CASTAWAY 2000 --THE MOST EXPENSIVE SLIMMING CLUB IN THE WORLD

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THE MOST EXPENSIVE SLIMMING CLUB IN THE WORLD

FURIOUS Ron Copsey , attacked some of the castaways still on Taransay saying he would not share a doner kebab with them - never mind an island!
Claiming to be a stone and a half lighter than he was in January, Copsey, who stormed off the Hebridean island on Saturday, slammed the entire Castaway 2000 project as the most expensive slimming club in the world.
The trainee psychotherapist would not say which of the 34 people still living on the Hebridean island for the rest of the year had upset him.
But he hinted strongly at bitter clashes on the island a mile and a half off the Isle of Harris.
The outspoken and flamboyant ex-castaway flew out of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis yesterday saying he was now going to resume his degree and have a think about whether he should spill the beans about what was really happening on Taransay.
On Saturday, the 43-year-old Twickenham-based former actor and Kew Gardens worker arrived back in Tarbert on neighbouring Harris and told pub regulars: "There are too many of the castaways trying to be the boss for the TV cameras.
"There is a massive ego problem out there. I just got sick of it."
Since he left the island on Saturday, Copsey had been looked after at the Harris Hotel in Tarbert by Mark McCrum, a Scots author, who is writing the authorised Castaway 2000 book to go with the TV series.
McCrum had just happened to be on Taransay on Saturday morning when Copsey demanded a boat to take him off. The writer acted as makers Lion Television's agent looking after Copsey in the hotel and keeping reporters at bay.
McCrum has now returned to the island to continue his research.
Glasgow-based Castaway 2000 programme producer Chris Kelly flew to the Western Isles in the morning to meet Copsey and hear his woes in person.
Afterwards, in a prepared statement, the former castaway told reporters: "It is with great regret that I leave Taransay which for many different reasons had become a very special experience and also an experience that was quite a nightmare.
"I will forever be grateful to the most expensive slimming club in the world."
He then explained that by saying he was a stone and half lighter but refused to go into detail about the quality of the food on the island.
Copsey has always been openly-gay on the island but he refused to comment on speculation that his sexuality had been a major cause of tension on the island.
Fellow castaways include a family of devout Seventh Day Adventists.
"I am saying nothing more at the moment," he insisted.
Chris Kelly, in a reference to the media scramble when Lancashire builder Ray Bowyer, 59, quit Taransay in March after doing a secret deal with a newspaper, said: "This is very different. Ron has decided he has had enough of life on the island and we respect his decision.
"Yes, Ron is going but this is an amicable parting. We are sorry to see him go.
"He has contributed a lot to the appeal of the programme."
As he posed for pictures with his new, young collie dog, Booboo, one of the famous Taransay pups born on Valentine's Day, Copsey was again asked who he did not get on with on Taransay.
Anger suddenly flashed in his eyes as he hissed: "It's like this. There are people I love on that island and there are people I like.
"There are other people who I would not share a doner kebab with - never mind an island! Do you understand?"
After that emotional outburst, he then insisted that most of his fellow castaways were decent people.
"They all gathered on the beach to say goodbye to me - with two exceptions. "Fine, that's life," he shrugged.
Chris Kelly then claimed that neither Lion Television nor BBC Scotland had gagged Copsey and that he was free to go into detail about his troubles on Taransay if he wished.
But Copsey said: "There's plenty I could say. I am going to go home and think about things for a while. Then I may say something.
"But that is all in the future."
He also said he hoped to resume his degree studies from which he had taken a sabbatical.
"I have lost a lot of time already and people who were with me on the course when we began will now be a year ahead of me. I have a lot of work to do."
The ex-castaway flew out of Stornoway in the late afternoon accompanied by Chris Kelly.
He hinted he would not be going straight home to Twickenham and would be having "a few days rest somewhere".

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