No one can say Bruce Parry doesn’t know how to make a TV comeback.
After more than a decade away from screens, the filmmaker and activist returned with a bang this weekend for a new series of Tribe on BBC Two.
The reboot certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted, however, because one scene in particular put pretty much everyone off their food.
Tonight, audiences saw 56-year-old Bruce travel into the Colombian Amazon to meet the Waimaha people.
There, he got stuck in with any and every domestic task, took his taste buds on a tropical adventure by eating their delicacies, and even explored the tribe’s medicinal practices.
At one point, local physician Pedro squeezed green juice from a lush leaf into Bruce’s eye, which, as you can expect, stung a fair bit.
The most challenging viewing came, though, after Bruce underwent ‘training’ before he was permitted to join the villagers at a ceremony for the forest sports.
In preparation for the sacred ritual, Bruce cleared his sinuses by snorting ground chili.
He then ingested a plant-based drink, called emetic leaf-water, intended to ‘purge’ his stomach.
And there was certainly a lot of purging involved for poor Bruce, who found himself up to his neck in the river in the dead of night, projectile vomiting like there was no tomorrow.
Several minutes of footage were included in the final cut as gallons of green gunk made their way out of his system.
Surprisingly, there was a sprinkling of comedic relief in the whole thing, as Pedro coached Bruce on how exactly he should be spewing his guts up.
Instead of heaving and spitting, Pedro instructed him to lean forward and simply let it all flow out, like turning on a tap.
So, now you know…
The scenes astounded viewers watching at home, who took to X with reactions while trying to enjoy some Mother’s Day treats.
User @OffTheBallMedia, whose name is Chris Williams, wrote: ‘I am watching #Tribe. There is quite a lot of vomiting. I was previously eating chocolates that the Current Mrs Williams was given for Mother’s Day. Not so keen now’.
‘That’s a LOT of sick, just as I’m having a slice of Victoria sponge cake and a nice cup of tea’, said @EdithBo11775637.
‘Bruce honking up on #Tribe is giving me flashbacks to outside Flamingo kebab house on a Friday night’, joked @cluckingduck170.
‘Flaming hell Bruce, we don’t need see 5 minutes of you and that other bloke puking! We know what vomiting is’, exclaimed a disgusted @truly_woolie.
Despite the unsettling nature of some scenes involving bodily functions, the ‘eye-opening’ episode received high praise from viewers on the whole.
@brandyapple described it as a ‘fascinating’ watch and said it was ‘amazing’ to see how Bruce was welcomed by the tribe.
@markmathewssong also hailed him as a ‘hero’ and declared, ‘The world is healing’ now Tribe has returned.
@pitlane_girl chimed in: ‘Can’t believe the original series started 20 years ago! I’ve missed this … psychoactive concoctions, cleansing rituals, and grub eating … and BP has matured like a fine wine’.
Others even suggested Bruce would ‘walk’ I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, having clearly taken tribal life in his stride and not been fazed by anything he ate.
Speaking ahead of the new series, Bruce sat down with Metro to reflect on the cultural practices he got involved in and his aim to be respectful to the Indigenous communities.
On approaching any rituals with zero prejudice, he shared: ‘Who the hell am I to judge these people anyway?
‘[Tribes] have almost no impact on their environment outside their own tiny space. They’re not the problem on the planet. They are not causing climate change.’
Bruce’s last docuseries, Arctic, aired on the BBC in 2011. He then took a step back for 14 years before making his long-awaited return.
Tribe airs Sundays on BBC Two and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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