Tribal Wives, ITV1

12:10pm Thursday 26th June 2008

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I WANT to be a tribal wife! Because after watching frazzled ‘slave-to-my-Blackberry’ single mum Karen Morris spend a month with the Waorani tribe of Ecuador on ITV’s Tribal Wives last night it seems better than a stint in the priory.

The forty-something workaholic from Milton Keynes went in stressed up to the eyeballs and after taking part in boar hunts, bathing in piranha-infested waters and being accepted as one of the tribe (they even gave her a special nickname) she was a changed woman.

Better still, she seemed to find her identity.

Of course life in the Ecuadorian jungle wasn’t easy.

“This is the toilet,” said Karen, pointing to a slippery log over a maggot-infested bog, during a tour of the camp.

“... and this is exactly what you do,” she demonstrated squatting precariously on the log.

“But obviously you’re as quick as you can be so you don’t get bitten by mosquitos.”

The food wasn’t up to much either – all weird jungle fruits that needed to be boiled, chewed-up and then spat out (into a communal bowl) before it could be served.

When Karen showed her new mates a photograph of the food she usually ate they weren't impressed either.

“If I come to visit you, I won’t be able to eat this food,” said one bare-chested woman. “Our food is all natural and tasty.”

But aside from the challenges of tribal life (and the fact you have to be topless at all times) it certainly looked better than the nine-to-five most of us are used to.