Skip to content

Dad 'gets son back' by appearing on jungle TV show

ESJD A boy with wavy blonde hair and a stone coloured t shirt stands back to back with a man in a white t shirt and brown capESJD
Roka (left) and Ben (right) Crosby adventured into the jungles of Central America as part of television show Into The Jungle with Ed Stafford

A father said he reconnected with his youngest son after the duo participated in a TV show.

Ben Crosby and son Roka, 15, from Towcester, Northamptonshire, appeared on Into The Jungle with Ed Stafford to rebuild their bond after family issues.

Mr Crosby admitted his relationship with Roka "had taken a back seat", due to caring responsibilities for his wife, who has Addison's disease, and his elder son, Noah, who sustained a spinal injury in a motocross accident.

After their adventure, Mr Crosby said: "I feel like I've got my pre-Noah Roka back."

Getty A bald man in a white shirt and pin stripe blazer stands against a wallGetty
Television presenter and explorer Ed Stafford helped the family acclimatise to jungle life

The Channel 4 programme took the father-son team on a series of expeditions in the Belizean jungle alongside other families.

Ben applied to the show after realising he "wasn't around [for Roka] at all" due to his caregiving responsibilities.

His other son, Noah, was paralysed in a motocross accident aged 16.

Seeing an advert on Instagram, he felt the show was a chance to "get back all the time missed".

Out of more than 5,000 applications, the pair were selected to participate.

Reflecting on their time in Belize, Roka described the experience as "incredible", noting the stark differences in "the food, the weather, the animals".

Mr Crosby said the experience meant he had "achieved" his goal of reconnecting with his son, adding, "I went out there to break through that shell and get Roka back".

Into the Jungle with Ed Stafford stars a local father and son

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More like this