Presenter Ben Fogle says he was ‘typecast as a posh boy’ after TV breakout

Ben Fogle has claimed he was “typecast as a posh boy” after becoming famous on an early Noughties TV show.

The presenter and adventurer shot to attention on the BBC reality series Castaway, which saw 36 people marooned on an island in Scotland for a year. Fogle was its breakout star, and he quickly followed up the series with an array of TV hosting jobs.

But he has now said that his initial forays into the public eye were unsatisfying, as well as the perception many had of him.

“I was being typecast as that posh boy who made it big on reality TV,” he told The Telegraph. “I hated that reductive pigeonholing and have spent 25 years trying to prove I am more than that.”

He added that his love of adventuring is partly rooted in his life-long search for companionship.

“I never found my tribe,” he said. “Not at school, where I wasn’t academic or sporty or into music. Not later on either; I always felt on the periphery, with no sense of belonging.”

He continued: “In many ways, my life has been an eternal search for my tribe, but I’m in my fifties now and I am far more comfortable in my skin, so it’s probably time to come to terms with the fact I don’t have one.”

Fogle was born to the actor Julia Foster and the Canadian author and veterinarian Bruce Fogle, and was educated at a series of elite schools in the UK. One of his first jobs was as a picture editor for Tatler magazine, before he segued into broadcasting.

Last year Fogle revealed that he had experienced a mental health crisis in 2023, sparked by “crippling paranoia and anxiety”.

Fogle’s wife Marina, with whom he has two children, also revealed in 2024 that she was once falsely reported to social services for child abuse.