Viewers have been left divided over Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure, which premiered on ITV on Friday night (20 June).
The show follows the Deal or No Deal presenter, 76, as he sets up a new life in New Zealand after ending his 50-year TV career. Edmonds moved to the country in 2018, after buying land in the quiet town of Ngatimoti, where he and his wife Liz established a hospitality business called River Haven.
Released in three parts, the reality documentary series sheds light on the Edmonds’ lifestyle and personal exploits as he strives to make a success out of his new bar-restaurant.
The show has been released to a mixed reaction from ITV viewers, with one calling it “laughable for all the wrong reasons”.
“Noel's a man clearly surrounded by sycophants for decades and never told, no!” they said.
“When he says the statue represents ‘all the marginalised’ – f**k me! He's a multimillionaire! How is he ‘marginalised’?! Beyond cringe!”
The viewer’s comments were in reference to the giant metal statue of a knight he named “The Guardian”. It was commissioned by the star to symbolise his legal fight against Lloyds bank, which ended with him receiving a reported £5m payout in 2019.
Edmonds sued HBOS, Lloyds’ former lender, after fraud at the company coincided with the closure of his business. He has previously said the experience pushed him to the “brink of suicide”.
Other viewers criticised the series, with some even mistaking it for a “mockumentary”.
Some appreciated Edmonds’ quirkiness, however, with one fan writing: “He’s always been a bit eccentric and he’s not afraid to show it. It’s like a slower paced Clarkson’s Farm, I see the haters are piling on, but they haven’t even achieved 25 per cent of what he’s done.”
Edmonds was praised by some viewers for candidly sharing his mental health struggles
The Independent’s Phil Harrison summarised some of the show’s most notable moments, writing: “It’s a long road and along the way we learn many things.
“We learn that Noel considers Liz to be ‘an earth angel…I believe she was a gift from the cosmos’. That he considers his fancy nail gun to be ‘a sex toy’. That Edmonds has a ‘crystal bed’ (literally a bed with some crystals suspended above it) to which he partly attributes his amazing longevity.
“That he has a workout regime he calls ‘Tranquil Power’. And that he has a nickname for his private parts (Mr Happy and the Twins).”
All three episodes of Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure are available to watch on ITVX now.
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