this is our reality

The Journey, by Youth Ambassador Grmalem

Media Ambassador Rishan gives her view on Channel 4’s Go Back to Where You Came From, a reality show following six “opininated Brits” as they replicate refugee journeys to the UK.

As someone who came to the UK as a refugee, I watched Go Back to Where You Came From with mixed emotions. While the programme sheds light on the hardships refugees face, it doesn’t fully capture the reality of what it means to flee your home, leaving behind everything and everyone you love. It’s an attempt at understanding, but it’s still just an experience for a television audience, not real life.

The participants travel dangerous routes, but they do so with the safety net of cameras and production teams, plus the knowledge that they will return to their normal lives. Unlike real refugees, they don’t have families to worry about back home, wondering if their loved ones are alive or if they’ll ever be reunited. They don’t have to carry the deep, lasting trauma of war, persecution, or loss. And while they feel moments of fear, they are never truly at risk. Their journey has a clear end, while for many refugees, the uncertainty never stops - even after reaching a so-called “safe” country.

While important in starting conversations, a programme like this does more harm than good. It is creating a simplified version of the refugee experience, one that ends when the cameras stop rolling. But for us, the struggle doesn’t end when we cross a border. It continues in detention centres, in hostile immigration policies, in the fight to be accepted and treated with dignity. 

If people truly want to understand what it means to be a refugee, it’s not enough to walk in our shoes for a few weeks. They must listen to our voices, recognise our pain and - most importantly - take action to create real change. Because for us, this is not just an "experiment”, this is our reality.