Pilgrimage: the Road through the Alps

BBC1/iPlayer

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“EVEN my mum would tell you, I’m the smartest, dumbest person ever. I’m just wired backwards. I find interest in things many people don’t.”

With that declaration, Harry Clark, winner of The Traitors, one of the biggest reality television hits of recent years, revealed himself to be the perfect candidate for one of the oddest. Seven series in, who would have thought celebrities trekking across Europe while musing about faith would have been such a success? Anyone might think we’re not such a godless country after all. 

This year’s group also included former boy band singer Jay McGuiness, actor and comedian Helen Lederer, journalist Nelufar Hedayat, comedian Daliso Chaponda, and retired Paralympian Stef Reid. It was fair to say they were not the starriest bunch, but they each had a story to tell. And as one said of religions, “Aren’t they all just stories?”

It was one of several insightful observations as the group made its 12-day pilgrimage from Innsbruck to Einsiedeln Abbey in the Swiss Alps, stopping at monasteries along the way. As many have found before them, simply putting one foot in front of another is a wonderful way to clear the mind. Better that than eating bugs in the Australian jungle or locking celebs up in the Big Brother house. 

Everyone had questions about their faith, or lack of it. McGuiness, whose friend and Wanted bandmate Tom Parker died from brain cancer at 33 years old, said he had “stepped away” from faith and was now agnostic. “I don’t believe there is a god, and I don’t believe there isn’t,” he said.

Stef Reid’s leg was amputated below the knee after a boating accident. Angry and devastated, she nevertheless believed that “god saved my life that day”. 

Nelufar Hedayat described herself as “a devoted Muslim but with huge caveats”, most of them stemming from her birth country, Afghanistan, and its treatment of women.

Jeff Brazier, widowed with two young sons to look after the death of his partner Jade Goody, found his answers in ice baths, meditation and positive thinking. 

Grief, loss, injury, doubt, politics, all human life was there, but the stories never felt forced. Some pilgrims were inevitably more interesting than others and the editing could have been sharper. One day in - the programme ends on Tuesday - there had been no clashes, which you might expect given the nature of what they were discussing, but so far so peaceable. 

Emotions began to heighten, though, as the trek became tougher, and tiredness set in. The only jeopardy so far was a patch of snow to traverse, but mountain guides were soon on hand to help. 

The “star” of the show that has no prize was Harry, a winning mix of puppy-like charm, energy and intelligence. Harry brought much-needed humour to the proceedings, as when he asked a monk if he had superpowers. Harry liked to hug as well, and he was always there to carry Helen’s rucksack up a hill. His mum must be so proud.