On April 23, the UK will be tuning back into watch five pairs of teams battle it out for the title of Race Across the World champion.
This year, the route looks to be just as challenging as ever. The teams will be racing from the Great Wall of China all the way to the southernmost tip of India: an epic journey that will span 14,000 gruelling kilometres, in pursuit of the £20,000 prize pot.
To help them get there, they’ll only have the price of an airline ticket between the two destinations – which this year is at a record low of £1,000 each.
See also: What routes has Race Across The World done so far?
Who are the teams who will be setting off on this epic adventure? We break it down.
Yin and Gaz
Yin and Gaz are maybe the first ex-couple to take part on the show: they used to be married and are now taking on this mammoth, multi-week challenge together.
“The last year has been quite a personal journey for me,” Yin says. “Gaz and I, although we used to be married, we've been separated for about three years. And then when we split up, I found another partner, but he passed away suddenly in September. The last year has been tough, but one of the things that Chris gave me was a real sense of adventure, and he really liked travelling.”
She was living with Gaz during her grieving period, and asked if he wanted to take part. His response: yeah, sure.
“I wouldn't probably do this with anyone other than Yin,” says Gaz, for his part. “I know that sounds weird, because we're not together, we're not husband and wife but we're still best mates. And I think even now, could I do this with my brother? No. Could I do this with any other mates? No. And Yin was pretty much the same.”
They’re aiming to just have fun and complete the race, rather than win – but they’ve also brought some rather unusual things with them. Gaz has a search and rescue dog toy from the 9/11 Memorial, while Yin has a “teeniest, tiniest baby doll” that she found on a trip to Norway.
Elizabeth and Letitia
These two are sisters who have spent almost a decade living in different countries. They’re opposites – Elisabeth is an extrovert, while Letitia is an introvert – and
“I think I signed up for this mostly for the challenge. I think I just wanted to push myself to finish something, to accomplish something big,” says Letitia, and Elizabeth agrees: “As I've got older, I’ve felt more reluctant to put myself in different positions, so this is me throwing myself out there.”
The pair are hoping to rely on the “kindness of strangers” to get them through the race (as well as their language skills: between them they speak some Italian, Spanish, Swahili, Chinese and Korean), and want to take the time to learn from each other – they’ve never travelled together before.
“Hopefully they’ll see that we just really want to try new things, and hopefully encourage other people to try new things,” Elizabeth adds. “Even just in terms of in the black community and women, especially, seeing two sisters, putting ourselves out there.”
Fin and Sioned
Fin and Sioned are a couple who are swapping their life in Wales for a globe-trotting adventure. Ominously, Fin says the challenge is partially “a way to see if me and her can be together basically, if it can work forever. A challenge to see if it will make or break us.”
Thye’ve got a “go with the flow” approach for the show, but have also picked up tips from previous series. “I’ve got travel cards that have pictures of transport on them,” Sioned says. “Because we’ve seen on previous series, other parts of the world, being able to communicate is hard, especially where we are.”
They’ve also been prepping with fitness training and a bit of Spanish learning on Duolingo.
“We're very competitive with each other,” Fin adds. “But I feel like as a team, we are also very competitive. But there's also a part of us that doesn’t want to just go straight and not see anything and just win, you've got to experience it as well.”
And of course, they’ve brought souvenirs from home: Sioned has a charm bracelet with words in Welsh from her mum, as well as a Wales tea towel.
Brian and Melvyn
Brothers Brian and Melvyn live very different lives, and are looking to reconnect. “We don't meet up that regularly at home,” Brian says, and the show is a chance to “spend a bit of quality time with each other, as we used to do when we were kids. It was an excuse to get together, and relive some of our old adventures when we were teenagers and young children.”
The pair have their differences (Brian prefers first class, while Melvyn tends to travel budget) but are keen to make things work and “go all out to embarrass” their family at home. And they want to win.
However, there are potential bumps in the road too. As Melvyn puts it, “we're both very controlling, we think. We organise our lives. We like to be in control of what we do. We both need to be in control of where we're going, what we're doing. So that might cause a bit of a problem.”
Caroline and Tom
Caroline has never travelled, while her son Tom has – but this is going to be an adventure for both of them.
“I’ve never applied for anything like this before, I've never done anything like this, I've never done anything out of my comfort zone or ever arranged any travel and I just knew it was made for me,” Caroline says.
To prepare, the pair have bought an alarm clock – to compensate for not having a phone – and Tom has bought a journal, as well as an MP3 player.
That said, there might be a problem. “We know we are going to struggle with the budget because Thomas needs to eat a lot - a huge amount!” Caroline says. “So to make up for that we were thinking, perhaps we could ask for favours with people, or work extra hard, or offer to do something in return for an apple at the side of the road.”
While they’re not taking it too seriously, Tom does thing that winning the race would be an “amazing feeling. To get to the last checkpoint and see the book empty. That would probably be one of the best feelings you’ll ever have. I keep on saying to mum and it sounds quite corny but I think it's true that just doing the race and sharing the experience in itself is somewhat winning I think. Because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Race Across the World is streaming on BBC One from April 23
