INTERVIEW: ‘Live Free or Die’ returns with Amelia and Tony living off the land
Live Free or Die, the hit show on National Geographic Channel, helped kickstart the into-the-wild trend in reality programming a few years ago. Homesteading and re-wilding quickly became household terms, and there is probably no better example of a couple heading off the grid than Tony and Amelia on the series.
The two have taken up residence in western North Carolina, living on a property that keeps them tucked away from modern amenities and the bustling commerce of more populated areas. They live a difficult but satisfying life, one filled with an appreciation for the ecosystem and a love for self-sufficiency. They barter with friends when they need something beyond what they can produce, and they face hardships that include everything from the weather to the continuous need to cultivate the land.
One of the most surprising and unexpected episodes of Tony and Amelia’s life was when a visitor stopped by two or three years ago, a scene they also recounted in their 2014 interview with Hollywood Soapbox. This man heard about their lifestyle and simply stopped by the homestead. He turned out to be a scout for National Geographic, and when he started talking about the idea for Live Free or Die, Tony didn’t believe him.
“I thought he was joking for a while,” Tony said in a recent phone interview. “I didn’t believe him, but it turns out he wasn’t lying. And that’s how we wound up on the show. Someone came from Manhattan and found us.”
At first, Amelia didn’t have too many reservations about joining the world of reality TV; however, he was a bit concerned about being camera shy and didn’t know what to expect. But, by and large, she was up for the challenge. “I’ve never had experience being filmed and being interviewed,” Amelia said. “So it was so hard for me to get through my camera shyness, but once I started getting past that, things started to feel more natural for me. That was tough, especially for the first week. I was extremely nervous, but Tony, I think, it was a little different for him. He wasn’t so shy like me.”
Tony’s only reservation had to deal more with the anxiety over how the series would impact their life together. After all, they are re-wilders, and having TV cameras around doesn’t exactly seem peaceful and private.
Still, despite the shyness and loss of privacy, they are quite happy with the success of the series. “I think it’s a pretty good finished product,” Tony said. “I’ve seen some episodes, and we especially like the show this season. It’s very tidy. It looks very nice, so we’re happy with that. It seems like it is being well received by people and inspiring people, so we’re glad with the whole thing.”
Amelia said she gets excited when a new season airs because they have to wait months to see what will make the final cut. She especially enjoys seeing the slow-motion recording of their tasks around the property; this new perspective offers a chance to see the daily responsibilities in a whole new light.
The pathway to living free is different for Tony and Amelia. Tony has always been interested in biology, soil, water conservation and gardening. “That was not encouraged by my family or the community that I grew up in,” Tony said. “That was just my own personal interest, so I had this immense curiosity that was quenched by gardening, and spending time in the woods and stuff. Once I finished school, once I finished college, I could finally just venture out into the world and do whatever it is that I wanted without having to answer to anybody, and the thing that I wanted to do was get married, build a house and garden. And so that’s what I did.”
Amelia’s upbringing was different. Her parents were divorced, and she would spend time with her father on the family farm. “We would go out to farm every weekend, and it was a huge 80-acre farm,” she said. “We had many animals out there. We had cows, chickens, cats, dogs, goats, pigs, pretty much everything, lots of woods and hayfields, so it was something that I grew up with. And so it always felt like a familiar way of life to me.”
For the series, the cameras depict reality, according to both Amelia and Tony. They actually live this life, with its personal satisfaction and sometimes grueling work. As Tony put it, “it’s pretty much what you see is what you get.”
However, their life is not necessarily shut in from the outside world. They go to the library and sometimes meet up with friends in the nearby city. They’ll even have to conduct business once in a while, but most days they enjoy the freeing country life.
“We have friends that … live nearby, and that’s something that you don’t see as much on the show,” Amelia said. “We have friends that visit us, and we visit them. … We barter with friends, and have dinner and have a little more of a social life than you see on TV, but I think that’s kind of challenging to put into the show. But our lifestyle on the show, that’s pretty much how we live.”
On their property, some of the most difficult tasks involve the hillside where they live. Tony said moving heavy objects up that hill is rough. Sometimes he hauls water and firewood, and it becomes harder as the years keep ticking by. “It’s tolerable for the time being, but maybe when we get older some younger people can help us to move heavy things around,” he said. “That does get a little tiring sometimes.”
For Amelia, in the summer months of July and August, the south-facing hillside can be brutally hot. Sometimes it feels like she is baking in the sun. “Hiking up and down the hill, especially at the end of the day, when you have to go downhill to grab something, it definitely gets old, but only if I’m tired,” she said.
There are many lessons to be learned from this enterprising independence. However, both Tony and Amelia don’t want viewers to walk away with the wrong idea on what’s the better life, theirs or that of the audience member. “We want people to be inspired to do whatever they want to do with their life and to not hold back,” Amelia said. “We’re doing the things we’re doing and living this way because we want to. … We encourage people to live the way they want to live and to do something that will make them feel good about their life when they’re older.”
Tony added: “I guess it might be easy for a viewer to propagate the misconception that maybe Amelia and I think this is the right way to live. For the two of us, it’s just a way to live, and it’s the way that we want to live. So we don’t at any point want to come across as people preaching and saying, ‘OK, well, here’s how people are supposed to live.’ This is our dream, and we’re living our dream because we can. And that’s what we want other people to do is to live out their dreams. … Take the steps necessary to get that thing that you want in life, whether it’s being a homesteader or a racecar driver. I don’t care. I think this planet needs more passionate, happy people that are driven and accomplishing goals that they really want to accomplish in life.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Live Free or Die airs new episodes Mondays at 10 p.m. on National Geographic. Click here for more information. Click here for Hollywood Soapbox’s previous interview with Amelia and Tony.
