Six months ago, five teams took part in an unforgettable competition.
CLOCK CHIMES
Yes! Let's go. We got this.
Rapido, rapido!
Up there. You see that?
Oh, this is sick.
An epic race of over 12,000km
from west to east.
Look at this. Incredible.
You don't see that on a new-build in Manchester, do you? No.
Posh, we made it.
From the sun-drenched, bustling streets of Sicily...
That's a view and a half, that, you know.
Screensaver vibes.
..to the vast, unforgiving wilderness of Mongolia...
I love how flat it is into, like, absolute mountains.
Absolutely epic.
..they tested their own stamina and endurance...
Give it loads!
Can I have your skates? HE LAUGHS
Ah...
So we've lost our lead.
..across eight countries rich in culture and experience.
Give me your vodka.
THEY CHEER
Today's celebration is called a circumcision party.
Sick.
I don't think I've ever seen anything so cool in my life.
But only one team could claim victory...
Three, two, one.
THEY SCREAM
...and take home the £20,000 prize.
Yo!
Now, for the first time since the finish line, they reunite...
Hello. How are you doing?
..to share their stories...
I don't think I was thinking anything other than,
"I can't believe I'm here."
..to reveal how the race changed their lives...
We wanted to make sure this didn't break us,
and it's actually made us stronger.
High five.
I've wanted to do that for a long time, kid.
Margo, she's very open, very free, and I've taken that on board.
..and to marvel at the process undertaken
to bring their extreme journeys to the screen...
We just need to make sure we know
where all the teams are at all times.
They're like the brain of Race Across The World.
What a job to be able to do.
..as they all relive...
Let's go.
..their race... Come on, Mark.
It's right there. Come on.
..across the world.
Having arrived home in the UK almost six months ago,
all five teams are coming back together.
Hi, folks. Hi, guys.
Right, so I'm going to pop some microphones on you.
Yep. This is very professional. None of this on the road.
First to arrive,
siblings Katie and Harrison,
ready to see their fellow competitors
for the first time since leaving the race.
I can't wait to see the guys. I'm so excited to see them.
How are you doing?
The second duo to join - father and daughter Andrew and Molly.
Hi! Hello!
Can we go up to them? I'm so excited.
Hi!
Good to see you!
Andrew.
Good to see you. You look beautiful. Look at you.
Oh, my God. This has been wild! Absolutely wild.
Shall we go and do it again? Yeah. Shall we go and do it again?
Next to walk through the doors...
Hello! Hello!
..in-laws Mark and Margo.
Mark, how are we doing? Very good.
You look beautiful.
Yeah, have you been up to any adventures?
He's been travelling.
He got right out, got his rucksack on. Did you have a rucksack?
Rucksack in Thailand. On his own.
On my own time in Thailand. Singapore, Sri Lanka.
So jealous.
And guess who I bumped into in Sri Lanka? Who?
Ah!
You've been away too. You've been away!
I did Sydney, New Zealand and then Sri Lanka.
Race really gave me that sense of freedom to go,
"Actually, I can do a bit more travelling."
We bumped into each other. That is nice.
It was so good. I was like, "Mark!"
Hi. We're at a five-star hotel and all we can find
to eat is...
..Mongolian vegetable noodles and...
Mongolian seafood rice. Brilliant. But there we are.
We cannot escape Mongolia wherever we go, or their food.
Bye! Bye!
Also back with the group, cousins Puja and Roshni.
Roshni!
ALL GREET EACH OTHER
How are you? Have you lost your voice?
WEAKLY:I've lost my voice. Oh, perfect. Voice is gone.
How are you guys?
That is terrible timing.
And the last pair to join the pack,
19-year-old best friends Jo and Kush.
Are we the last?
Yeah, I think we're last.
ALL GREET EACH OTHER
Good to see yous. Great to see you.
Your boys. Your boys.
You got very fond of them, didn't you, on the trip?
They're like our little brothers. You're our little brothers.
So, girls, as the people who left early, who do you think,
between the whole lot of us, who do you think won?
Who's giving winner energy?
We always thought that you two would win.
Mark and Margo, yeah.
You were always so charming and, like, full of energy.
And, like, you just seemed to know every flight.
