Welcome to the Strangest Hotel (Downs Syndrome Documentary) | Only Human

[Music] welcome to sunny Somerset in the middle of a summer heat wave this is mine head a bucket and spade sort of town with all the attractions of the English seaside fish chips and ice cream old fellows and straw hats socks and sandals gracing the seafront Esplanade is a traditional English seaside hotel jolly window boxes and Nell the friendly dog only foxes is a hotel with a difference nearly all the 60 staff have learning disabilities most of the time things run pretty smoothly but occasionally there's rum purses [Music] browse and there's reprimands hi but I really mean this now we went to my kitchen to learn eat your look live at the lion kitchen yeah welcome to the summer season fat the strangest hotel in Britain [Music] [Applause] [Music] at boxes hotel the staff or students who spend three years here learning the hotel trade this is Sophie the first year this term she's on duty in the kitchen helping prepare meals for hotel guests eggs milk spoon with our own sister okay Thank You Sophie where to start completely in your face yeah completely off the wall yeah talk to me yeah you let me go baby back the fact that she is so in-your-face that's that's what's so challenging about it and she she wanders off whenever she wants she does what Sophie does what Sophie wants to do completely and she whines people around her little finger after time I mean like that she really does okay so here's of details Martin wants his tea towels but Sophie and still very much learning the Foxes way this can have its frustrations for her kitchen colleagues its distracted she comes up all the will in the world to go get the details as you see something interesting or exciting so she goes off with that Fox's celebrates its students achievements every year another 16 graduate and the hotel walls are lined with photos of awards ceremonies this is excellent news for Sophie oh my god there's a three-course lunch to prepare but you wouldn't know it oh my god I mean she's clearly thing and she's actually skiving she will never believe exactly yes yeah 15 minutes later mission accomplished thank you yeah oh my heaven that was quickly moved on Fox's 52 students rotate each term through housekeeping dining room and kitchen duties the Raa to lunch yeah the hotel was set up ten years ago by Maureen Tyler Moore and sue Jenkins the hinge and bracket of special needs whoever it is who organizes our lives from above and whatever you want to call in God or whatever they decided that something that we do was needed and they had to look round and they saw these two seal backs down and they said they'll do but and they just made us do it well having a metaphor sir foxes is the only residential training hotel for people with learning disabilities in the country they work very hard it is not a place to come for a like a holiday camp and it's a huge shock to a lot of them before when they've been if they've been living at home with all the for all the best reasons in the world a lot gets done for them and then they have to suddenly go and do it all for themselves and do a job and learn I mean it's it's really quite something being takes it out oh when they first start training they do about an hour and then tired they can't do any more every year nine hundred guests come to mine head to stay at Fox's this is Tom he's come to spend a week in the sea air like many of Fox's guests tom has his own learning disabilities tom is a Fox's old boy who graduated five years ago now he checks in like any other guest welcome mr. rose did you have a good trip yes thank you that's good ah I haven't you - you haven't eaten I'm starving hungry yes right now okay Francis will take you up to your room yes and then you have to come down to dine you okay yeah thank you [Music] under the watchful eye of Fox's Madam's Tom Chuck's into some late-night dinner hmm this is good hmm good lasagna my facial hair the food gets intact but I like this style I have this sort of Victorian look when I was doing waiting we had to wear bow ties you really quite like that I didn't yes do you have a bit tight collection yes I do ah I've actually brought one with me to wear sometime 70s bow tie and now isn't that what you call seventies [Music] welcome to Fox's hotel in Minehead a unique training hotel where people with learning disabilities are trained to work in the catering trade this can sometimes get a bit messy Martin's been a Fox's chef for five years today his coaching Stewart and the finer points of a bacon and egg breakfast oh boy I'm not using that boy yeah same thing Fergie go nice guy next door Tom enjoys his first foxes breakfast as a guest it used to be doing the waiting now he can sit back and do the eating on the plane Oh kid book yard today Tom and some other guests are off on a Fox's day trip he's donned his Black Watch taut and blazer for the occasion I wouldn't mind marrying a girl from Hawaii hmm a nice Polynesian girl yes thank you could do things she could do yeah the Hawaiian dog thing oh yeah I love that going yes yes oh yeah back at Fox's there's the post breakfast lull this is the chance for students to catch up and chat but if the staff aren't on their toes a lull can become an eternity breakfast times over down there so you got two minutes to eat your breakfast then come back to the kitchen up OCU RDI take Matt yeah my minute wait this is what you're doing it again Manila yes yeah deal yeah this box is time and then is Sophie time and is that cuz it's a what you got do you