The One Thing Charlie Learned About Jen On Love Off The Grid - Exclusive
A sure-fire way to test to strength of your relationship is to go through a difficult and uncomfortable experience with your partner. Anyone can be pleasant and charming at a four-star resort where the service and food are on target and you have a comfortable and relaxing place to enjoy each other's company. But what if things don't go as planned? How will you (or your partner) react if you end up stranded by the side of road on your way there? And most importantly, will you still be attracted to each other after revealing your unfiltered, potentially less-than-optimal selves?
The four couples on the new Discovery+ show "Love off the Grid" took on this challenge: Each of the couples has one self-sufficient, outdoorsy member passionate about a rustic lifestyle in the wilderness — and a partner who's an equally fervent lover of the Great Indoors. When Charlie invited his day-spa-loving girlfriend Jen to live with him in his one-room, hand-built cabin deep in the forested North Carolina mountains, he knew it would be a radical and uncomfortable change for her. Here's what he discovered about Jen from the experience.
Charlie knew Jen would need extra care in the mountains
Charlie knew that the dynamics of his relationship with Jen would be different in the mountains than in Jen's suburban comfort zone, so he was mindful to prepare himself for this. "I wanted to be as gentle as I could be with Jen," he said. "It was almost like counseling, to find out how I was going to handle helping her adapt." And for her part, Jen was open about her apprehension about joining Charlie in his rustic home — and her worries about all the unknowns ahead. "I think anticipation of something that's unknown is always the worst," Jen said. "That was hard for me, the idea of it. I tend to be a thinker, so I was thinking of all the what ifs." Among the what-ifs she envisioned with dread were the "creepy crawlies" unavoidable in the wilderness.
So while Charlie knew that Jen appreciated the outdoors — in moderation — he wasn't sure she's be able to embrace wilderness living as a full-time lifestyle. "From knowing Jen in the past and who she was, I know she loved the mountains and she liked this area, but I didn't know how well she was going to accept small spaces like she came into," he said. "So it was a surprise that she did it."
Charlie was proud to discover than Jen was up for the challenge
Just as both of them expected, getting used to Charlie's place was a challenge for Jen (the toilet conveniently located next to the bed wasn't anything she was expecting). But Jen was determined to push through her discomfort, and Charlie was pleasantly surprised by her spirit and persistence. "What I learned about Jen would be, gosh, she's tough as nails, and she'll face her fears, and she commits to everything. So when she makes a commitment, she's going to go through with it. And so far in this experience, she's handled everything well," he said.
Charlie, however, didn't invite Jen to his cabin as a test of character, but as an opportunity for them to build a life together. And he knew from the start that this would involve compromise. Just as she sacrificed her creature comforts for him, he owed it to her to create a home both of them could enjoy. "So I had made changes to the cabin and done some stuff just to, I guess, spice it up a little bit," he said. He added that he's been inspired by some of her home-improvement ideas. "And it's made me see that some of the things she's asked me made me want to live more off the grid and tackle those real big dreams I always had of having a modern-type house lifestyle completely off the grid. If everything fell out, that we could live comfortably and have what paintings we have on the wall that we want."
"Love Off The Grid" is now streaming on Discovery+.