Race Across the World review – would you really do this show with your ex?

It’s hard to believe that Race Across the World has only been on TV since 2019, so integral is it to the BBC’s springtime schedules. In six short years, the reality competition has become a flagship format, skipping over from BBC Two to BBC One and scooping up Baftas for both its civilian and celebrity series, which airs in the autumn. And so to a fifth adventure for Britain’s bravest normies, who are dumped at a far-flung location and told to make it to another, via a series of hard-to-reach checkpoints. As always, they’re given the price of an air fare between the start and finish lines, which has to cover bed, board and transport for two whole months, with the possibility of earning some extra dosh by working strenuous jobs such as cleaning or working in kitchens. And, as ever, the cracks begin to show slowly – then all at once – for the pairs.

There are some firsts this time around. If you thought 20-year-olds Owen and Alfie from the last series were young, get ready for teenage couple Fin and Sioned, who at 18 and 19 are the show’s youngest ever contestants. Yin and Gaz are also the show’s first separated couple, and the story of their against-the-odds relationship and subsequent split unfurls in shocking fashion over the first episode. While this revelation shattered any remaining belief I had in the power of love, next week’s second episode does well to provide more context to their split – and hopefully to stop random people across the country (and by that, I mean me) petitioning to get them back together.

On your marks … Race Across the World. Photograph: BBC/Studio Lambert

Some things, of course, remain the same. We’ve got Elizabeth and Letitia, who are siblings on a quest to get to know one another better; Caroline and Tom, a mother and son duo also on a quest to get to know one another better; and sexagenarians Brian and Melvyn, who are there to remind us that life experience can be a major attribute in this game. They’re also – would you believe it – siblings on a quest to get to know one another better, and haven’t holidayed together since the 70s.

We’re in Asia for this new race, with the teams heading across China and Nepal to the tip of India, covering a total distance of 14,000km. It quickly becomes clear that Letitia has an advantage, having previously lived in China for six months and speaking a basic level of Mandarin. I can already feel the tabloid heat this is likely to attract (a young, well-educated black girl who speaks Chinese? Travelling to a destination pre-chosen by a TV production company, which happens to be China? Outrageous!) but I am quietly hopeful that they’ll be too dazzled by Letitia’s instant grit and smarts to do a hatchet job on her. Meanwhile, Brian and Melvyn are straight out of the gate and ready to go … before they stop for cake, clearly ready to Graze Across the World.

On a quest to get to know each other better (of course!) … Elizabeth and Letitia in Race Across the World. Photograph: BBC/Studio Lambert

All the teams have teething issues, but Caroline and Tom are the first to crack, tearful and overwhelmed before they’ve even reached the first checkpoint. Like Alexander Dragonetti – the plummy people’s champ from the most recent series of The Traitors – you get the sense that Caroline and Tom know their way around a Fortnum & Mason hamper. But they’re also quite genuine, and their honesty might be their secret weapon, with Caroline, a housewife, keenly admitting that people have long underestimated her at home.

Brian is quite honest, too, but in a way that has the potential to grate. He’s used to living in the lap of luxury, thanks to his success as a businessman (which he mentions a lot). His wife, he says, has warned him not to come across as too pompous; hopefully, as he continues to bond with the more down-to-earth Melvyn, this will subside. Or maybe there will be some horrifying sob story in a later episode that will make us regret ever having rolled our eyes as he harped on about his love of Michelin-starred restaurants.

Race Across the World isn’t exactly The X Factor in that regard, but we do get potted histories peppered throughout the series. For Fin and Sioned that mostly means soundbites about how huuuuuuuge China is compared to Wales. Hopefully they will get to discuss something else that isn’t Wales-related as the series continues.

Of course, nothing goes to plan – but, as always, the joy comes from watching the pairs come way out of their comfort zones and bask in new experiences. Or, as Letitia puts it while working on a farm: “If I wasn’t being stabbed every three seconds by the thorns, it would actually be quite relaxing.”