Who Trolled Amber? - Introducing...The Price of Paradise

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

We are partnering with Wondery, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations like Who Trolled Amber. You can join Tortoise as a member to get early and ad-free access to new series and support our investigations at www.tortoisemedia.com/inviteIntroducing...The Price of ParadiseWhen ex-Bunny girl Jayne Gaskin spots the desert island of her dreams for sale online, she decides to risk it all. Trading in their English village home, Jayne and her family relocate to their own private paradise, just off the coast of Nicaragua. And a reality TV crew follows them to film a new show, No Going Back. But soon they all discover that paradise has its secrets. The locals claim the island belongs to them, and it’s been sold illegally. Jayne’s not leaving without a fight. A fight that will soon turn deadly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, it's Tomony from Tortoise. Let me tell you about a new true crime miniseries from Wondry, the network behind Ghost Story and Dr. Death. It's called The Price of Paradise, and it's the real life story of an island dream that ends in kidnap, corruption and murder. Have you ever felt like quitting your job and escaping to the desert island of your dreams?

Well, that's exactly what Jane Gaskin did and along with her partner Phil, her three kids and a reality TV crew she swapped her house in England for a tropical island which she bought online at a bargain price. But soon they all discover that paradise has its secrets because the locals claim that the island belongs to them. They say it's been sold illegally. And for Jane and Phil, family life is about to take a terrifying turn. We're about to play you a clip from the first episode hosted by Alice Levine. If you like what you hear, search and follow The Price of Paradise wherever you get

your podcasts. Or binge the entire season ad free by joining Wondry Plus on the Wondry app or Apple podcasts. Midnight in paradise. Endless stars and hot humid nights. A remote island off the coast of Nicaragua. An island that's been home to an English family from Hampshire for the past seven months. And for Jane Gaskin, this island has become her dream, her destiny. There's no going back, she says. Even if it all goes wrong and they end up penniless. But now, as Jane looks at her three children and her partner Phil, it's clear that something

has gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Gaskin family is huddled together in a small fishing boat in the middle of the night dressed in soggy pajamas, shivering and looming over them three masked men. Just an hour ago, Jane was putting the kids to bed, cleaning their teeth before they all crawled under their mosquito nets to sleep. When an armed gang threw open the door and marched them off their island and onto this boat. But what is it they want? Jane and Phil don't know. She squeezes her daughter's hand as one of their kidnappers raises his gun.

You need to get us a million dollars or someone will get hurt. Jane locks eyes with Phil. A million? They don't have that kind of cash. It feels hopeless. And that's when she spots what her husband is up to. Phil is turning a soggy box of matches over and over in his hand. Staring at Jane with a look, she recognizes.

Get ready. Phil whispers. For what? Jane asks. As one of the kidnappers bends down, Phil grabs a jerrycan from the corner and rips off the path. Phil hurls his arm forward and fuels showers down over their captors. Then he reaches into his pocket and strikes.

Then he reaches into his pocket and strikes. The boat ignites into a ball of fire. Jane grabs the kids and they leap overboard. Phil can see his hand is on fire, but he keeps pouring more fuel into the boat. Flames engulf two of the men. Then, as the fire rages, he drops the can and throws himself into the water, his burning arm extinguished in the shallows. Phil scrambles onto the shore

and catches up with Jane and the children as they all race into the darkness. Nobody dares look back, but they're not free. Not yet. As the family run through thick mangroves, dodging gunfire, one thought is racing through all their minds. How did their island paradise turn into this nightmare? nightmare.

From Wondery, I'm Alice Levine, host of British Scandal, and this is the Price of Paradise. Have you ever wanted to start again? Quit your job, leave town, build a brand new life somewhere new. You could hand in your notice to the boss you have always hated, bid goodbye to friends you've outgrown and the obligations of extended family could be a thing of the past. You could sprint into the sunset in search of your own slice of paradise, whatever that may be. I have to say I've been tempted to hit the reset button, not because of the friends and family bit, obviously, love you all, call

you soon, sorry I haven't replied to your text, but particularly on a grey winter's morning on the London Underground nestled in a stranger's armpit, sweating profusely in my outside layers. Yeah, I think about my choices, sure. Well this series is about two women who decided to do just that. Start again. Leave their old lives behind and risk everything to follow their dreams. They just happen to have bigger dreams than me. This is an informal disclaimer to let me off the hook. There will be moments in this story where you want to pull off your headphones and stamp on them and maybe cry out on the bus or in the car, no, and there might even be some swearing both in the programme and possibly in your car because a lot of things that happen

involving both of these women are pretty extreme. The first woman is ex-bunny girl Jane Gaskin. I think to understand Jane and all the wild things that happen to her, sometimes because of her, you need to understand where she's at when this all starts. And that's in January 2000, the beginning of the new millennium. Jane has just survived the millennium bug, good for her, and she's just made the mother of all resolutions. To leave absolutely everything she knows in England behind.