Todd Sampson accused of ‘manufactured drama’ in Body Hack program on Palestinian Gaza Strip

Television personality Todd Sampson has been accused of misleading viewers with his portrayal of the conflict on the Gaza Strip.

In an episode of survival series Body Hack, the Canadian-born advertising executive visited the Palestinian territory to show the never-ending tensions with its neighbour Israel.

Wearing a press badge over a flak jacket, he showed Network Ten viewers life in a 40km stretch of coastal land in the Middle East where two million Palestinians are crammed into a perpetual war zone.

Sampson filmed a weekly border protest where young men throw rocks over the Israeli border, evoking a teargas response from the Israeli side of the fence.

He also placed himself in a boat just 2km from the Israeli border where viewers are shown bullets being fired into the sea near the beach as Sampson repeatedly shouts, ‘whoa’ and ‘Jesus’ in a scene slammed by some viewers as ‘manufactured drama’.

Sampson appeared on The Project late last month and admitted to hiring a local fixer to show him around.

‘When we arrived, we were working with the only – I won’t mention her name for repercussions that may happen to her – fixer in Gaza. The first female fixer ever,’ he said.

Ahron Shapiro, a senior policy analyst with the Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, said fixers that guide visiting reporters in Palestine are commonly associated with the militant group Hamas, which governs the territory.

‘He gave a clue to who she was because of a title that she uses,’ he told the Sky News Outsiders program on Sunday.

Sampson filmed a weekly border protest where young men throw rocks over the Israeli border, evoking a teargas response from the Israeli side of the fence

Wearing a press badge over a flak jacket, he showed Network Ten viewers life in a 40km stretch of coastal land where two million Palestinians are crammed in a perpetual war zone

‘What’s important to know is that Hamas does not let any journalists come into Gaza without having a handler.

‘This person will take them around, will give them information if they ask for it but they’re really there to make sure they see the right things and that they get introduced to the right people, and her fingerprints are all over this.’

In another part of the one-hour program, which aired last week, Sampson caught a ride in a speedboat a short distance from the Gaza coast at the northern end of the Palestinian territory.

‘It’s quite nerve wracking knowing that there’s drones above us and the navy there and everyone’s looking at us. From here it looks like a war zone,’ he told viewers.

‘That is like sniper fire, man. It’s ricocheting off the water.’ 

Sampson appeared on The Project (pictured) late last month and admitted to hiring a local fixer to show him around but failed to mention she possibly came from the militant Islamist terror group Hamas, which runs the Palestinian territories

Mr Shapiro said that section of the program had misled viewers by claiming he was with fisherman when he was in fact in a speedboat racing towards the Israeli border.

The scene was filmed near Israeli’s Zikim beach, a popular holiday spot that is also a terror target. 

‘The Israeli navy is there to prevent infiltrations. They’ve been terror attacks,’ he said.

‘Israel cannot play around and they send warning shots his way, unsurprisingly.

‘I find it difficult to believe Sampson wouldn’t be aware that he would receive warning shots in boats that were racing towards the border but they knew that there would be warning shots.

‘There’s a bit of manufactured drama there.’

Sampson told The Project he had sought to portray life in Gaza without taking sides.

‘I feel incredible empathy for the people of Palestine,’ he said.

‘I feel incredible sadness and a sense of hopelessness for them but my conclusion of this filming is … there are two sides to every story and both sides are incomplete and I could only tell my story.’