Thorpe dons wellies for TV contest

Former Indicia, G2 and Acxiom data chief Alan Thorpe has taken “gardening leave” to new heights after it emerged that he is vying for a semi-final place on The Big Allotment Challenge.
The BBC2 show, due to air again this week, was filmed last summer when Thorpe was on an enforced work-break after resigning from Indicia, before setting up Conversationglue.co.uk.
But while most people use the period in between jobs to put their feet up and recharge their batteries, green-fingered Thorpe decided to don his wellies and battle it out over the brassicas.
Over a period of six weeks, the show pits nine individual gardeners head to head in a competition hosted by Fern Britton. They have to show their prowess in fruit and veg, flowers and flower arranging and also make a variety of preserves designed to show off their produce.
Not that Thorpe has had it all his own way; in Episode 1 his shallot, mushroom and parsley sauce was branded “slimey”, although he did win praise for his strawberry lolly in Episode 2 and his peas were pipped to the post to “best in show” in Episode 3.
He explained: “An advert for the BBC2 show appeared in my gardening focused Twitter feed. As it happened, I was just about to resign from my job to launch www.conversationglue.co.uk. Tied to a period of ‘gardening’ leave I thought ‘why not make it real?’ The filming location is local to me, in an old walled garden that I’ve had my eyes on ‘as a project’ for years.”
Episode 5, in which the contestants will grow and show okra, turn helichrysums into “eye-catching table swags” and make “crunchy pickles and tasty chutneys”, airs this Friday (January 30) at 9pm on BBC2.

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