couple your rolls in the oven oh boy so hurry up I am okay yeah get your bowls enough to be ruined if you didn't know my name this one one minute yeah okay boy morning have nothing my mutton yeah hey there's potatoes to be peeled for lunch as buns to be baked but there's Marmite tweet and 90 miles away Sophie's parents are having a rather more anxious time I think you've got to be realistic and so I mean I'm delighted that she's making the progress she is and let you know let's see what the next two years from I'm really worried that I've set up to fail because I know it's going to be very very very demanding and there's it's the work ethic thing you know they have to be ready they have to be punctual I have to get up they have to have certain amount of Independence and I'm worried that they're things I'm aspiring for for soaking but I'm not being realistic by half-10 the hotel is a hive of activity around boots on the ground it's all over the store Fox's aims to make students more disciplined at their timekeeping and their work rate so they can fit into jobs in the outside world when they graduate but Sophie's a first-year and is still inclined to wander the funds remain unbaked Sophie's gone AWOL and Martin has a hunt on his hands South a chef's aura has an inkling where Sophie might be the smallest room the safest refuge concise quick because we've got finished up right off and get in the oven come on we're gonna go check your braid this in the oven well I'm going minute Sophie come on by the time Sophie emerges the head chef is on shift lost you again how much Foley Tori too many yes you I come on let's get on yeah sorry I'm sure I accept your apology but it's got to stop drinking yeah and make sure I agree yeah yeah I accept your apology but you're not actually this goes on we're not making any break oh yeah why goes me Jimmy I helped to bring the kitchen bread go out with me I'll meet you there come on on let's go help bring the kitchen come on go go hey do my bed kids in one right you can help clear the kitchen then we'll sort out the bread next week if you behave this table phil has spent 35 years in catering but students like Southie have forced him to moderate his ways I'd like to change mine [Music] total life around because I don't swear at my dog bathroom I can't burn and I can't kill them yeah so I work when I first walked in here I would've been always interrupt don't have a job today honestly if y'all so I'd like to turn that all around yeah because you do you don't shatter them every now and again when you've been really silly or they need a pickle the backside the Foxes minibus has dropped the guests off at the theme park and tom is raring to go we're dinosaurs ah David Attenborough inside this wonderful park this is where the dinosaurs Tom's tour world cultures begins in Egypt [Music] undeterred by his Egyptian experience Tom acquaint himself with Hindu deities oh I don't know why I got the hold of this um and then the grand finale a Wild West water ride it's been a grand day out for Tom though you get the feeling he's enjoying it rather more than his friend on the surface it's all perfectly well ordered at Fox's a table set and waiting for dinner at 6:00 sharp French onion soup with chicken supreme to follow but any hotel has its Upstairs Downstairs soap operas outside the staff or on afternoon meal break and beneath the color-coded fox's uniforms unruly passions are seething in the sea air Daniel from kitchen staff has got an eye on Michelle from waitressing visit where my gorgeous girl oh darling but there's a problem the problem is called Ben and he and Michelle are already in item yeah but Dan as a family price it out no good today you're going to do while you have done how well when today I said fits a work of your Betty hello the Dan Ben Michelle triangle is becoming a bit of an issue when all three of them are together on the same ship wherever you find Michelle you find Dan and suspiciously close proximity ting this isn't doing much for the kitchen skills Dan is supposed to be learning is mooning about getting in the way of the horseradish the thing is he never actually plucks up the courage to come straight out with it so is written Michelle a note if you were Ben you could be forgiven for getting a bit backed off with a sort of carry on there's your girlfriend there's some bloke hanging round waiting to give her a love letter by the way Dan's mind is completely off the job and it's not as if Michelle is that keen anyway I don't wanna the rivals conduct themselves with intense politeness Jamie should we not hear me dance as we've done the guests are happily oblivious to the kitchen drama the sweet trolley is out Tom's time at Fox's was well spent he knoweth skills to live independently and help out in his local cafe do you wish she was still a student here um no why um I'm happy how I am now not a guest I like being a guest old habits learned foxes die hard just I shouldn't do that anymore it's not why responsibility this isn't level tom has spawned memories of his kitchen days too [Applause] Happy Days at Fox's Academy back memories many of Fox's guests come with organized parties there's a lot of people with physical or learning disabilities and there's a fair sprinkling of parents of students some people just like it here Fox's guests know the set up and enjoy Fox's difference it wasn't always so we had a lady who was here on a Christian week she was down there in the dining room loudly saying that these sort of people would be kept away from everybody and really