By Grace Henry

Published: Monday, 21 March 2022 at 12:00 am

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Ever wondered what it’d be like to live without any of your modern luxuries – a phone, social media and the World Wide Web? Well, 24 Brits are about to find out in Channel 4’s new reality series, The Simpler Life.

Coming to the network this March, the six-part series will see groups of people living by the rule of a community who chose to disregard the majority of modern values – the Amish.

With the help of an Amish family of five from Ohio, which is home to the largest Amish community, they’ll live off-grid on a 40-acre farm and have to fend for themselves.

So, when does The Simpler Life start? Has the cast been announced? And what can viewers expect?

Here’s everything you need to know about The Simpler Life, as it comes to Channel 4.

The Simpler Life release date

The Simpler Life starts on Channel 4 on Tuesday, 22nd March at 9:15pm, straight after the new season of The Great Celebrity Bake Off.

What is The Simpler Life about?

The new series will see 24 British contributors swapping their everyday lives to live by the rules of the Amish community, a traditionalist Christian church fellowship, who are known for their simple living and rural life values.

They will be joined in an idyllic countryside backdrop by an Amish family of five from Ohio.

Together they will live off-grid on a 40-acre farm complete with a lake and a wood but without their phones, any form of technology, mains electricity or gas.

They will be required to raise a barn and build a pig ark for the impending arrival of their livestock in addition to harvesting over three acres of hay – all in the traditional Amish way, without mechanisation.

The community will also need to travel into the local town via horse and cart for supplies and to trade or sell results of the cottage industries they have started. The Amish family will offer the community advice on the day-to-day lifestyle as well as guidance on how to live simply – and ultimately how to find happiness with a more humble existence.

The project will be overseen by world renowned psychologist Barry Schwartz who, in his bestselling book, The Paradox of Choice, argued that rather than bringing us happiness, the choices available to us in modern life only make us feel more stressed and that too much choice makes us unhappy.

The Simpler Life cast

The 24 contributors includes a social media content creator, a Norfolk rapper, a former soldier, twin brothers from South London and a gay couple – one of whom is head of nursing operations across three NHS hospitals and the other an ex-army medic – with their two adopted children.

You can see a full list below:

• Penny, 44, and her daughters Dilara, 15, and Azara, nine, from South London
• Kevin, 25, from Wigan
• Brother and sister Jacob, 21, and Poppy, 16, from Manchester
• Twin brothers Jamie and Jerome, 21, from South London
• Couple Joseph, 34, and Victoria, 28, from West London
• Harry, 40, from Gloucestershire
• Maty, 24 from Bristol
• Fran, 33, from Liverpool
• Couple Andrew, 53, and Gary, 50, and adopted sons Ki, 11, and Tommy, six, from Portsmouth
• Engaged couple Darren, 48, and Hazel, 52, from Bradford
• Toby, 56, from Lincolnshire
• Couple Frankie, 35, and Keely, 32, and children Dylan, 10 and Dolcie, eight, from Norfolk

Who are the Amish family on The Simpler Life?

Channel 4

Lloyd, 55, and Edna, also 55, are from Millersburg, Ohio. They have been married 34 years, have six children and seven grandchildren.

They own and live on an organic dairy farm in Ohio where they own 60 cows. A typical day for the Millers begins at 3:30am with the milking of their cows, something they do every 12 hours.

Three of their children – Judy, 20, Japheth, 22, and Jerald, 25 – have joined them for the show. Both Judy and Japheth live on the farm with their parents, where they assist with day-to-day tasks.

Is there a trailer for The Simpler Life?

There is, and we can’t wait to tune in to the first episode!

You can watch the clip below: