An Idiot Abroad

An Idiot Abroad
Promotional photo of Karl
Genre	Comedy/Travel show
Running time	60 min
Creator(s)	Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant
Starring	Karl Pilkington
Country	UK
Network	Sky1
No. of episodes	8

An Idiot Abroad (formerly known as Karl Pilkington's Seven Wonders Of The World) is a travel show on Sky1. It features Karl Pilkington traveling the globe in order to visit each of the Seven Wonders of the World. During his travels Pilkington visits The Great Wall of China, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Macchu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Taj Mahal in India, Petra in Jordan, and the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant also appear in the series.

The official podcast from An Idiot Abroad has proved highly successful in the iTunes charts, with a number of top positions.

Programme

A preview show of An Idiot Abroad aired on 5 September 2010 and the first episode of the series begins transmission on 23rd September 2010 on Sky 1. Whether the experience broadened Karls’ horizons remains to be seen, but the series is a classic piece of travelogue, style programming that never fails to entertain. During the editing process Gervais stated on his blog, “I cannot wait for this show to air. Karl is the funniest, baldest, grumpiest Manc twat in the world.” Each episode documents Karl on his journey to one of the seven wonders. On the eighth and final episode, Pilkington meets with Gervais and Merchant to discuss the overall experience and hear some of the feedback from the critics.

In February 2010 Gervais stated via his blog that Pilkington had lost weight due to the food in India, or as Gervais put it "he shat himself thin". Gervais also confirmed that he and Merchant have been involved with the editing of the show.

Travel Diary

Karl also kept a travel diary that documents his trips to all of the seven wonders. The diary has been released as a book and is titled, An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington. It is available for purchase from Canongate Books and has been officially reviewed by Pilkipedia.

Episodes

Series 1

	Title	Series	Original Airdate	Buy	#
	Preview Special	Series 1	5 September 2010	TBA	0
	Ricky and Steve sit down with Karl to discuss his travels in this preview special. Clips are shown from the series and Karl adds some descriptions of the places that he visited. As usual, Ricky and Steve react to Karl's views with bursts of laughter. The pair even attempt to wind Karl up with some of their patented role-playing.
	Episode One: China	Series 1	23 September 2010	TBA	1
	The first country on the docket is China. In this episode, Karl visits The Great Wall of China, learns a bit of Kung Fu, and eats some toad. Karl genuinely finds himself confused and bewildered by a strange culture where the public toilets have no doors or toilet paper and people eat cockroaches and scorpions.
	Episode Two: India	Series 1	30 September 2010	TBA	2
	Karl travels to India in this episode to visit the Taj Mahal. He clashes with culture again as he has difficulty understanding spirituality at the Kumbh Mela Festival. He also takes a swim in the Ganges River, meets the Elephant Baba, and participates in Holi Day!
	Episode Three: Jordan	Series 1	7 October 2010	TBA	3
	Not only does Karl get the opportunity to visit Jordan in this episode, but he also makes a stop over in Israel. He visits the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, and sees Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank. An extreme kidnapping scenerio tests his bravery and he gets to fully experience Petra by riding a camel across the desert and sleeping in a cave.
	Episode Four: Mexico	Series 1	14 October 2010	TBA	4
	In this episode, Karl is taken to Mexico to visit the Chichen Itza. As luck would have it, he is there for Easter Sunday, and he gets to witness a re-enactment of the Passion, and he learns how the locals punish Judas Iscariot. While there, he also tries his hand at wrestling and learns how to be a charro.
	Episode Five: Egypt	Series 1	21 October 2010	TBA	5
	In this episode, Pilkington gets swarmed in a market, has lunch at a deaf KFC, and visits The Great Pyramids.
	Episode Six: Brazil	Series 1	28 October 2010	TBA	6
	In this episode, Pilkington wanders the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and visits the towering statue of Christ The Redeemer.
	Episode Seven: Peru	Series 1	4 November 2010	TBA	7
	In this episode, Pilkington visits the pre-Columbian Inca site known as Machu Picchu, an "Old Mountain" perched on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru.
	Episode Eight: Karl Comes Home	Series 1	11 November 2010	TBA	8
	In this final episode, Pilkington meets with Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant to discuss his travels.

