At long last, the new series of travel show-slash-competition Race Across the World is back.
The premise is simple: five couples must race each other across a sizeable chunk of the globe, without mobile phones or credit cards, in pursuit of a £20,000 cash prize. Complicating matters, the teams only have a shoestring budget to help them complete the odyssey (equivalent to a one-way flight between the start and end points)
Of course, the real prize is the experiences they’ll have along the way, and this year, their journey will be taking them from Hokkaido in northernmost Japan to the Indonesian island paradise of Lombok. Along the way there’ll be volcanoes, breakdowns and six different seas to cross – in other words, it promises both drama and a healthy dollop of travel inspiration.
But who’s starring in this newest season? We break down the contestants.
Alfie and Owen
Best friends Alfie and Owen are both aged 20, and while they’ve both done a bit of travelling before, neither of them have done the kind of cross-country backpacking that Race Across the World promises its contestants.
“We wanted to go travelling and we’ve never done this sort of thing together, says trainee pilot Owen. “Also, we wanted to put our friendship to the test, see what we can achieve with it.”
The boys have already worked out their game plan, too. “The strategy is, in very loose terms, earn first and race later,” says Alfie (the contestants will have the chance to earn money for their travelling along the way).
“We think that everybody in the first leg is going to be quite ‘Gung Ho’ and perhaps aren’t going to have that much headspace, they’re going to be a little bit erratic, so we’re going to try and take advantage of that.”
Given that the contestants can’t take phones with them, they’ve also prepped for the journey with their one essential item: iPods.
Betty and James
Sister and brother duo Betty and James have little in common these days – something they’re hoping that this will fix. Aged 25 and 21, Betty works as a social media manager for a gym, while James is a sales consultant.
In terms of how adventurous they are, it varies: “I’ll try anything once”, Betty says, while James “tried ramen today for the first time! Also, I think on the plane was the first time I’ve ever had seaweed. I’m getting there. I’m open to trying most of the food at least.”
The pair also feel that their sportiness will give them an edge. Betty played rugby for Yorkshire when she was younger, and danced both Latin and ballroom, while James is a fan of rugby, tennis and cricket.
They’ve also been preparing for the trip in a slightly unusual way: “I did two 24-hour fasts,” says James, while Betty “started trying to reduce my food and then we’re both really bad in the morning at waking up so I started trying to wake up at half five in the morning for the last two, three weeks because neither of us function well in the morning.”
Eugenie and Isabel
Mother and daughter Eugenie and Isabel have contrasting approaches to travel – something the trip will no doubt highlight. At 60, Eugenie is a teacher, while 25-year-old Isabel is a Trainee Clinical Scientist.
“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,” Isabel says. “Mum and I are not as close as we could be so I thought it would be a good opportunity to explore.”
In addition to learning lots of languages to prepare (all of which, Isabel says, are now “useless” now they know their destination), their strategy will be leveraging Eugenie’s experience as a teacher “and other communication tools that she’s had to use with the children with special needs she works with,” Isabel says.
“Mum knows how to simplify things better for people, so I think that’s where we’re going to go.”
Sharon and Brydie
Sharon (52) and Brydie (25) hail from Kent and are another mother-daughter duo. The pair consider themselves very “tight” – to the point where they’ll be sharing everything, including shampoo and conditioner – and are confident that their enthusiasm will see them through. “We’re a very adventurous family,” Brydie says.
A challenge will be getting to grips with the local geography. “We’re not very good at naming capital cities,” says Brydie, while Sharon adds, “I don’t know if I should confess this but when we were told we were going to Tokyo, I thought that was a country in itself! So, yes, I hope we don’t come across really stupid. But it’s all about education, everything’s a learning curve.”
When it comes to strategy, there’s more of a motto: “she’s doing it for me and I’m doing it for her so, we can’t let each other down,” says Sharon.
Stephen and Viv
Retired couple Stephen (61) and Viv (65) hail from Rutland and are on a quest to prove that wisdom and maturity can win the day.
Stephen cites “the sense of adventure and the fun, just the opportunity” as their reasons for going: “we’d watched the series on TV, and we just thought we wanted to have a go.”
Though the pair have an active lifestyle they’ve been preparing for the trip by watching lots of previous seasons of the show and taking a rather unorthodox approach to weight. “We realised it was going to be heavy walking around with the backpacks so we laid out on the bed everything we thought we’d need, tried to get it all in and it wouldn’t fit. Then we decided we’d have to eliminate stuff so we eliminated stuff on the basis of weight. We had scales and we weighed everything,” Viv says.
“It got down to the point where we were weighing each individual pair of knickers or each pair of underpants to see which style is lighter. Cutting labels out of things,” Stephen adds.
