Interview with Laura Powell (EAST SIDE)

Laura Powell (38)

Paramedic, Bristol

Lively and warm-hearted single mum ready to take on Apocalypse. Laura has a strong Bristolian accent and some hilarious turns of phrase. She holds a very senior paramedic role and is used to dealing with major incidents.

What made you want to take part in Apocalypse?

It wasn't really something I'd ever considered doing, particularly not at this stage of my life, when I'm busy with my career and busy being a mum. It was a bit of a crossroads in my life. Everything was just starting to settle down again, and I thought, why not pull the rug out from under my own feet again and survive an apocalypse. So, I went for it, and it all happened very quickly. 

What skills were you most confident would help the group?

Being a paramedic, I've been in the ambulance service for coming up to 20 years, so there's not much I haven't seen, though the job always finds something to surprise you. I felt confident that if there were any medical emergencies I'd be able to assist. I'm also used to situations changing very rapidly, one moment sitting down with a cup of tea, and three minutes later in the middle of a traumatic incident, with no time to worry or panic, you just get on with it. I feel I'm unflappable, and that calmness and ability to cope when things go wrong is something I've honed over the years. 

Before joining the ambulance service, I also worked with animals, at a zoo, a veterinary practice, and on a farm, so when animals came into play, I felt comfortable and it brought me a lot of joy. 

What was the biggest challenge you faced in there?

Probably other people. I found some people's behaviour didn't align with the kind of people I'd normally associate with, and outside the show I would just walk away from that. But in an apocalypse, you must get along and survive. 

What was your first reaction when you walked into the town?

My first reaction on seeing the town was shock at what had happened there. Part of my role is assessing a scene very quickly and making fast decisions as a paramedic, so my eyes were darting around trying to take in where the dangers were, where the safe spots were. There were derelict buildings and cars that looked like they'd been picked up and dropped from the sky, and I found myself wondering what had caused it all. It was a real shock to see how ruined the world looked. During COVID I and many colleagues worked all the way through it, and I was off for a couple of weeks after catching it myself; going back in for the first time during lockdown and seeing how empty and spooky the streets were felt very similar to walking into the apocalypse, that same feeling of unease, imminent danger, ominous and dark, like something major had happened.

What surprised you the most about the other people in your group?

What genuinely surprised me was the mix of backgrounds among people who wouldn't normally cross paths in everyday life, such as Australian cattle farmers, psychologists, and Lou the mechanic. I really valued the evenings sitting around the stove listening to people share a little about their backgrounds and how they'd got to where they are. Despite only knowing each other a few weeks, being in that survival situation together escalated the level of trust and openness between people, because a lot of walls had to come down early. 

Did it shock you to discover there was another group?

Not entirely, because in a real apocalypse there would likely be little pockets of survivors everywhere. What surprised me more was that while our group was focused on building our shelter and home exactly how we needed it to survive, the other camp was willing to resort to certain tactics very early on. I felt there was no real consideration from the other side of forming an early alliance, sharing skills, and putting heads together to really excel, and instead they went straight to treating it as conflict and war. It shocked me how quickly the other side chose that path, which then forced our side to change tactics, defend ourselves, and build up our defences to stop further theft. I'm still half joking but genuinely a bit bitter about a can of Spam that was stolen, a food I don't even eat in ordinary life but haven't wanted to buy since. 

Was there a moment when you thought, I can't do this, I want to go home?.

For me, it was around the two week mark that things got harder, even though there was more regular food by then, it still wasn't enough. You stop even feeling hungry in the normal sense, past the stage of a rumbling belly and general hunger, into a generalised weakness and malaise, where even your thoughts feel like your brain is underwater, and putting a simple sentence together becomes hard, so I was probably talking even more nonsense than usual. What changed things for me was talking to the rest of the group and realising I wasn't alone in feeling that way.

Did you learn anything about yourself during the experience?

I've learned that I can get through things. I might not be the best at chopping wood, or the fastest walker, but I gave everything I had at the time, with no food, and drinking lake water, which is disgusting no matter how much you boil it. I've learned that I can keep getting through hard things.

Do you feel like this has changed the way you view contemporary life, and the things we take for granted?

It has massively changed how I see modern life. It's made me realise what people who came before us had to do to build society into what it is today, that people really lived without electricity or anything at all, and it makes me appreciate everything that went into building the world we have now.