Escape To The Country fans slam 'out of touch' BBC show as they 'switch off'

Escape to the Country: Linford Christie has £2million budget

Olympian Linford Christie was the first well known face seeking a rural property on the new series of BBC's Celebrity Escape To The Country but viewers took umbrage with his property search in the midst of the cost of living crisis.

The legendary athlete and his daughter Briannah were shown properties in the rolling hills of the Chilterns by property expert Alistair Appleton.

Fellow Olympian Colin Jackson was on hand to explain Linford's wish list for any potential new property. He required a detached home with four bedrooms, ideally all ensuite.

Given his love of cooking and entertaining he was hoping to have an open plan kitchen and dining area. He also wanted a large garden which would feed into his love of hosting family and friends.

One pre-requisite was it must be a commutable distance to Brunel University where the retired track star trains the next generation of athletes and potential Olympic champions. For a property meeting his criteria he had an impressive budet of £2 million.

READ MORE: Escape To The Country couple make most extreme move ever as host in show first [=]

Colin Jackson explained Linford Christie's property wish list on Celebrity Escape To The Country (Image: BBC)

Viewers felt the criteria and budget was not akin to the average person and took to X to complain.

One fan raged: "£2 million budget. P*** off BBC, the regular rich with £750K+ are bad enough! #escapetothecountry #celebrityescapetothecountry."

Their thoughts were echoed by another viewer who fumed: "The #BBC showing us how out of touch they are with the times with #escapetothecountry Rich celebs looking for £2 million 4 bedroom houses, all ensuite with swimming pools & cinema rooms. Nice to know where the poor people's #tvlicence fee goes."

A third sighed: "Nothing like TV to make normal people depressed #escapetothecountry."

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Linford Christie and his daughter Briannah searched for a home with Alistair Appleton (Image: BBC) window.topArticlesScript="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/js/dist/article-top-articles20241210.min.js" SUBSCRIBE Invalid email

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A fourth admitted they had switched off writing: "Sorry, had to turn off tonight, what’s a waste of tax payers money. Hope Christie wasn’t paid to appear in this, all so staged #escapetothecountry."

Another fan pondered: "Not entirely convinced that #EscapeToTheCountry lends itself to a celebrity version, particularly at midweek prime time ..."

However one commentator admitted they were merely jealous of the properties joking: "Pure jealousy of course, but for a budget of two million quid, you'd think that they'd at least have put a decent looking door on the front of it ..."

The next celebrity searching for a rural retreat will be Loose Women's Kaye Adam's next Thursday (December 19).