Locked Up Abroad

Time Magazine recently called National Geographic’s Locked Up Abroad “One of the top 10 shows on TV.”  This “real” reality show first premiered back in 2006 on a British station under the title Banged Up Abroad – which sounds more like a documentary about a traveling porn star – but was later renamed when it came to NatGeo in the U.S.  The hour-long docudrama is currently in its seventh season, and centers around stories from people who have been arrested or detained while in a foreign country – usually for offenses involving drugs – and received prolonged prison sentences as a result of their crimes.  I have seen pretty much every episode since it started, and I would agree with the assessment of it being one of the best shows on TV; but it’s also a program that will make you think twice before breaking out the passport for an exotic adventure away from American soil.  As I said, most of the stories do revolve around foolish people who willingly tried to smuggle narcotics, knowing full well the consequences that would arise if they were caught.  Although the conditions of the third-world jails these people often end up in are heinous and inhumane, it’s still hard for me to feel sympathy for someone in their position.  It’s pretty self-explanatory – If you don’t want to end up doing time at a shitty jail in a third world country, don’t do anything illegal while you are there.

However, there are other episodes where people are unwillingly thrust into the drug trade; or even worse, some of the incidents simply happened because the person was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they end up going through hell for reasons beyond their control.  The following full episode falls into the second category, and involves a former international martial arts champion and Hell’s Angel by the name of Glenn Heggstad.  Having gotten tired of his monotonous daily routine, one day Glenn decided that he would ride his motorcycle from Santa Monica to the tip of South America, and then back to California.  It was a dream trip that eventually turned into Heggstad’s worst nightmare, and his tale of survival is one of the most riveting that I’ve ever heard.

Catch all new episodes of Locked Up Abroad every Wednesday night on NatGeo at 10 ET.