INTERVIEW: New discovery+ show follows couples ‘Off the Grid’
Image courtesy of discovery+ / Provided by press site with permission.
Love Off the Grid, the new discovery+ reality series, finds couples testing their relationships by living in remote locations around the United States. They are far from towns and cities, trading in the conveniences of life for the rustic, rural settings of the mountains and forests of the great unknown. They have daily challenges to feed themselves, stay warm and work the land, and their romantic partnerships are put to the test.
The series premieres today, Jan. 30 on the streaming network. Jen and Charlie — last names not given — represent one couple on the show. They dated in the early 1990s when Jen was 20 years old and Charlie 23. Jen had been vacationing in North Carolina one summer when she met Charlie. They stayed in touch, and Jen saw him again at the next family vacation. The relationship blossomed, and Jen ended up moving near Charlie for a few years in the 1990s. After the relationship ended, the two didn’t speak with each other for 25 years or so, and then they met up again recently at a wedding.
Charlie now lives in a remote mountainous region in North Carolina, while Jen had moved on to starting a family and enjoying city life. For the series, Jen moves in with Charlie and sees how this “off the grid” lifestyle suits her.
“I started moving back to my roots up on the mountain that my mom had given to me,” Charlie said in a recent phone interview. “I packed in and just started to try to live the life I wanted to and travel around and hunting and fishing all over the world, and then after a little while, I decided to move back on and stay on the mountain.”
He added: “There’s nothing I hate worse than looking over my shoulder. No one likes to look over their shoulder. It’s not that I’m hiding from anyone, but it’s nice to go out on the front deck and take a shower outside if you want to and jump on my John Deere Gator and ride it all over the mountain and not have to worry about crossing any roads or crossing anybody’s path. We have neighbors here and there, but … it’s a lifestyle I choose. And I wouldn’t live any other way.”
Jen said that after originally dating Charlie in the 1990s, she moved to Florida and enjoyed the beach and city life. Then she moved to Southern California and lived in San Diego. “So my life consisted of getting married,” she said. “I have four sons, so I was raising kids and living a much more regular life … what most of us do, get married, have children, live in a city, take care of things, go to the grocery store. I pretty much lived at the grocery store trying to feed four sons.”
Transitioning to an “off the grid” existence wasn’t easy for Jen, but she was up for the challenge. “I had a lot of reservations going into it,” she said. “I wanted to have an open mind, and I wanted to be able to face a challenge. … And I also wanted to have my friends be able to see me take the challenge and be afraid about something and do it anyways. And so it wasn’t easy, but my decision really came through saying yes to Charlie and his lifestyle, or shutting that door immediately and never giving it a chance. That’s kind of where I was in my mind.”
Having the camera crew around was a new experience for both Jen and Charlie. There was definitely an adjustment period for both of them. Jen said she felt vulnerable having her life filmed for TV consumption. Being on a reality series was never on her bucket list, but she got used to the documentary team after a while.
“I never dreamed of being on TV,” she said. “It wasn’t something that was in my mind. … All of a sudden I run back into Charlie after all these years. There was a real huge connection between the two of us. Then the next thing I know, four or five months into us trying to work it out living in a different space, I’m faced with possibly doing a show. So again, should I say yes, or do I say no? But being on camera in front of everybody was very intimidating to me. I got used to it, so now as far as looking forward, am I excited? Again, it’s an unknown for me. I don’t know what’s going to happen from here on out. I am excited, and I’m more used to it. But there’s some intimidation, of course, because I’m in a vulnerable situation. I’m getting exposed in my relationship on national television. It’s crazy.”
Charlie added: “There was an adjustment period, but the producers were so awesome in reference to how they handled us and our privacy as well as my family and my mom and some things that we had agreed with them. Once we had that comfortable level of trust with the producers, it really opened the door for us to just be us.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Love Off the Grid premieres today, Jan. 30 on discovery+. Click here for more information.