With my dad, like, I could ask him any question,
he would just know the answer.
And I feel like you're exactly the same.
Oh, gosh.
Whoever won, can you please step forward?
THEY SQUEAL
APPLAUSE
I'm so proud of you!
Oh, my God, I'm so proud.
Rosh, look. Looks like a cathedral.
These five pairs put their everyday lives on pause
and came together for an epic adventure.
But it was actually months before they stood
on the starting line that they began their journey.
They were selected from thousands of application videos.
Hello, everybody. It's Molly and... Daddy.
..Andrew!
Hello. I'm Harrison. And I'm Katie. We are siblings.
I'm 22. She's 20.
Why do we want to do it is because we want to see the world.
We want to experience things,
add some spice to life, you know, keep it interesting. Yeah.
Experience different, yeah, cultures, people.
Hi, I'm Puja. And I'm Roshni. Please take us.
Yeah, we would love to go. We really want to go.
Why do you think we'd be good, Mark?
Well, we're like chalk and cheese. I'm very practical.
Boring. Margo just has fun, fun, fun!
And as casting progressed,
all shortlisted candidates were brought to London
to test their navigation skills -
without phones or cash,
and armed only with cryptic clues.
Ask someone. Yeah, literally you've read my mind.
Excuse me, miss. Excuse me.
We're in a race at the moment,
and we just need some help finding out where our location is.
Molly's taking charge. I'll follow her.
We're in a competition.
You wouldn't take us to Golden Hinde?
Does anyone know if this is southbound?
Is this southbound? Harrison, we're good, it's southbound.
Just ask people. It's easier.
Doing a challenge.
And these ladies are filming for this challenge.
To see if I can get anything for my birthday. She's 59 today.
I've got my passport in my bag if you want to see.
59. Yeah.
Oh, this is sick.
No way. That's sick.
What?! Yes, mate. Nice.
Well, thank you. Amazing.
Four months after selection,
they arrived at the airport, having packed for every eventuality,
with no idea where in the world they were heading.
Ah! Ooh!
Their destination revealed just hours before departure.
"You'll be flying to..."
"Palermo in Sicily."
Oh, my God! Southern Italy.
You can have pizza tonight.
HE LAUGHS
Oh! That's brilliant. That's brilliant. Sicily, mwah!
Mamma mia!
In the historic city of Palermo...
I'm actually really nervous. I can't lie.
Same here.
..they all came face to face for the very first time.
Here we go. Oh, God.
They're looking fit and young. Good to meet... I'm Margo.
Margo. I'm Jo.
Oh, I can see 'em!
Hey. Hi. Hi, guys.
So I'm guessing everyone's here to win.
I have a saying - second's first loser.
Oh, OK.
Suddenly I'm just like, "I need to win this."
That's, like, drawing the enemy lines now.
Will we get this thing started?
Yeah. Yeah.
When we first met you guys in Palermo, it was like, that...
That couple minutes of, "Hi, guys," and then it was off.
I don't think I was thinking anything other than,
"I can't believe I'm here
"and can't believe I'm about to do this."
And, "This backpack's heavy."
I hypnotised myself to believe that backpack was really light,
didn't I? You did. But as soon as I got home, "What the hell?"
After the first leg, I thought Katie and Harrison
were just going to blow us out the water.
You know, a day and a half ahead on the first leg.
You know, it's unbelievable.
It was, it was very intimidating to have you guys
so far ahead, because we didn't know anything about yous.
You were a myth.
But then when we met you, Harrison, you still impressed.
Your understanding of budgeting and timings
and, like, this overview, that was almost like a computer.
Felt like that. Couldn't turn it off. That is him, yeah.
I've got a toiletry bag the size of a house.
Yeah, well, I've got all the useful stuff.
I've got alarm clocks, compass.
So you just bring, you know, the stuff you need,
and I'll bring the stuff for both of us.
Yeah. Oh, you're getting it now.
Katie and older brother Harrison started the race
with very different attitudes to money and planning.
You definitely took the role with the budget.
You were in a deep, emotional relationship with your calculator.
We have spent 8.5%, this leg, of our total budget.
Which is very, very good.
It works - being a tight bastard works.
Pocket meat and cheese.
Really dry.
