Last Brit Standing backlash bashes BBC for misrepresentation

Taking it lying down: the BBC’s documentary has attracted criticism from outraged British expats.

The BBC’s one-eyed take on life on the Costa del Sol (Costa del Sol: Last Brit Standing) has been battered with a predictable backlash of indignation from the thousands of Brits living there happily, reports UK newspaper the Guardian…

In wholly unsurprising developments, British expats who felt that the show unfairly portrayed what life is really like on the Costa del Sol have bombarded comments sections and message boards on popular mediums across Europe, including our own here at VIVA, to denigrate the ‘documentary’.

On VIVA’s blog, RefillBill wrote: “Shame on the BBC for a bloody awful and blatantly untrue view of the Costa.” Natalie Hamilton added: “The Brits are fun-loving but respectful of the local culture and way of life, and the Spaniards are wonderfully warm and welcoming people. None of this came through in the programme. I’m disappointed with the BBC.”

Natalie and RefillBill were not alone, however. Barbara Mora of Spanish online television news site Vertele wrote that the show “paints a picture of Spain as a cruel place, facing off against a British colony,” reports the Guardian, adding that Mora also described last week’s documentary as a “manipulated, out-of-date report that doesn’t bring anything new to the table, just irritation.”

As reported on VIVA’s own review of the show, Last Brit Standing appeared to cherry-pick only those Spaniards who seemed to have an axe to grind against the tourism that has made the Costa del Sol the place it is today, with the Guardian noting a similar theme on Twitter.

“It should be labelled science fiction rather than a documentary,” wrote one Twitter user, while another said: “Come April every year and we have the traditional and charming campaign of the BBC against tourism in Spain.”

According to commentators on VIVA and in Spain’s La Vanguardia newspaper, there have been accusations that the BBC fed many of the characters the script, hoping to pitch two opposing cultures against one another and to misrepresent the realities of the recent economic crisis – including the oft-quoted claim that Brits are leaving in their droves.

Again, as regularly reported by VIVA and also Spanish daily ABC, foreign visitor numbers to Spain are on the rise, with more than 15 million Brits visiting the country in 2014 alone.

According to ABC, the BBC’s most impressive feat was to “turn Brits and Spaniards into enemies in just 55 minutes”, washing away decades of goodwill, immigration, emigration and collaboration between the two countries.

So it just goes to show – do not believe everything you see on TV. If you are curious about the Costa del Sol, come and see it for yourself!