Spencer Matthews: Finding Michael *MNHQ adding spoiler alert on this one*

Yeah, it was dependant on them it finding Michael.

He said to his brother that they were still hoping to find him, but if not would like to help his family out instead

I don’t think you understand how dangerous and freakishly expensive it is to get bodies off the mountain — people have died in the past trying to retrieve a body — and that all climbers sign something that says to try and repatriate them/get them to somewhere they can be cremated, or to leave them on the mountain. Many opt to be left. Climbers are realists, mostly. They will have had to consider the risks well in advance, and to have made a decision.

Litter and overcrowding is another, not unrelated matter, of course.

Apparently it was edited at the very last minute (they pushed the release date back a couple of days when Spencer was already doing press about the show) to remove the bodies - they were visible in the original edit.

It’s not my usual sort of programme but it was quite interesting - the way they matched up the search on the mountain with the old video footage of his brother was very poignant.

i was quite shocked by the amount of bodies clearly just lying around…I knew it on an intellectual level but to see / hear about it in the programme was quite startling.

I cannot understand why people climb it

@Moonicorn Modern Nepal is very different from 1990s Nepal. Many people have gravitated rom rural areas like Solukhumbu to towns and cities, particularly Kathmandu. My closest friend from my time there has a very impressive job in Kathmandu, despite coming from the sort of background in which you might imagine there was no choice at all. Her mother died of TB. Unthinkable these days.

'Because it's there' was George Mallory, I think? Who was only found in the nineties, having climbed in the twenties.

I may have my time.frames a bit off there, but not by much.

@Moonicorn thought so, just checking own memory!

🙄

I’m struggling to see what the ‘important issue’ is with rich people who choose to go mountain climbing? ‘Let them all die’ is pithy but doesn’t answer my question.

DH was horrified there were so many bodies just laying around and after some Googling , it seems they are just literally scattered around even on the routes people pass .

We were there a few years ago just for a 12 day holiday. In just those 12 days time five people died. They let anyone go up as long as they can pay the licence and they keep increasing the number of passes because they want the money. The people going up are in a long line and they're just not accustomed to atmosphere. You could see on the film and photos they showed, people just walking past the dead bodies, filing their way to get to the top. But, reasonably, what else could they do? There's just no way to take them back down without serious risk to yourself. The Nepalese officials said they would get them removed but who knows.

I've just watched it. I've read up about Everest a while ago and so wasn't surprised by the number of bodies up there.

You should watch this before giving judgement.

I guess he was trying to do this for closure, the same as somebody wanting to retrieve a body in a murder case etc. Unless you've lost somebody dear to you and not had their body to bury/cremate then it would be hard for you to appreciate the loss. If you watch the documentary you will be able to witness the closure that it brings another family by retrieving the body.

I thought it was a very moving documentary and whilst I didn't previously like Spencer or Vogue, he comes across very likeable in the documentary and I had nothing but sympathy for him and his family. Having read up about Sherpas previously I also had a lot of respect for the hard work they did too and am glad that Spencer was able to honour a Sherpa family at the end.

I understand why you would want to find your brothers body, but it seems disrespectful and strange to be filmed doing so.

I don't think sherpas are offered so much that they are rolling in it and living extravagant lifestyles considering the massive levels of risk they take on every time they go to Everest. Lots of sherpas are killed in the process and there's also issues with how easy it is to pay for access to Everest and more ill-equipped and inexperienced climbers are paying for access every year which puts the sherpas in increasingly dangerous positions such as the climbing tourist refusing to turn back on the sherpas advice leaving the sherpa to decide to leave them to die or continue with them and maybe die themselves. The money they get makes a difference but its still exploitative. They also rarely get credit for their involvement in record setting etc.

I haven’t watched it but I’d really like to! It must be so difficult to think about your big brother just being out there. I’m sure if anyone else had the time, money and access to a film crew they would do the same as Spencer.

He has really mellowed since being in MIC. He’s completely sober now which must make a big difference. Also I think a lot of his behaviour on the show was an act..

YANBU

It's extremely distasteful. The family are not short of money so could have done this privately but it's all about the media and £££s for Spencer.

That may sound harsh but family friends lost their son on Everest and would never have turned their numerous searches for his body into a media circus.

100% agree, it's a very 'my life is worth more than yours' vibe

These Made in Chelsea reality TV Z listers are really grating.

Also totally fed of hearing his ex girlfriend Louise Thompson bang on every week in the papers about how she nearly died in childbirth (almost 2 years ago) and how she somehow has a new illness every week. She's very irritating and you can tell she just loves all the attention and seeks it all the time.

Oh god is that how it comes across? I haven’t watched it so I don’t know!

Me too

My gosh that poor little girl crying when her deceased father was brought back down 😢😢😢

YABU and ignorant for judging it before you see it.

Well I watched it.

I didn’t like the fact that it was basically a very rich family paying a bunch of people to repeatedly risk their lives and go into the death zone to bring back a body that’s been fine where it is for more than 20 years.

I didn’t like the way the referred to all the deceased climbers whose remains are on the mountains as “dead bodies” like they’re not even people any more. Oh, here’s a dead body, there’s another dead body. And then rummaging around digging up parts of them looking for a fucking Rolex and then leaving them again.

I didn’t like the way they filmed that poor distraught little girl. It felt almost coercive, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the offer to retrieve the Sherpa’s body hadn’t been at least partly conditional on the family allowing filming of the children and the funeral.

The Last Mountain is a fascinating film. Mother and son mountain climbers.