Race Across the World has been going for a while now. It first aired in 2020 – aka, the depths of lockdown – with its lush visuals and far-flung locations providing much-needed escapism for thousands of Brits stuck at home, unable to travel. These days, it’s enough of an institution to merit its own celebrity spinoff: because what’s more entertaining than watching average Joes try to bargain with a bus driver in broken Spanish? Why, watching celebs do it instead.
And so begins another series, full of catchy soundbites (“I’m going to Eat, Pray, Love the hell out of this thing”), disastrous mistakes and breakneck races to the next checkpoint. This being Celebrity RATW, the show wastes no time introducing us to our cast of celebs. Spoiler alert, there are no George Clooneys here: instead we get presenters Jeff Brazier and Kelly Brook , Radio 2 DJ Scott Mills and actor Kola Bokinni, aka that guy who was in Ted Lasso (and the originator of the Eat, Pray, Love quote).
Along with their loved ones, they’re here to win...
or are they actually just here to have a good time and blow through the budget? One of the beautiful things about the show is that despite its long runtime, the format doesn’t feel old yet. Partly, that’s down to the changing location - this time, the competitors will be racing from Belém in Brazil all the way to the southern Chilean town of Frutillar, with only £2,200 to their names: aka, the cost of a single flight for two. There’s also great enjoyment to be derived from watching the cast get pushed all the way out of their comfort zones.
The magic works again here. Mills, along with his fiancé (now husband; the pair got married after filming wrapped) Sam Vaughan, both love a resort holiday, but one episode in and they’re already helping an old granny make traditional Brazilian sweets in the middle of nowhere, despite the fact that they don’t know a single word of Portuguese and she doesn’t speak English. On the flipside, Bokinni, and his cousin Mary Ellen, rarely went away as kids – so it’s no surprise that one day in, they’re blowing the budget on living the high life by the beach.
And for Brazier and his son Freddy, this appears to be a chance both to bond, and for Freddy to do a bit of growing up. “Take control!” Brazier tells his son for the umpteenth time as the pair sweat over their maps. As the episode progresses, we also see the first cracks start to appear in the teams.
Kelly Brook wants nothing more than to visit a few nice beachside towns (she does realise this is a race, right?), to the chagrin of her ultra-competitive husband Jeremy - while Jeff and Freddy are soon butting heads over their travel options. But that’s the joy of the whole thing. As it turns out, being a celebrity is no help at all when it comes to getting from A to B; quite the opposite, in fact.
Several delicious, travel-heavy episodes lie ahead...
settle back and enjoy. Celebrity Race Across the World is streaming now on BBC iPlayer and will air on BBC One on Wednesdays at 9pm.
