A few weeks ago we wrote about the banker who was so desperate to quit smoking that he marooned himself on a remote Scottish island with only some whisky, books and a few sheep to keep him distracted.
For those of you who were waiting with baited breath to see how he fared – and whether this rather original stop-smoking tactic works – Geoff Spice has now left the island. Sadly, Mr. Spice left the island a week early but says that having beaten his personal record for going without cigarettes, he felt he no longer had to endure his trial on the island of Sgarabhaigh in the Sound of Harris.
He went for three weeks without electricity, running water and lived in a tent. He said that after enduring buffeting winds and miserable weather, he felt that the time had come to return to the comforts of home.
In the diary he kept, he reported that the only wildlife he saw was midges, earwigs and an unfortunate plague of flying ants.
Mr Spice decided to quit smoking to live longer and spend more time with his wife and three children. Having tried all the cures on the market and failed, he felt that the extreme survival trial was the only thing that might work.
But did it? Well, after spending £800 to live like Bear Grylls and enjoy such experiences as nearly seeing his tent blow away in gale-force winds, he believes it has. He said he ‘feels he has cracked the smoking side’ and recommended that Prince Harry, who reportedly has started smoking again, should try it for a week.