“Critics' choice: The promotional image shows reporter Stefan Gates painted head to toe in an imitation of a tiger's face; this is clearly no ordinary food documentary…Gates throws himself headfirst into everything from driving rickshaws to dressing up for the parade. His passion is contagious and you'll be hard pressed not to want to travel out there and do the same thing. A vibrant portrait of a notable cultural tradition, and the food doesn't look too bad either.” Time Out, 14th May 2009
'Watch this... unmissable television.” The Independent on Sunday, 17th May 2009
“Gates hurls himself gleefuly into the party and is able to communicate the elation and joy of the event...If you want a blast of exuberance and colour, this is for you.”
The Times, 16th May 2009
“[Stefan's] opening programme, in India, is lively, visually rich and well conceived, combining a spectacular wedding in Rajasthan with a festival in Kerala where Gates gamely dances in a tiger costume.” The Sunday Times, 17th May 2009
“**** [four stars]” Pick of the week. Daily Mail, 16th May 2009
“Having given us several excellent culinary tours of the globe's troublespots, gastro-adventurer Stefan Gates now experiences communal feasts and celebrations...Gates makes for an amiable, inquisitive guide, even when being shaved and painted with household gloss for the mass tiger dance of Puli Kali.”
The Observer, 17th May 2009
Some ideas are so good, you wonder why no-one ever thought of them before. Example: Feasts. The London Paper 27th May
“**** In the second episode of this entertaining series, Stefan Gates is in Japan, where the highlight of his trip is the bizarre Naked Man festival, in which 10,000 Japanese men try to banish bad luck with 'a crate of sake and a sea of buttocks.' Not for the faint hearted.” Daily Mail, 23rd May 2009
“Unmissable TV.” Total TV Guide, 16th May 2009
“Such is the sumptuous nature and extraordinary spectacle of banquets visited by Stefan Gates in distant corners of the globe, they make Heston Blumenthal's recent efforts at feasts appear as thrilling as munching a stale watercress sandwich in a windswept layby.” Total TV Guide, 16th May 2009
“Feasts for the eyes... If you thought British traditions such as maypole dancing and rolling cheese down hills were eccentric, what about being painted as a tiger, spending the night on your ancestor's grave, or rampaging drunkenly through the streets with thousands of nearly naked men?” TV & Satellite Week, 16th May 2009
Pick of the Week. “Stefan Gates celebrates the Mexican day of the dead, gets very naked with 10,000 men in Japan and earns his stripes for an Indian tiger dance.”
The Guardian, 16th May 2009
Pick of the Week ****. “When he moves on to the more egalitarian state of Kerala [FEASTS] really takes off. Gates is a likeable fellow who tries his best in any given situation (although not always with the best results) as witnessed by his game performance in a tiger dance during the feast of Onam.”
Daily Mail Weekend, 16th May 2009
“Good, clean fun – until, that is, it's time for the paint to come off.”
Daily Mirror, 20th May 2009
“Gates takes pains to emphasise that running around in the buff is the flip side of a society obsessed with formalities. And to his credit, he never lets that polite smile slip, whether learning to slurp noodles, make a four-ton rice cake or carry a 6ft penis on his shoulders.”
Radio Times, 23rd May 2009
“This week's winner of the Tveasy Are My Eyes Playing Tricks On Me Award is the sights of 10,000 Japanese men in the nuddy. And it looks very cold out. The runner-up in the Tveasy Are My Eyes Playing Tricks On Me Award is also presented to this show, for the moment when a giant penis dances down the street. It's true, check it out...”
TV Easy, 23rd May 2009
“Seven reasons to stay in... No 6: [Feasts] To challenge your preconceptions about Japanese culture. The widely accepted view of Japanese society is that of a reserved, conformist nation, obsessed with modernity but also in thrall to ancient ritual. The latter is definitely true, but the former takes one hell of a beating when Stefan Gates travels to Japan to attend the Naked Man Festival... Gates gamely dons the nappy and leaps right into the thick of it. From above, the scene represents a giant rugby scrum, with the Shinotoko [Naked Man] barely visible in the barely visible in the mass of human flesh. How the Shinotoko makes it out alive is mind boggling, but he does – just. As does Gates, exhilarated by the whole experience.”
The Times, 23rd May 2009
“**** Six of the best: Stefan Gates is in Japan for the second of his highly entertaining series on culture witnessed through feasting.”
Daily Mail, 23rd May 2009
“Pick of the Week... Gates finds the culture difficult to understand; not surprising when even something as seemingly simple as eating soba noodles comes with its own bizarre set of rules. But as he delves deeper, he finds that all is not as it seems. He attends a festival in worship of the phallus where people suck on penis-shaped lollipops, and goes to the Naked Man Festival, where the reserved veneer comes crashing down in spectacular fashion and the male population of a village go on a drunken rampage. Gates manages to remain respectful and amenable, even when dressed only in a sheet and drunk on sake.”
The Times, 23rd May 2009
“Pick of the week: Television's many cultural explorers love nothing better than a riotous ritual. How better to get under the skins of a foreign people, whether you're a cheery observer like Michael Palin or a masochistic adventurer like Bruce Parry. Stefan Gates is the latest explorer to get a lot of colourful footage from these outpourings of emotion... Once the respectable veneer is peeled back, Gates does find himself accepted by the locals. Up until the, though, he's at sea among the unfathomable Japanese like Bill Murray in Lost In Translation and so many before him. As soon as he arrives he is advised: never look someone direct in the eyes; slurp when eating noodles but not when drinking; when meeting someone hand over a business card with both hands, and comment on the one you receive. 'What a lovely type-face,' is the best he can do. He also drops in on some other rituals – and up-front fertility festival, and a baby sumo contest, which is not as hilarious as it sounds... The first to blub wins... It's said that the baby who cries will have good luck. Perhaps we could learn from these attempts to instil a feel for competitive sport so early in life, but it's still peculiar to see mothers secretly pinching their kids or pulling their hair in the hope that they will crack first. Next week Gates heads to Mexico. He'll have to hope that the latest feast ritual in swine-ravaged Mexico City is not just a lonely night in with a bottle of Corona, a bur rito and a box of Tamiflu.”
The Mail on Sunday, 24th May 2009
“Choice: Baring nearly all is fast becoming obligatory for BBC travellers, and Stefan Gates makes previous strippers such as Michael Palin and Peter Owen Jones look comparatively coy as his vaguely defined quest continues in Japan. The nude scenes see him putting on a sumo-stye nappy, before taking part in a loopy annual festival in which 10,000 drunken men form a gigantic scrum around a supposedly fortunate chap chosen to run the gauntlet through them.
The Sunday Times, 24th May 2009
“What to watch tonight.”
The Daily Telegraph, 27th May 2009
“Digital Choice.”
Daily Express, 27th May 2009
“Digital Choice... Gates remains respectful and amenable, even when dressed only in a sheet and drunk on sake.”
The Times, 27th May 2009
“Satellite choice and pick of the day.”
Daily Mail, 27th May 2009
“Today's Choices: There's plenty to see (including Gates dressed up as a sort of Hispanic Miss Havisham).”
Radio Times, 30th May 2009
