this April!

Well, Chamberlain tried to defend the indefensible,  look where that got him!

Please can the CC get the BBC to lose next weeks episode!!!!   That's was just awful. I wonder how many caravan dealers will go out of business after that show?!

Oh dear... I'm afraid we were laughing, but from pure horror as much as anything else

a couple of comments... 

Firstly why was the youngest person 42... Really?  Maybe the applicants were a bit thin on the ground, but seriously, could you not have found a young couple or two to represent the future.  That this guy was with his mum rather than a friend/wife/partner is even more cringeworthy and reinforces a stereotype that in 4 years I've only ever seen once.  For clarity, I'm 42 and my Hb is 39...

secondly if one of the challenges was to make both people take part in the challenges, why on earth would you not have made sure the women could actually manoeuvre their vehicles.  fair play to all of the ladies for giving it their best shot despite the reservations and useless instructions from their partners and very obvious nerves.  Really caravan club... You should not have allowed your female members to be portrayed as subservient and a bit woolly, and their partners as somewhat misogynistic and overbearing.  

Many, many of your members are female (myself included) and  many of us either share the towing or do the lions share... Some don't and that is fine as if you don't feel confident then towing is not a good idea, regardless of your gender... I'm  going to be generous here, and suggest that maybe the intention was to show that even someone who didn't know what to do, could still do ok (male or female) but I'm afraid this felt like it backfired and was something from the 1950's not 2106...

so no doubt I'll get the odd sarky comment tomorrow as I think the programme reinforced the view that we all wear hideous clothing (bobble hats and cagoules are compulsory attire) are petty, old fashioned (not in a chic retro way) and are pretty hopeless... But whatever I face, I pity the people who actually took part, as I fear they have been portrayed in a manner in which they were not expecting.

 

I would love to know who and how these 6 were considered to be the best in the club. Can we have an answer from the club please

Hi rkj,

The finalists were selected by our panel of judges based on their individual criteria. All entrants are members of The Caravan Club, and were judged on a series of fun challenges that tested the competitors’ skills in driving, towing, manoeuvring and pitching, as well as their superb knowledge about all things caravanning!

Make sure you tune in tomorrow to see how it goes 

Write your comments here...Sorry Rochell but I think the membership at large is now questioning the level of reasoning displayed by this panel of judges. And that's putting it politely.

I'm sure the general feeling of members will filter through to the powers that be, not only from Club Together but from other sources too, but I am going to be interested to see how it develops in the second programme.

I woder how much the contestants were prepared for what tasks they had to do before they allowed themselves to be put forward as finalists?  I just got the impression that they all seemed more concerned about the presentation of their vehicles rather than manoeuvring the vehicle and putting up awnings?

David 

I'm still struggling to come to terms with how embarrassing that was to me as an ordinary, normal caravanner.

Things like the Channel 5 "Carry On Caravanning" programme - which clearly set out to find people who they could use to pour ridicule on our hobby - funnily enough I can accept. As Channel 5 are notorious for that sort of sensationalist rubbish, such as Benefit Street - using extreme examples to try to say everyone on benefits is a scrounger etc etc which is clearly garbage.

But this was BBC2 and the Caravan Club. A large TV Channel featuring a massive presence in the touring industry.

OK, the membership tends to be older folks and doesn't represent the overall touring and camping community demographic.

But what on earth did the Caravan Club hope to achieve via this programme?

An increase in membership? Anyone looking at that programme and thinking this was a representation of the Caravan Club would run a mile away from joining.

The mind boggles! Are the management of the Caravan Club REALLY this incompetent?

Bugs 

Never laughed as much in years!!! Cannot wait for next week.

Embarssing and hilarious at the same time, we were waiting for Barbra Windsor to make an appeaprance in her bikini  Although kudos to the two ladies who 'aced' the reversing challenge, they have more guts than me to get in and give it a go in front of the OH

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

I Was impressed firstly with the lady who had never driven the motorhome before and the eighty year old for giving it a go, but big plus is has CT finally cracked the blank page syndrome as non on this thread. (lol)

 .....  

Many, many of your members are female (myself included) and  many of us either share the towing or do the lions share... Some don't and that is fine as if you don't feel confident then towing is not a good idea, regardless of your gender... I'm  going to be generous here, and suggest that maybe the intention was to show that even someone who didn't know what to do, could still do ok (male or female) but I'm afraid this felt like it backfired and was something from the 1950's not 2106... ......

 

Don't let the user name confuse you .... it's my wife's. 

In the last 3 & a bit years I've not managed to get my wife behind the wheel of my towcar when solo let alone while towing .... apprarently it's too big and it has a 'funny' column transmission selctor