Really dry is an understatement.
Feel like I've just stuck my face in the Sahara Desert.
I can't swallow it!
I took it very personally
as my responsibility to get us to that finish line.
And it kind of soothed me to constantly be thinking about it.
Oh, look at this!
This is not good for the budget.
I've got a shot glass collection at home.
Who buys all this shit?
Me!
That really took over for me.
Like, I just couldn't help but be absorbed by the race
and the race environment, and not the experiences.
Although the race environment is about winning,
it's also about the unique way of travelling
that you're doing by racing. Yeah.
I genuinely loved every second of it.
You know, maybe I didn't have that drive,
because I was just enjoying it so much.
Like, I just honestly had the best time ever.
I think everyone would agree you were pure sunshine
the whole way through.
I think one day you were, like, sitting with a glass of prosecco
at checkpoint being like, "I could be at work on a Monday."
LAUGHTER I'm not!
As they ventured further east,
Katie's desire to pause and take it all in...
Feels very much once in a lifetime.
..started to shift Harrison's perspective on the race.
I'm on a horse in Kyrgyzstan.
It's incredible.
That is just ridiculous.
This is stunning.
HE SINGS
Birmingham.
HARRISON LAUGHS
A picture of Tesco Express. Tesco. Tesco. Yeah, Tesco.
He was so chuffed with this picture of Tesco Express. I know.
Such a lovely moment, but funny.
Why am I sat in a treehouse in Turkey
looking at a picture of Tesco Express?
It was mental.
That was kind of when I sort of let go a little bit
and stopped and started to appreciate
and spend time with people,
and that's really where I came away with sort of the mantra that,
"OK, this is actually what the race is about."
Oh, no, no, no. Are you sure?
Oh. What is he giving you?
It's a medal. Oh! Half marathon.
We are friends.
But Harrison actually sent something, didn't you?
Yeah, I have...
We got in contact with the guy that sent me a medal
and I've sent him my one back
in a little sort of UK hamper box.
Oh, that's so nice. Yeah.
You've come back and you've gone, like...
You've got that, like, "I need to travel." And I do think you have...
It has, like, changed you.
I have to say that I probably do see the value in it,
the monetary value in it now.
I've not spent my own money yet on it,
but it might happen.
I'm guessing now you've learnt that, firstly,
it's not like a holiday.
Well, I call it a holiday sometimes.
Maybe if you're doing it Margo's way. But...
Their growth as a team came from learning to open up to one another,
deepening a bond in ways Katie had always wanted.
I don't know, I feel, I just felt like, "Why is this affecting me
"and it's not affecting him?
"Like, how does he seem so OK about it all?"
I definitely think the race has helped me
like, verbalise my feelings,
cos before, I might have felt like I wanted
to say something to you -
you know, something's bothering me, if I was upset or something -
but I physically could not get the words out.
Whereas now I think, because,
yeah, the race is just a really intense environment,
and you've got to be supportive for each other...
I just wanted to say, like, I suppose thank you
for being there and being...
Well, that's really nice to hear, actually.
I now just feel a lot more supported.
Yeah. Like, the race gave me a better understanding of you
and you a better understanding of me.
Yeah, but you do grow and you have to,
and it's a life experience.
And you have to accept it as a life experience,
and realise, and take something from it.
And you did. Yeah. Yeah.
OK. Got it? It's a good one for your Hinge profile, Harrison.
It makes you look really cool.
I've got a man bag on, though.
It feels like I'm going to plunge a toilet.
If it looks that bad, could you please try and help me?
Together. Come on.
Oh, my God.
Well done on the finish line.
We wouldn't have been able to have as good of a time with anyone else.
It was sort of the perfect combo.
And we've got that for life. Yeah.
This is breathtaking.
Incredible.
Oh, wow, look at that one, Margo. Look.
The teams were on the road for 51 days...
Absolutely incredible. It's hard to find words, isn't it?
It is. Absolutely, yeah.
..with cameras recording their every move.
With them, a five-person team
responsible for capturing the general views,
known as the GV crew, who filmed the scale,
beauty and rich variety of the journey.
If I want to give up teaching,
there's one job I would want to have is the crew
that do all those picturesque shots. Yeah. Yeah.