they should be out in the countryside way so she threw her out so I asked her to leave through justified but this is the Kristin yeah oh yes yes listen behind the scenes Ben's mind is still not on the job come on happen it'll be quicker than that then you need to mash around a bit sometimes those you go will be one at a time oh well then have you slept Elia you sure Oh check it please okay then and Dan's cleaning is under scrutiny to help me second is enormous and there may look come on what you don't agree back every time until to do it game I'll need it right first time and we won't keep calling you back then it make sense head chef Phil is completely unaware of the tension seething in the background he tries to get Ben back on track you gotta listen yeah alright do you want a nice job a job when you finish it foxes yeah doing nice little flat year on what if you start to listen you'll learn and do it properly and then it might happen if you're going to the big outside wall you don't listen yeah you won't have a job no job no money well I start to listen because you can do but during one of the regular student assessments the letter business unfolds through a right eye written Benny's putting into practice health and safety has learnt his knife skills are improving with each session thank you thank you What's Wrong baby nothing who's upset yeah okay why I've been on sale yeah I like that I forget that right how a kid from Excel so is your letter e throw in the bin Oh Bertie what a written letter yes it was yours it's mine sadly Ben gotta keep it you gave it to Ben I think if I would kill myself no so you put this lighter in the bin yes why I don't done with that letter for me show this my girl oh you see here we go you see now you meant to be working out we keep your look lives and your personal disagreements at the Mayan kitchen yeah and it's got at don't point all right but I really mean this now you go into my kitchen to learn this yeah what you do outside girlfriends whatever else I do not want to know we got that yeah it stays out there I don't want it in here what we really talk about is work isn't tetanus right let's keep it up Go Go all right oh boy I'll get a green yo come here mr. Saxton mr. Saxon come here do you agree on your one yeah do you agree no only but it'd be your ancestor you don't agree because the egg cream our kitchen it stays out and so we agree this is a pretty common scenario it foxes for most of the students it's their first time away from home and they have to start learning how to deal with that dread thing relationships it's Tom's last evening at Fox's time progressive singing and dancing [Music] [Music] six weeks into the summer term and Fox's hotel this is one of the seven houses where the students at Fox's training hotel and billeted they're all called foxes this and foxes that foxes earth is home to Sophie a first year student with the problem with timekeeping it's 6:30 and Sophie really should be up and getting ready for work yes be quick then okay in their three years here the students must learn to live independently it's part of the staffs job to make sure that they can cope in clean glasses as well if you can get me a paper towel or wet one and then dry one emoji glasses for you yeah one wet and one dry yeah maybe you sure lay your trousers I don't think they are because they're too short hey behind the door of bedroom one it's still worryingly quiet you get out there yeah yeah come on so he'll go to work okay that foxes learning isn't nine-to-five learning the job isn't where it stops for our youngsters teaching them the job teaching them how to work in the hotel is actually the easy bit because they love it and they love the uniforms they like they like the routine they like everything in there they do it well and they take to it like ducks to water they really do the job well but teaching them how to run their lives how to feed themselves how to go to the doctor how to go out access entertainment hello care medication pay their bills as well as all the sorts of things that you need to maintain your life in order to go to work those are the skills they're short on those you cannot teach in a day college students do get time off they can relax in their lounge [Music] or they can play cricket in the sunshine this is Matthew he's in his first year at Fox ism he's good at cricket but his mum and dad worried about his low self-esteem he lacks confidence in himself very very much he had some stickers the other day from some trainers and he went and stuck them all over his face you know on a picture and I went upstairs I said Matthew I and he said I would because I don't like my face when I took them off when I said you've got a lovely face no no I don't think I told you no I hope he will become less vulnerable certainly more confident so consequently I think if this is a grounding for his future so hopefully we can't look long-term because we'd no one knows what the future holds but I just hope that he'll start off very happy and continue to do so throughout his life you want a girlfriend David you better start looking for one David Matthew obviously has got no difficulties otherwise he won't be here but in his mind he hasn't and he wants to be independent and we've got to explain to him that he wouldn't be here if he was independent so I think he finds it difficult you know he wants a girlfriend but he doesn't want a girlfriend from foxes because they've all got learning disabilities he won't say you know who normal if you like girlfriend jump rung her she