It shouldn't happen to a Yorkshire village

Grassington is to appear in a new reality show – but some locals are uncomfortable in the spotlight.

On a sunny day in Grassington's cobbled square, with the bunting and balloons laid out in preparation for the summer festival, it is easy to see why anyone would want to make this bustling Dales village their home.

Although they still call new arrivals in this part of Yorkshire the "off-cumdons" – even if they have been here for decades – outsiders are warmly welcomed. But the the imminent arrival of an independent film crew shooting a post-watershed reality TV show for Channel 4 has split this community of 1,390 souls straight down the middle.

A new eight-part programme, The Village, will pit 12 families, couples and individuals against each other in the hope of winning British television's biggest ever guaranteed prize – a £300,000 chocolate box cottage in the heart of this, one of the country's most beautiful villages. When filming starts later this year contestants must persuade the good folk of Grassington that they are worthy to live among them, and face the ordeal of eviction by ballot each week until only one remains and is handed the keys to their dream home.

In order to qualify for participation, contestants, who are still being sought, must live in an urban area and be unable to afford to get on the property ladder. However, the show's format and its placing in the schedules have convinced many in Grassington that they could be in for the Big Brother treatment. Locals fear that the cameras will track only the most "colourful" of village characters – turning the place into little more than a rural freak show and destroying the unique and welcoming atmosphere they cherish.

Since news of the plan leaked out wild rumours have flourished. It has been claimed that the production company has lined up possible contestants including a recently released prisoner from Liverpool and a family from Birmingham who have been on the receiving end of an Asbo. When 150 locals filed into Grassington's Town Hall this week to confront the film makers with their anxieties it was even suggested that a paedophile might appear.

Executive producer Jamie Isaacs of creator Studio Lambert said contestants would have their criminal records checked and be profiled by psychologists before being allowed to compete. "You must put that in context," he said. "That was aired as an example of a completely wild and crazy rumour. It would be career suicide for me, disastrous for the village and completely irresponsible to do that."

One of the problems faced by Mr Isaacs is that his company's previous credits range from the middle-class respectability of The Choir to the car-crash confrontation of Wife Swap. But he is adamant that The Village will have a "heart-warming" message at its core. "As I said to all the residents, it is not our intention to drop a bomb on this village and to create divisions. It is our intention to have a climactic moment that the whole community can get behind and that they will have a hand in a transformative experience that really helps another family," he said.

While television types prefer to talk about capturing emotional journeys rather than focusing on the negative, viewers schooled on more than a decade of Big Brother are now wise to the black arts of the reality format – even if they are told it is actually documentary. And despite the bold assurances, many in Grassington have lingering doubts that the possible boost to the area's trade and tourism might not be worth it.

Well-paid local jobs are not easy to come by and house prices in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park are completely unaffordable for many. There is anger among some young couples that the winner will simply be handed something they could never dream of affording – their own home in their own village. Because of the depth of feeling, many yesterday preferred not to give The Independent their name. One woman described the town hall meeting as a "witch hunt". "The sad thing is that it is splitting the village. Look what it has done before the programme has even started. Good friends who have known each other a long time have fallen out over it," she said. Another young woman said she was worried the winner would simply sell up and pocket the money. "Me and my boyfriend can't afford to live here and I worry what will happen when the TV cameras finish. Will [the winner] still be able to afford to live here?" she said. A neighbouring businessman said: "Every village has its idiots and if they latch on to them then they will portray us in a bad light."

Susan Midgley, 59, who runs a livery yard, said she was sitting on the fence. "The issue is how the village will be portrayed. It has a caused a lot of upset. How can you tell after a few days whether people will fit into village life? I am not really in favour of reality TV so we will have to wait and see." Sandra Jenkins, 65, said that if the programme delivered what its makers promised, everything could turn out well. But she still had reservations. "It is a lovely happy village. I would hate anything that upset the atmosphere – I don't want anything to do that," she added.

Not everyone was against it. Ian Mackridge, 60, runs a bed and breakfast next door to Seymour Cottage, where the contestants will stay and eventually hope to live. It is a quintessential rural retreat, complete with moss-covered dry stone walls and views over Upper Wharfedale. As far as he was concerned the programme was a "done deal". He said: "I would rather see it occupied than another holiday let. Since I have been here the number of visitors to the village has declined so it is a good opportunity for the shops and the other businesses. Hopefully it will encourage people to come here."

Since Wednesday's meeting public opinion appeared to be shifting in favour of participation. Parish council chairman Michael Rooze said that at first there was "an enormous amount of opposition and hostility to the idea" but that many had received the reassurances they needed. The outside world could even learn from the old tin mining village's example, he added. "There is a lot of political comment about the lack of social cohesion and that people are lonely and isolated even though they live in a community, but you would be very hard-pressed to find something like that in this village. This is a terrific example of what a community can achieve and that is something to be proud of," he said.