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'Go Back Where You Came From': Polish Reality TV Show Retraces Refugee Routes

TVN television network announced that the new show will follow Polish participants as they make the journey from Germany to Iraq with next to nothing.
Sputnik

The show, which is called "Go Back Where You Came From" is based on an Australian show with the same name that aired from 2011 to 2015, featuring six different Polish nationals with different opinions on immigration making their way to the Middle East within a month. They will only be equipped with a passport, a cellphone, and some money. They will have to live like refugees and with refugees in the camps until they reach their destination. 

READ MORE: As Many as 20% of Refugees Return Home in Syria's Province of Hama — Governor

The TV show's producers said in their press release that “this will be one of the hardest journeys of their lives,” noting that the participants will have to travel through the territories of Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia before reaching Greece and boarding a boat which will deliver them across the Mediterranean Sea to the Middle East.

Although the show has yet to be released this fall in Poland, it has already been criticized for exploiting the topic of migration for commercial gain, NBC News reported. Bogdan Czaja, assistant program director at TVN, was quoted by Poland’s media industry "Press" as saying that the show aims to provide fresh insight on the migration crisis in Europe.

"We are aware that this is a politically sensitive and controversial issue," he said, "we want this [the show] to be part of the dialogue."

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The show aims to repeat the path refugees had taken during 2015 migration crisis, when they reached Europe’s shores in their flight from Daesh* terrorists. They start in Berlin and finish in camps of Kurdistan, meeting with the remaining refugees of different nations, including Sunnis and Iraqi Christians. Despite the show being branded as reality TV, the producers insist that it is a documentary.


*Daesh (also known as Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL or IS) is a terror organization, banned in Russia, US and many other countries

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