Reuben Owen's girlfriend Jess has admitted she was 'really worried' after the couple faced dangerous icy conditions on a recent episode of Life in the Dales. The young farmer was left 'terrified' after his truck got stuck on untreated roads while heading to a project.
Setbacks on the Farm
In Tuesday's episode (June 9), Reuben was documenting the ups and downs of his agricultural career on his family's farm in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, for the Channel 5 programme. He first gained recognition alongside his parents Clive and Amanda on Our Yorkshire Farm.
Reuben now appears with his girlfriend Jess and mates Sonny and Capper, as well as his brothers Miles and Sid. The episode opened with him proudly displaying his latest equipment, attempting to lift his spirits despite the 'back to work January blues'.
Presenting his new digger to Jess and her father David, he pointed out it featured a 'panic button', something he'd never encountered before. Yet within moments, the button proved necessary, as Reuben confessed: 'I'm panicked.'
Digger Troubles
With freezing conditions generating additional tasks around the farm, Reuben deployed his new digger for a pond project for a customer, but complications forced him to abandon work. As the digger started creating smoke, Reuben confessed: 'Is now a good time to press the panic button? I'm pretty panicked.'
He added: 'That is not supposed to do that!' before admitting: 'I think I've broken it already.'
Icy Road Ordeal
While waiting for an expert to fix the digger, Reuben attempted to continue with the job on the pond the next day, but a road closure sent him and Jess onto icy backroads. The detour put them on higher land on roads that hadn't been gritted, leaving the couple fearing they'd made the wrong choice.
'The worst thing will be if we don't get up, is turning around,' he told Jess, before realising the road was too icy to continue driving on. 'That was very scary,' he went on, as his truck was left stuck. After sliding on the sheets of ice covering the ground, Reuben and Jess were forced to call for help.
Jess said: 'It's bad, you can't just stop on ice, once you start skidding, you can't stop. Reuben put the handbrake on but the vehicle is still skidding, no control whatsoever.'
The Channel 5 narrator also added: 'They were lucky they didn't crash or go over the edge,' as Reuben also shared: 'I can't tell you how terrified I was.'
'We are so lucky,' Jess added. Reuben went on: 'It's not worth risking your life, the job will still be there tomorrow.' Having salvaged some grit from the roadside, Jess feared: 'This is really bad, I'm actually really worried.' She added: 'I don't usually get concerned but I'm concerned.'
Rescue Mission
After they turned back around and abandoned their work for the day, Jess and Reuben faced another issue en route, as the roads had turned even icier. 'Just when you thought your day couldn't get any worse,' Jess hopelessly said, as Reuben called Sonny to 'rescue' him.
'I need a hero that's happy to experience extreme cold and extreme peril,' he told him, with Sonny coming to the rescue with Reuben's brother Miles, and a big bag of grit in hand. 'It's been a challenging start to the new year, and Reuben hopes this is the last of it,' the narrator added.
Reuben Owen: Life in the Dales airs Tuesdays at 8pm on 5.