Series 2

	Title	Series	Original Airdate	Buy	#
	Preview Special	Series 1	5 September 2010	TBA	0
	Ricky and Steve sit down with Karl to discuss his travels in this preview special. Clips are shown from the series and Karl adds some descriptions of the places that he visited. As usual, Ricky and Steve react to Karl's views with bursts of laughter. The pair even attempt to wind Karl up with some of their patented role-playing.
	Episode One: China	Series 1	23 September 2010	TBA	1
	The first country on the docket is China. In this episode, Karl visits The Great Wall of China, learns a bit of Kung Fu, and eats some toad. Karl genuinely finds himself confused and bewildered by a strange culture where the public toilets have no doors or toilet paper and people eat cockroaches and scorpions.
	Episode Two: India	Series 1	30 September 2010	TBA	2
	Karl travels to India in this episode to visit the Taj Mahal. He clashes with culture again as he has difficulty understanding spirituality at the Kumbh Mela Festival. He also takes a swim in the Ganges River, meets the Elephant Baba, and participates in Holi Day!
	Episode Three: Jordan	Series 1	7 October 2010	TBA	3
	Not only does Karl get the opportunity to visit Jordan in this episode, but he also makes a stop over in Israel. He visits the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, and sees Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank. An extreme kidnapping scenerio tests his bravery and he gets to fully experience Petra by riding a camel across the desert and sleeping in a cave.
	Episode Four: Mexico	Series 1	14 October 2010	TBA	4
	In this episode, Karl is taken to Mexico to visit the Chichen Itza. As luck would have it, he is there for Easter Sunday, and he gets to witness a re-enactment of the Passion, and he learns how the locals punish Judas Iscariot. While there, he also tries his hand at wrestling and learns how to be a charro.
	Episode Five: Egypt	Series 1	21 October 2010	TBA	5
	In this episode, Pilkington gets swarmed in a market, has lunch at a deaf KFC, and visits The Great Pyramids.
	Episode Six: Brazil	Series 1	28 October 2010	TBA	6
	In this episode, Pilkington wanders the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and visits the towering statue of Christ The Redeemer.
	Episode Seven: Peru	Series 1	4 November 2010	TBA	7
	In this episode, Pilkington visits the pre-Columbian Inca site known as Machu Picchu, an "Old Mountain" perched on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru.
	Episode Eight: Karl Comes Home	Series 1	11 November 2010	TBA	8
	In this final episode, Pilkington meets with Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant to discuss his travels.

Name Change

The show was initially titled Karl Pilkington's Seven Wonders of the World, however a decision was made to change the name to the more provocative An Idiot Abroad without Pilkington's knowledge. The name change was actually revealed to Pilkington halfway through the show in order to record his reaction. Pilkington himself has said in interviews that he thinks the name change will harm the show and that people will not want to watch a program about an idiot.

In a poll on Pilkipedia 61% of fans reported to be happy with the name change.

Ratings

The show has broken numerous records on release, both in the UK and abroad. For instance, two episodes of An Idiot Abroad are in Sky 1's top ten highest ratings shows of all-time and was the highest pay-TV programme of 2010 (minus terrestrial channels, football and The Inbetweeners). Also, in the States it is the highest rating series ever for The Science Channel.

The ratings for the UK broadcasts on Sky 1, sourced by the UK TV ratings panel BARB, are:

• Episode One: China - 1.16 million (individuals)

• Episode Two: India - 1.26 million

• Episode Three: Jordan - 1.68 million

• Episode Four: Mexico - 1.48 million

• Episode Five: Egypt - 1.45 million

• Episode Six: Brazil - 1.38 million

• Episode Seven: Peru - 1.74 million

• Episode Eight: Karl Comes Home - 1.47 million

Releases Worldwide

The show has been broadcast around the world, and is sold by production company Mentorn International.

• USA - The Science Channel

• Australia - Network Ten

• Canada - Discovery Channel

• New Zealand - TV3

• Sweden - SVT

• Finland - YLE

• Norway - NRK

• Iceland - ITC Skjarinn

The releases abroad have often seen promotional stings from Pilkington, Gervais and Merchant. For instance, prior to the premiere airing in Australia the boys were interviewed for various radio stations and newspapers.

Gervais has said about the show being aired across the world: "Karl didn't even go to school and now look at him. I can't wait to hear how they announce it on air. 'And now on Science Channel, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant send a chimp around the world to annoy it.'"

