0:00

Have you ever felt like starting again?

0:02

Quitting your 9-5, skipping town, and escaping

0:04

to the desert island of your dreams?

0:06

Well, that's exactly what Jane, Phil, and

0:09

their three kids did when they traded

0:11

their English home for a tropical island

0:13

they bought online at a bargain price.

0:15

But soon they all discover that Paradise

0:17

has its secrets, because the locals claim

0:19

the islands belong to them, and they

0:21

say it's been sold illegally. From

0:24

Wandery, this is the price of Paradise,

0:26

the real-life story of an island dream

0:28

that turns into a living nightmare, one

0:30

which leads to kidnap, corruption, and murder.

0:32

You're about to hear a clip from

0:34

the first episode, and if you like

0:36

what you hear, search for and follow

0:38

The Price of Paradise wherever you listen

0:40

to podcasts. Or you can binge the

0:42

entire season ad-free by subscribing to Wandery

0:44

Plus and the Wandery app or on

0:46

Apple Podcasts. Midnight

0:57

in Paradise. Endless

1:00

stars and hot humid nights.

1:03

A remote island off the coast of

1:06

Nicaragua, an island that's

1:08

been home to an English family from Hampshire

1:10

for the past seven months. And

1:13

for Jane Gaskin, this

1:15

island has become her dream, her

1:18

destiny. There's no

1:20

going back, she says, even

1:23

if it all goes wrong and they end

1:25

up penniless. But now,

1:27

as Jane looks at her three children

1:29

and her partner Phil, it's

1:31

clear that something has gone

1:34

terribly, terribly wrong. The

1:36

Gaskin family is huddled together in a small

1:39

fishing boat, in the middle of

1:41

the night, dressed in soggy pyjamas, shivering

1:44

and looming over them,

1:46

three masked men. Just

1:49

an hour ago, Jane was putting the

1:51

kids to bed, cleaning their teeth before

1:54

they all crawled under their mosquito nets to

1:57

sleep. When an armed gang

1:59

threw open the door, and march

2:01

them off their island and onto this

2:03

boat. But what is it they

2:05

want? Jane and Phil don't

2:07

know. She squeezes

2:09

her daughter's hand as one of their

2:11

kidnappers. Waver's is gone. You

2:14

need to get us a million dollars, or

2:16

someone will get hurt. Jane

2:19

locked eyes with Phil. A

2:21

million? They don't have that kind of

2:23

cash. It feels hope. And

2:27

that's when she spots what her husband is up to.

2:30

Phil is turning a soggy box of matches

2:33

over and over in a tent. Staring

2:36

at Jane with a look, she recognizes. Get

2:40

ready, she whispers. What?

2:43

Jane asks. As one

2:45

of the kidnappers runs out, Phil

2:47

grabs Jerry-town from the corner and rips

2:50

his hand. Phil

2:53

curls his arm forward and feels his

2:55

shower down over the captain. And

2:59

he reaches into his pocket. I'm

3:02

right. Then

3:06

she knocks him for all of my... Jane

3:10

grabs the concern and they loop over them.

3:15

Phil can see his hands on fire,

3:17

but he keeps pouring their fuel into the boat.

3:21

Jane inhales through the men. Then,

3:24

as the fire rages, he chops

3:27

the can and throws himself

3:29

into the water. He's burning

3:31

an arm extinguished in the shower. Phil's

3:35

hand goes on for sure and catches up with

3:37

Jane and the children as they all

3:39

race into the darkness. Nobody

3:42

dares not that. But they're not

3:44

free, not dead. As

3:47

the family runs through sick mountains, searching

3:50

gunfire, one thought

3:52

is racing through all their minds.

3:55

How did their island paradise turn

3:58

into this nightmare? From

4:11

Wandery, I'm Alice Levine, host

4:13

of British Scandal, and this

4:16

is the Price of Paradise. Have

4:39

you ever wanted to start again?

4:41

Quit your job, leave town, build

4:44

a brand new life somewhere new. You

4:46

could hand in your notice to the boss

4:49

you have always hated, bid goodbye to friends

4:51

you've outgrown, and the obligations of extended family

4:53

could be a thing of the past. You

4:56

could sprint into the sunset in search

4:58

of your own slice of paradise, whatever

5:00

that may be. I have to say,

5:02

I've been tempted to hit the reset

5:05

button, not because of the friends and

5:07

family bit, obviously, love you all, call

5:09

you soon, sorry I haven't replied to

5:11

your text, but particularly on a grey

5:13

winter's morning, on the London Underground, nestled

5:16

in a stranger's armpit, sweating profusely in

5:18

my outside layers, yeah, I think

5:20

about my choices, sure. Well,

5:22

this series is about two women who

5:25

decided to do just that. Start

5:27

again, leave their old

5:29

lives behind, and risk everything to

5:31

follow their dreams. They just

5:33

happen to have bigger dreams than me. This

5:36

is an informal disclaimer to let me off

5:38

the hook. There will be moments in this

5:40

story where you want to pull off your

5:42

headphones and stamp on them, and

5:44

maybe cry out on the bus or in the car,

5:46

no, and there might even be

5:48

some swearing, both in the programme

5:50

and possibly in your car, because

5:53

a lot of things that happen involving both

5:55

of these women are pretty

5:57

extreme. The

6:01

first woman is ex-bunny girl

6:03

Jane Gaskin. I think

6:05

to understand Jane and all the wild things

6:07

that happen to her, sometimes because of her,

6:10

you need to understand where she's at when this

6:12

all starts. And

6:14

that's in January 2000, the beginning

6:17

of the new millennium. Jane

6:19

has just survived the millennium bug, good for her,

6:22

and she's just made the mother of

6:24

all resolutions to

6:26

leave absolutely everything she knows in England

6:29

behind.