How ironic that the least problematic show in the world just got controversial. This week, Scott Mills was quietly removed from his role as co-presenter of Race Across the World’s new podcast as news about him hit the headlines. Fluffy reality TV was suddenly emblazoned in the stern headlines of the news pages.
Fortunately, little of that touches the show itself, which is as reliably feelgood as ever. Now in its sixth season, the BBC reality show’s formula of pitting couples against one another to – yep, you guessed it – race across the world is as heart-warming and consistently suspenseful as ever, without (thank goodness) requiring too much of the viewer.
It’s hard to conceive of reality television that is totally non-toxic and a ratings hit to boot, but many of us dream about legging it across the world with our best mate.
The show knows this too, giving us a plethora of people to root for. The contestants are all predictably loveable, and plucked from across the UK. As ever, the show relies on the classic formula of pairing one chaotic person with someone uber organised, typically a friend or relative. Then, all the viewer has to do is sit back and watch as their attempt at organising the admin necessary to traverse across the world on a tight budget falls apart.
This year, these include widower Mark and the sister of his late partner Margo, whose shared grief has brought them immensely close as friends; two absolutely charming 19-year-old mates, Jo and Kush, from Liverpool and two brown women in their 30s, Puja and Roshni, whose descriptions of their socially conservative parents, and how they are bucking the mould by not getting married and instead travelling together, still feels depressingly radical.
We meet all of them on the Italian island of Sicily as they prepare to travel to Hatgal in Northern Mongolia, for the price of an airline fare. That’s all to come, though: in the meantime, we get a taster of how (and if) the pairs might work together on their mammoth journey, by clowning around Italy.
Race Across the World has always excelled in combining escapism with moments of genuine fun, and there’s plenty of that on show here - like when outgoing Margo gets involved in a spontaneous dance with strangers. It’s a horrific proposition to her travel partner, the more introverted Mark one who clearly can’t imagine anything worse and hides in the corner.
Not that he’s adverse to letting loose: they agree later that instead of racing like everyone else they’ll detour to Puglia rather than heading straight to Mongolia because they want to see the sights.
“It’s speaking to us both isn’t it,” says Margo, and off they pop, clearly forgetting about the competition. Then there are Mancunian brother-sister duo Katie and Harrison and his penchant for budgeting, which leads them to dry bread sandwiches for dinner (they might budget for just one sauce next time, to treat themselves) and father and daughter Andrew and Molly, whose inclusion on the show, jokes Molly, was the result of a “joke gone too far.”
Life’s tough but take solace in Race Across the World, the Beeb’s Bafta-winning burner that’s as reliably good as ever.
Race Across the World is streaming on BBC iPlayer and airs on BBC One
