Image source, Channel 4Image caption, The series was filmed on a site used to train the military
ByHolly HarrisonBBC Wales- Published1 hour ago
A farmer from mid Wales was dropped into an abandoned American town with no food, water, electricity or tools for a new series.
Apocalypse, which starts on Sunday, sees two groups of strangers attempt to survive in a site usually used to train military, with whatever they can find while competing for limited resources.
Ioan Humphreys, from Carno, told BBC Wales he had "zero idea" what he was getting into and was only told it was a survival show about a month before filming.
The 33-year-old was dropped into the town with nothing but the clothes he was wearing - with temperatures dropping as low as -12C (10F) during the challenge.
As described by Channel 4, the two groups are "surrounded by the remnants of modern life" and they must "recycle, reuse and reinvent anything of use to improve their lives".
Among the contestants is 33-year-old Ioan Humphreys, who took over his family farm in Carno when was 20 after his father became ill.
Humphreys was approached by producers because they wanted someone with a farming background.
Channel 4 described the programme as "a cross section of society - including a mechanic, paramedic, farmer and a social media influencer - must discover whether reverting to primitive human behaviour will be what it takes to make it through the Apocalypse, or whether cooperation is the key to survival."
But Humphreys told BBC Wales he had "zero idea" what he was getting into and was only told it was a survival show about a month before he went on it.
"We got dropped into the survival situation with nothing, only what we were wearing," he said.
Humphreys said the experience was nothing like life on his farm in Wales.
"There was no power. There was no food. There was no running water."
Image source, Channel 4Image caption, Ioan Humphreys was a part of the 'West Side' team
'I wanted to thrive'
However, the farmer said his job gave him some valuable skills.
He said he was used to managing people. having six staff working on the farm, and naturally took on a role of looking after others.
Humphreys also claimed he was confident starting and maintaining fires, and being resourceful.
"I thought a lot of it was common sense, but apparently not," he said.
"I wanted to thrive more than survive."
He said the initial adrenaline of arriving eventually wore off and the group had to concentrate on staying warm, keeping dry and finding food and water.
Temperatures dropped as low as -12C one night, he said "as a practical person I was trying to prioritise comfort and warmth, mitigating hunger as much as possible," he said.
Image source, Ioan HumphreysImage caption, Ioan said his life on the farm offered him some valuable skills
The 33-year-old said it took four or five days into the challenge to discover the other group.
He could not reveal what happened when they met, but he told BBC Wales he was "quite heavily involved in the contact".
As told by Channel4, the encounter led to tensions between the contestants and they "find themselves in direct conflict" as they competed for resources.
Humphreys said one of the biggest lessons from the experience was the importance of morale.
The experience also made him reconsider how much time he spends working on the farm rather than his two young children.
"What's the point in working forever and missing your children grow up?" he told Channel4.
And despite living in rural Wales, he said the abandoned town had one surprising advantage.
There was more stuff in the Apocalypse than at my house, I think," he said.
Apocalypse starts on Channel 4 on at 21:00BST on Sunday.
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