But his latest adventure, to the off-grid "Utopia" of Slab City, in the scorching Californian desert, is his most eye-opening yet.

In Ben Fogle and the Lost City, which airs on Channel 5 in the UK tomorrow, the presenter meets people who have dropped out of society to live alternative lives as rock stars, pirates, mermaids and circus ringleaders.

He also hears how a married couple fled to the desert to escape a murderous ex who stabbed them both several times, and are now living as a 'throuple' with another resident.

But beneath the bohemian surface of the community, there's an undeniably dark side, where heroin and meth addiction is rife.

Tragically, 17 people have died from heatstroke, overdoses or murder in the last year.