Race Across The World returns for a fourth season, with five teams trekking 15,000 km in a quest to become champions.
The popular reality show, dubbed the ‘greatest thing on TV’ by fans, will return to BBC One on Wednesday, April 10.
A teaser trailer and first look published last week gave us a taste of what to anticipate, with this year’s route confirmed to take place in Eastern Asia.
The release teased: ‘From northernmost Japan, they will cross six seas and eight borders, skirting the path of the volcanic ring of fire – the most geologically unstable region on the planet to reach the finish line in Lombok, an idyllic Indonesian island paradise.’
For the uninitiated, the competition requires citizens to leave their cellphones, internet connection, and bank cards behind for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, pushing themselves to physical and mental boundaries as they travel between two locations with as little as possible.
One team will win as the others are eliminated one by one, allowing them to capture the £20,000 cash prize.
In Season 3, five teams travelled from Vancouver, British Columbia to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador on the other side of Canada. Tricia and Cathie, best friends, won the $10,000 prize.
But, who will follow in their footsteps? Meet the Race Across The World 2024 cast.
Alfie and Owen
Owen, 20-year-old trainee pilot, and Alfie, 20-year-old football referee, are best friends from Hertfordshire.
Talking about why they wanted to take part in the series, Alfie said: ‘I think we wanted to take part in the series mainly because we’re both lovers of travelling and have done a little bit of travelling before but never done the whole backpacking, country-hopping situation. It was something that we wanted to try further down the line anyway and we thought it would be such a great experience that it would be impossible to say no to.’
Owen added: ‘We wanted to do this because, as Alfie said, we wanted to go travelling and we’ve never done this sort of thing together. Also, we wanted to put our friendship to the test, see what we can achieve with it. And personally, ourselves we wanted to see how we’d deal in this sort of situation and how well we can do, see if we can make it to the end and maybe even win.’
Sharon and Brydie
Brydie, 25, a snowboard instructor, and her mother Sharon, a 52-year-old cleaner, are learning to accept the obstacles of travel and dyslexia.
Admitting they’re ‘winging it’, the couple is’sharing everything’ in the hopes that their intimate friendship would be a sufficient tactic.
‘It just looks amazing, it looks fun. I watched it with my family at home and Brydie was in Canada at the time and then we went out to visit and we watched it together. She just looked at me and I looked at her and we thought “we could do this” and so that’s exactly how it happened,’ Sharon said.
Eugenie and Isabel
The second mother-daughter duo taking part are teacher Eugenie, 60, and Isabel, a 25-year-old clinical scientist.
The pair, from Birmingham, are hoping to get closer on the trip, with Isabel saying: ‘I put in the application because although it seemed quite intense, I thought it would be something cool for us to bond together in the process. Mum and I are not as close as we could be so I thought it would be a good opportunity to explore.’
Eugenie, who had never watched the show before applying, added: ‘I’ve rolled with it, originally, I applied to make my daughter happy but then I watched the show and thought it was really exciting. Then when she said it would be a good time for us to really bond and spend time together I thought actually, she’s right because Isabel’s language of love is time and we haven’t actually really had the quality time that we could have had recently. So I thought this is going to be brilliant, 24/7 just with each other all the time, we’ve got no choice but to work things out and bond.’
Stephen and Viv
Retired couple Stephen, 61, and Viv, 65, are taking on the adventure and hoping to prove that ‘wisdom, perspective, and maturity’ makes the winning formula.
Talking about their strengths and weaknesses, Stephen said: ‘Obviously our age, but in a lot of ways we think that might be a strength as well, we’re sort of perhaps less imposing then some of the youngsters, less threatening than perhaps some of the youngsters might be by approaching strangers, we’re not a threat to anybody. But, certainly, it’s literally the same thing as a weakness, we’re not going to beat anyone in a footrace that’s for sure.’
He added: ‘We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to win it. But it doesn’t matter either, we’ve seen the show, the success the failures and the taking part. We want to finish, to finish is important to us, we’d just be embarrassed to go home early, the kids would never live it down, it would just be awful, they’d just mock us mercilessly. Yes, of course we want to win, who wouldn’t. We’ll just do everything we can, within the rules, to make that happen.’
Betty and James
Betty, 25, a social media and events manager for a gym, and James, 21, a sales consultant from Yorkshire, are brother and sister.
The couple has been preparing with fasts and early-morning wake-up calls in the hopes of sharing an unforgettable encounter.
Talking about what they’ll miss the most from home, Betty said: ‘My dog, his name is Stanley, he’s a chocolate Labrador. I probably should have said my boyfriend!’
James added: ‘Quite a lot of things but I don’t know what I’ll miss the most. I feel like mainly the structure of just a normal day, like knowing when you’re going to sleep.’
Season 4 of Race Across the World follows the BBC’s first celebrity spin-off, with stars travelling from Marrakesh, Morocco to Tromso, Norway.
The show included Harry Judd and Emma from McFly, Melanie Blatt and Helene from All Saints, Billy Monger and Bonnie from F1, and Alex Beresford and his father Noel from Good Morning Britain. The latter won.
Race Across The World returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Wednesday, April 10.
Source My Celebrity Life.