DVD release

A DVD and Blu-ray release of An Idiot Abroad was released in the UK on 15 November 2010. No date has yet been scheduled for a US release, although it is presumed to be shortly after it finishes airing on Science Channel sometime in March 2011.

Quotes

• Karl: "I had to get an injection to protect me from a dirty chimp."

• Karl:(looking at the rubbish near the Pyramids) "Shitty nappy whizzing through the air, you don't see that in the brochures."

• Ricky: "He's 23 but his penis is 102. What can we do about that?
  Karl: Is this any use?"

• Karl: "What's so good about The Amazon? Can't be that good; there are things in it that would rather live in me knob."

• Karl: "I've never seen anyone bend over as much as him."

• Karl:(on the odd toilet system in China) "Whenever you buy toilet roll holders, it says, "Made in China". Why aren't they using them then?"

• Karl: "....in the end I ate one."

• Karl:(on the Dead Sea) "Something that I read in the book: this is the lowest place...on the world. I know we don't normally have, sort of, information on this programme 'n that, like not proper stuff anyway, but that's a little bit."

• Karl:(on Cairo) "That song walk like an Egyptian - no-one's walking, everyone seems to be in a car at all hours. Just beeping."

• Karl:(on his thoughts on the Great Wall Of China) "The alright wall of China."

• Karl: "Looks like a game of Jenga that got out of hand."

• Karl: (on The Great Wall of China) "Just goes for miles and miles....but so does the M6."

• Karl: "Like a little tornado innit. You don't see that in the brochure. Shitty old nappy whizzing through the air. They tend to leave that out."

• Karl: "I'm not going on a camel again, I'm not going on a camel again, I'm not going on a camel again..."

• Karl:(sitting on a camel) "Me bollocks are squashed."

• Karl: "China's grey enough, why would you want to see it in HD?"

• Karl: "Wake up, Nietzsche."

• Karl: "The beauty of radio is you can listen to it in the dark."

• Ricky: "You are the strangest man on the planet."
  Karl: "You haven't been to China."

• Karl:(on the Pyramids) "It's like a massive game of jenga, that's got out of hand."

• Karl:(on India's unhealthy obsession with cows) "You can still like the cow, without going that far. Without the shit and the piss."

• Karl: (from an interview about the show) "If someone took me back to Egypt and said, "The Pyramids are that way, or there's a sleepy lizard over there," I'd rather see the sleepy lizard."

An Idiot Abroad 2: The Bucket List

In April 2011, a news item on Merchant's web site stated that An Idiot Abroad 2: The Bucket List is in production, with Karl in Alaska whale-watching. One of his voicemail messages has also been uploaded to Youtube. A photo on Gervais' blog also reveals Pilkington in parachute gear, and an interview with an Australian radio station has Karl talking about visiting various places in Australia - including one 'task' of swimming with a shark.

A quote about the Australian tasks featured in an Adelaide newspaper:

"He came face-to-face with a few sharks," Gervais said.

"I went all the way to Australia to swim with dolphins," explained Pilkington, "That's what I thought I picked on the list. Got in the cage ... shark."

On September 23rd 2011 at 9:00 PM the first episode of An Idiot Abroad 2 aired on Sky1 in the United Kingdom. The first episode features Karl spending a night alone on a Desert Island but also includes Bungy Jumping in New Zealand, meeting a tribe in Vanuatu and Karl's honorary induction into a second tribe where every word in their language starts with an "N".

A deleted scene shows Karl "Zorbing" in New Zealand which he absolutely hates and compares to being in a Tumble Dryer.

The episodes to come include

Episode 2: Trans-Siberian Express

Episode 3: Swimming with Dolphins

Episode 4: Whale Watching

Episode 5: Meet a Gorilla

Episode 6: Route 66

Episode 7: Mount Fuji

For more information on Episodes and to watch the Deleted Scenes visit Sky1-An Idiot Abroad

Gallery

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  Desert Island Tribe

• 

  A death trap

• 

  Fez Karl

• 

  Like a big Pylon

• 

  Nudist beach

• For more images go to: Gallery:An Idiot Abroad

References

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External Links

• An Idiot Abroad Unofficial Site
• An Idiot Abroad on Sky1 Official Site
• Internet Movie Database
• DVD at Amazon.co.uk
• Official An Idiot Abroad Podcast
• Interview about Idiot Abroad 2: The Bucket List in an Australian newspaper