would have earrings yeah and a fit body Shani tea how'd you look the one how how to look for a girlfriend does keep on looking at the club round town the coop um near Butlins and the bench matthew search for an on boxes girlfriend means many hours wandering the streets of mine head eyeing up potential candidates this can be a lonely calling not keen on the look of her well King on that one don't look too good no hmm not white on she's taking short now and Coty's using a phone why is it a girl from God is good to have love at the hotel sophie has made it to her workplace in the kitchen okay coach you make great okay then um I need it 1 kilo I'll go get the bread meat store let's see idea we go anywhere 1 kilo is on here then side please place you somewhere 1 kilo ease yeah went one leg big red one here that's it leptin oh I can just see hopefully that David you don't leave a knife at any time dangerous so we can end right going straight don't concentrate they won't be ready in time for lunch will like okay I never got no bread rolls put the burgers in okay cut down see if we get these made you can tell everybody you made the burger bun okay cut down give your right it's a month since her hiding the Louise escapade and Sophie is actually making progress this is the farthest she's got a new bread making process better than last week okay the first week she was here we thought this one we have not got right in the world so ten months she's been here and she has changed so much well I think you changed in the first area but you could bet your life the day that fella walks onto the stage at graduation the year she's leaving two years - it will be different yeah I mean but right now she has come so far if you just do that for one out of out of twenty you've you've achieved something Sophie has a train full of buns at her joy unbridled [Applause] Wow she's really come on leaps and bounds I'm in life dig way out a kilo of bricks no problem she can see she knows how much liquid to put in she did the whole process so there's no reason why she had it done that week well when she couldn't can't do that of everything she does he's so excitable something anything didn't I bottle that that's about a fortune routine what your pencils and things so fake yes I'm here now you're here now forget alone Oh what would we do without you thank you across town another house home to 12 boxes students and Dan having got nowhere with Michelle at the hotel he's now cozying up to Julia he's a bit of a Romeo he can't help himself you really can that's all part of his personality isn't I surveys so it's a love for the ladies definitely I just I can't keep up the way is any of it real there does it mean any event yeah you wanted to probably marry all them obviously is very quick to say I love you but it doesn't end with Julia when Dan's ex-girlfriend Kathy asked for a hug he's only too eager to oblige Oh Daniels that's a bit more for friendly hug isn't it it's lasted more than me yeah he's a 15 seconds Wow all right I also know Daniel Opie you need to stick to one girlfriend or boyfriend waiting queue up together you want thinking about me is you think about Cassie Donna oh hey Jake what you think about Cassie what about Cassie you want to be with Cassie now huh okay I think I got you and boy all about Julia yes is that it fine fingers die or will short places on one level it all seems quite petty but there's potential for real upset boiling ego and pride to a store yes I wear it as parish ah that was good just different yeah yeah I can see where concepts at I'm China - girls sir she was hurt she prefers Phelps Li says G&K she been friends long time a definite sure I do so the real QWOP set yeah I'm sorry how much is mrs. Fang no did he say yeah to make a few fact it's one of the trickiest aspects of the staff job managing the emotions of their students and teaching them to be careful of other people's feelings and you and Julie are supposed to be best friends as well yeah but that's not really how friends you know treat each other we can only apologize to if you feel it's necessary then yes [Music] [Music] next morning dan has had a ticking off he's been told to leave the girls well alone and to concentrate on his job for the rest of the term news travels fast at the staff breakfast what was going on with the onion and we're not allowed to talk to him at Maine and he's very verbal morning why was he going out hey Jackie we're not allowed yes all the girls in our house no I like her out with it nope so much B's little bit down on the dances ooh yes yes huge it's been a long hot summer at boxes the end of term is in sight and the students have a ballroom to decorate for their graduation party every year 16 or so students graduate from Fox's three quarters of them will go on to find jobs but this can take up to a year to achieve the struggle the parents have to get this to happen it's not actually the fact that the students can't do it it's the fact that they have to rely on an overloaded Social Services Department nothing is coordinated but for those that do their life is changed forever I mean they've joined society they feel a part of it their self-esteem just goes up and up and up doesn't it and you know they they have brilliant lives brilliant lives and as they deserve to have at Fox is earth Matt and Tash are preparing Matt's outfit for the graduation party oh come oh I was only sure well done way away josh has a plan with a lonely man of Fox's academy yeah okay tomorrow night yeah there might be someone there that you might LAN