0:00

Have you ever felt like starting again? Quitting

0:02

your 9-5, skipping town and escaping

0:05

to the desert island of your

0:07

dreams? Well, that's exactly what

0:09

Jane, Phil and their three kids

0:11

did when they traded their English

0:13

home for a tropical island they

0:15

bought online, at a bargain price.

0:18

But soon they all discover that Paradise

0:20

has its secrets. Because

0:23

the locals claim the island belongs to them.

0:26

And they say it's been sold illegally.

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I'm Alice Levine, and from Wondery,

0:31

this is The Price of Paradise.

0:34

The real-life story of an island

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dream that turns into a living

0:38

nightmare. One which ends in

0:40

kidnap, corruption and

0:43

murder. I'm

0:45

about to play a clip from the first episode. If

0:47

you like what you hear, search and follow The

0:49

Price of Paradise wherever you listen to podcasts. Or

0:52

you can binge the entire season ad-free by subscribing

0:54

to Wondery Plus in The Wondery app, or

0:57

on Apple Podcasts. MUSIC

1:08

Midnight in Paradise. Endless

1:11

stars and hot humid nights.

1:15

A remote island off the coast of

1:17

Nicaragua. An island that's

1:19

been home to an English family from Hampshire

1:21

for the past seven months. And

1:24

for Jane Gaskin, this

1:26

island has become her dream. Her

1:29

destiny. There's no

1:31

going back, she says. Even

1:34

if it all goes wrong and they end

1:36

up penniless. But now,

1:38

as Jane looks at her three children

1:40

and her partner Phil, it's

1:43

clear that something has gone

1:45

terribly, terribly wrong. The

1:48

Gaskin family is huddled together in a small

1:50

fishing boat, in the middle of

1:52

the night, dressed in soggy pyjamas, shivering.

1:55

And looming over them,

1:57

three masked men. Just

2:00

an hour ago, Jane was putting the

2:02

kids to bed, cleaning their teeth, before

2:05

they all crawled under their most buconets to

2:07

sleep. When an armed

2:10

gang threw open the door and

2:12

marched them off their island and onto this

2:14

boat. But what is it they

2:16

want? Jane and Phil don't

2:19

know. She squeezes her

2:21

daughter's hand as one of their kidnappers

2:23

raises his gun. If you

2:25

need to get us a million dollars, or

2:27

someone will get hurt. Jane

2:30

locks eyes with Phil. A

2:33

million? They don't have that kind

2:35

of cash. It feels

2:37

hopeless. And that's when

2:39

she spots what her husband is up to. Phil

2:42

is turning a soggy box of matches over

2:45

and over in his hand. Wearing

2:47

at Jane with a look, she recognizes.

2:50

Get ready to

2:52

whisper. What? Jane

2:54

asks. As one of

2:57

the kidnappers hands down, Phil

2:59

grabs Jerry-Kown from the corner and

3:01

rips off the hat. Phil

3:04

hurls his arm forward as Phil is

3:06

showered down over the hat. Then

3:10

he reaches into his head and

3:13

strikes. Phil

3:17

hurls his arm forward as Phil. Jane

3:21

grabs his hand and looks over him.

3:26

Phil hurls his hand from his mind

3:29

and keeps drawing near Phil with a look. Phil

3:33

hurls his arm and strikes the other man. Phil

3:36

hurls his arm and strikes the other

3:38

man. Phil's

3:43

hand goes on

3:47

for sure and catches up with Jane and

3:49

the children as they all rest into the

3:52

darkness. Nobody dares look

3:54

back, but they're not free. And

4:00

when the German man is forging gun

4:03

fire, one thought is racing through all

4:05

of their minds. How did

4:07

their island paradise turn

4:09

into this nightmare? From

4:22

Wondery, I'm Alice Levine, host

4:25

of British Scandal. And this

4:27

is The Price of Paradise. Have

4:30

you ever wanted to start again? Quit

4:32

your job, leave town, build a brand

4:34

new life somewhere new. You could hand

4:36

in your notice to the boss you

4:38

have all worked with. And

4:40

you can do it. And you can do it. And

4:44

you can do it. And you can do it. And

4:49

you can do it. And you can do it. And

4:52

you can do it. And you

4:54

can do it. And you can

4:56

do it. You could

4:58

hand in your notice to the boss you

5:00

have always hated. Bid goodbye to friends you've

5:02

outgrown. And the obligations of extended

5:04

family could be a thing of the past. You

5:07

could sprint into the sunset in search of

5:09

your own slice of paradise. Whatever

5:11

that may be. I have to

5:13

say, I've been tempted to hit the reset button.

5:16

Not because of the friends and family bit. Obviously,

5:18

love you all. Call you soon. Sorry I haven't

5:20

replied to your text. But

5:22

particularly on a grey winter's morning,

5:24

on the London Underground, nestled in

5:27

a stranger's armpit, sweating profusely in

5:29

my outside layers. Yeah, I think

5:31

about my choices. Sure. Well,

5:33

this series is about two women who

5:36

decided to do just that. Start

5:38

again. Leave their old lives

5:40

behind. And risk everything to

5:42

follow their dreams. They just happen

5:45

to have bigger dreams than me. This is an

5:47

informal disclaimer to let me off the

5:49

hook. There will be moments in this story where you

5:51

want to pull off your headphones and stamp on them. And maybe

5:53

cry out on the bus or in the car.

5:57

No. And there might even be some more. swearing,

6:00

both in the programme and possibly in your

6:03

car, because a lot of things

6:05

that happen involving both of these women

6:08

are pretty extreme. The

6:12

first woman is ex-bunny girl

6:14

Jane Gaskin. I think

6:16

to understand Jane and all the wild things

6:19

that happen to her, sometimes because of her,

6:21

you need to understand where she's at when this

6:23

all starts. And

6:26

that's in January 2000, the beginning

6:28

of the new millennium. Jane

6:30

has just survived the Millennium Bug, good for her,

6:33

and she's just made the mother of

6:35

all resolutions to

6:37

leave absolutely everything she knows in England

6:40

behind. Follow

6:48

the price of paradise on the

6:50

Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever

6:52

you get your podcasts. You can

6:54

binge all episodes early and ad-free,

6:56

right now by joining Wondery Plus

6:58

in the Wondery app or on

7:00

Apple Podcasts.