FURNITURE designer Tim Hitchens ended up learning how to kill and gut a chicken and paddle a raft across eight miles of Pacific Ocean as part of C4's Shipwrecked II programme.

Mr Hitchens, 25, the son of former Calne Mayor Elizabeth Hitchens, spent three months on Nuku Island, about eight miles off the coast of Tonga, in the Pacific Ocean,last year.

Mr Hitchens, with 16 others, braved unpredictable weather, food which was mostly rice and cabbage, and went without home comforts like television, radio, or even a watch.

And the nation tuned in four times a week to watch the real-life Robinson Crusoe adventure.

"It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life," said Mr Hitchens, who now lives in Kensal Green, London.

He said people most often asked him about the time he gave up his place on the first ration-run to the mainland to the Australian Dharma, known as Dee.

"Everyone voted on who should go on the run, which was paddling a boat to Tonga to get food, and Dee made quite an emotional case why he should be picked," he said. "When he didn't get picked he cried. It was his birthday and I gave my place up for him."

The following week, Mr Hitchens got his chance to go on the ration-run.

The group were given 50 Tongan dollars to buy food by the programme's producers.

"That was barely enough to buy a loaf of bread so we sold Jodie's boat, which was a bit harsh, but we got 140 dollars," he said.

"The programme made it look like we spent all that money on beer but we brought back onions and 14 litres of red wine, and also got a free crate of beer."

The group were on the mainland for four days, during which time they sneaked a shower at the home of one of the show's cameramen, and Mr Hitchens also made a quick phone call to his mother and his girlfriend, Sophie.

He applied for the show's second series last February, and, armed with three luxury items of a hammock, a frisbee and sketchbook, was taken to the island.

All the participants had been shown how to look after themselves, including how to kill and gut a chicken.

"That wasn't very nice but we needed to know," said Mr Hitchens. "There was a cabbage patch the programme's producers had set up which we just had to water to get food, and we were given food the first few weeks, although it was mostly rice and beetroot.

"One day Tony caught a couple of octopuses, diving into the sea and stabbing them. They tried to ink him but he even took his shorts off to grab one."

On another occasion, Mr Hitchens said, he, Andy and Kevin swam to an island called Pangomoto, about 20 minutes away.

"We saw this pig and although we didn't say it we all saw a good meal and we all wanted to catch it," he said.

"When we got close it ran off and we made a mad chase but didn't catch it."

He said romance failed to blossom between the Shipwrecked stars,.

Jodie and an Australian girl Larissa became friendly, but Larissa left the island about halfway through, when she was overcome by homesickness.

She was one of three members of the team to leave before the end.

"Everyone got on well," said Mr Hitchens.

"Having no music was terrible but if I wanted to get away from some of the others I went to a tree house I built. It was about 20-feet up and sometimes I would walk along the branches."

"It was not so much a case of being left to our own devices, as being part of a social experiment, seeing how we'd get on. If given the chance, I'd do it again."

Now back in London, Mr Hitchens is getting used to the trappings of stardom. "The other night I judged a beauty contest at the Hammersmith Palais," he said.