ik yeah yeah she used to go to Fox's say yeah well members Stone no she's an extruder there's a few years ago I think you'll like her yeah Jax meet her yes I would come on act all shy day I remember yeah why don't you bet not um she's got red hair with blond bits in it um freckles uh-huh not too many just a few oh yeah yeah she wear earrings she wear earrings today don't think so no thanks why do you want to wear earrings no that's a phone be funny it's the end of another year at Fox's Academy and the students are getting ready to go home Sophie's mum and dad have come to collect her their daughter is finishing her first year on a high and they're keen to see her progress [Music] yeah what we're desperate to do winner off us because we're not me around forever and so emotionally I want to be independent from us there's only been a year that people lose any time his speech has come on so much better and she's much calmer because she like this is this is calm a father who's very good but and yeah she's been than she's been shaking hands more and yes and in interacting and conversations a lot more that's the big thing she tends to talk at you and not listening when you talk back so but she's she's been much more sociable has a change in that respect they have healthy eating and oh yeah she's not a lot away and we've noticed a difference with her walking in Samoa if we want to go out for a walk we used to almost have to drag Sophie along with us where it's now she'll charge on with us and go on an ad unit every year ends with a graduation ceremony at the local theatre everyone attends to see the final year off and there's a real feeling of expectancy there's a prize on offer for the highest achieving first year as well well let me welcome you once again to box's graduation I'll try and get it right this year 2006 this year we've got a very very big program as we have accumulated far more certificates for our students than ever before so standing up on the stage at graduation is quite touching for me because as we're handing out the award you see that person years ago and there is no comparison at all the next awards do mainly shock them you see them grow up learn to communicate better be more sociable they learn here to think as a team to actually care about what happens to the others and the most important thing they learn other than that is the working course got to look good we've got to sound good you've got to work quickly because in catering you can't drag your heels and I think that is the difference between learning in a real environment like this and learning in a classroom or in a college setting because it isn't real now every year we always present a cup to the best newcomer the cup is given to the student to us who has changed the most inside of here it doesn't matter if you can't succeed the hardest thing the best thing is to just try you never know what you'll achieve the winner this year is Matthew Massey this last year Fox's sis mates leaps and bounds yeah and I think a lot of it as well is because he's been treated like an adult because he's in college and not treated as a child and I think that's made a big difference to him difference we're very proud of them after the award ceremony is the fancy dress Barbie and ball this year it's appropriately enough an undersea theme to this Neptunes and there's mermaids [Music] fresh from his triumph as first-year students the year Matthew his kid can look out for his date attached has lined up a meeting with a former Fox his student who is now working in a local hospital well Dan's Jolly Roger is flying at half-mast he's been warned off the girls till next term it's one of mine heads more colorful events where everyone makes an effort including - who's playing cupid [Music] for the lonely man of mine head the year looks like ending on a high [Music] please noise like about what about those chances look on earrings last week a recession might happen Paul you cheap about the long blonde hair thing checking through it she can grow it on diet belong yeah don't ask it's okay you're gonna dance with me later we don't relate what dance is my later okay after the Barbie the bash Fox's has so far trained over 140 students the three years in Minehead give them invaluable experience in the hotel trade but perhaps more important are the lessons about how to live your life as independently as you can and the confidence which students pick up at foxes [Music] sometimes the lessons are hard learned but with a bit of application they've usually got happy endings you

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Rating: 4.808949 out of 5

Keywords: the house of obsessive compulsives episode 2, only human ocd documentary, only human autism documentary, reggie yates documentary, autistic superstars, tourettes documentary, only human channel, obsessive compulsive cleaners, down syndrome documentary, only human obsessive compulsive cleaners mansion

Id: v-lyoNwDxhs

Length: 47min 40sec (2860 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 06 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/RealTrampishRedman]

Just to clear things up, Minehead is completely fictional and is therefore not the real world. You would only be aware of this if you lived in the UK.

[u/mayargo7]

My city has a coffee shop is like this, in that most of the staff have various disabilities.

[u/MrsChugg1402]

I love Minehead, I live like 10 mins from there (:

[u/jillybish]

That’s wonderful

[u/exxR]

We have this in the Netherlands and it’s called brownies and downies