Dawn Porter: Free Lover

Dawn Porter

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Following the debut of her new series on Channel 4 last night, presenter Dawn Porter recounts her experiences of filming at a free love commune in Germany.

[Scroll down to view a trailer for the series]

Whoever would have thought that one day I would fly into Germany and feel like I was coming home?

But as we flew high above the Atlantic and into Europe, the pleasing pull of a more romantic continent made me wish I was coming back for good. The air is cleaner, the stars fill the sky at night, and I feel under absolutely no pressure to buy a burger.

This week we have been filming with a 'free love' community in Germany. It was a jam-packed week of embarrassing interviews, vegetarian food, and an extortionate amount of shameless and unacknowledged farting.

In an eco-village that thrives on nature, I had to quickly learn to ignore the aromatic bowel growls of my contributors, and develop a strategy mostly based on denial, to deal with the uncomfortable moments when the person with whom I was conversing, let rip an almighty windy pop.

For me, this week was all about trust - not only the trust that they wouldn't follow through, but more that I had access to a community who have had very unpleasant experiences with the media, and who were so wary of me that with one wrong word I could have been out.

Their first impressions were dubious. As I was shown around the grounds in my '60s disco wear, they looked on with trepidation from the comfort of their hemp sweaters. 

After several group forums, they finally welcomed me in and I can quite comfortably say that I have never completed a shoot with such a feeling of achievement in my career so far. I pushed them and pushed myself beyond any pre-set boundaries.

Any disparagement I have caused in the past for not going the full monty… you won't be disappointed.

This time, I got my boobs out properly, and slopped around naked in a ring full of hot sunflower oil with approximately 12 other naked men and women.

I am not really sure I will ever top that moment in my career. Although I am sure TPG [Tall Posh Guy, Simon Andreae, president and CEO of indie The Incubator] is racking his brains, thinking of what we can do next.

I can't say that I was drawn to become a part of their community. Rewarding as it was to spend a week with them, there are only so many hugs with hairy strangers that I can handle in one lifetime and by the end I was pining for my space.

But the art of transparency and their quest to live in a safe and anger free world that doesn't damage our planet was admirable in many ways. Yet as far as the Free Love goes, it wasn't quite the sex fest I had hoped for.

The reality of it was extremely complicated interrelationship dynamics, and a community fuelled primarily by methane. Parrrrp!

Dawn Porter: Free Lover aired on C4 last night. The next instalment, Dawn Porter: Mail Order Bride, will air next Tuesday (7 October) at 10pm.

This blog was originally uploaded on 22 April.

Click here to browse Dawn's series of blogs for Broadcastnow.