What a job to be able to do.
We're shooting Athens out today.
We've been up here since half six this morning.
Big bank of cloud came in and kind of killed us a little bit.
Well, sometimes it helps.
It came out and like created all these shadows across the city.
But thankfully the weather has picked up. Sun is shining.
The team that take these incredible shots
really get to be creative and think about how to capture
this beautiful area in the best way possible,
which is what you see on the screens. They have the best job!
So they essentially inspire the whole of the UK,
and whoever watches Race Across The World,
to want to go to these places,
by the way they capture it on camera.
Wow, look at this!
We're going to shoot this with time lapse over the mountains.
It is beautiful here. The landscape is incredible.
And the tech - they've got so much stuff, right?
They've got long-distance cameras, wide-shot lenses.
They've got close ups. They've got everything.
Yeah, they smashed it.
Alongside the GV crew, there are three more vital teams
dovetailing seamlessly to bring the race to life.
Comms check. Yeah, I heard that.
In London, a 20-strong team of producers,
researchers and production management,
following evolving stories and potential routes.
You've got someone who is relaying back every decision,
everything we say,
to the head office in London, who are obviously on UK time.
It feels like the brain of... Control centre.
..race control centre. There you go.
I'm thinking about it medically,
but they're like the brain of Race Across The World.
And then you have like the limbs in... Oh, God!
On location, a small embedded filming crew,
living and breathing every step of the race with each pair.
How are you feeling right now?
I think that's your duvet, Aaron. This is the duvet?
That's the smaller one. The bigger one should be the sheet.
Oh!Are you going to put your lavender spray on it?
And finally, the checkpoint crew,
who are one step ahead of the racers, tracking their every move,
and planning for all eventualities.
We've got Jo and Kush. I've got 10am. Do you think that's right?
Yeah, I think they're about 60 minutes away.
There's a whole team that stays in the checkpoint,
and they've got their own job to do.
If they go the most efficient way,
they'll get a car all the way up to there.
But there are various other points that they could
get dropped on the hill.
They are responsible for setting up and testing
the final run to each new checkpoint hotel...
Oh, my God! Yay! Hotel Emelisse.
Emelisse! Here we go. Oh, there we go!
..and there to support each team on their arrival.
Say hi, Hannah. Give me the camera.
What's your role, Hannah?
My role is to look after cast when they're at checkpoint,
make sure they're fed, watered, happy, healthy. And that's it!
Once the planning is done, it's over to the race.
Unpredictable. Unscripted.
And whatever happens, whenever teams arrive,
the crew has to be ready.
We are here at the finale location,
and we are just waiting for one of the teams to come in.
Where the spit is, there's a direct line of sight,
so we don't want the cast to see us,
so we're having to lie down and hide, poised for the signal.
OK, Ross. Go. Go, go, go. Everyone.
That is a spit, isn't it? Yeah.
When you're coming in to checkpoint, it gets really exciting, doesn't it?
Ah, here we go!
The clues! OK.Brrrp!
DEVICE BEEPS
'Find the amphitheatre...' '..and await further instructions.'
We have to find the minaret.
I think it's at the other side of the bridge. Yeah.
OK. Ready? Power everything up.
Is this right? Yeah. Oh!
They're two blocks away. Yeah.
Qarvasla Hotel. Margo, it's here. Yes!
Here it is, Jo.
Please sign in here.
What?!
As the checkpoint is approached,
the reality of each precious minute falls into focus...
Lads, we're going to beat you! No way!
Come on, Mark!
..with every team throwing their all into the chance
to climb the leaderboard.
Hey, Kush, speed up, lad!
You OK, Pugi? I'm good, Poshy.
Faster, faster! We've got a checkpoint to get to!
Get me out of this taxi and ready to run!
Traffic jam. Uh!
It just felt like tables turned so quickly.
We can't afford to make any mistakes,
and we've already made one.
The crew can give you absolutely no help,
and it can be very easy to go, like,
"Guys, you're giving me nothing here."
But they can't, because then it's not fair.
Is this actually a joke?
Lads, what's going on? Cos I don't know!
They had to walk through every stupid decision we made,
knowing we were going in the wrong direction.
Well, actually, we're kind of going back on ourselves.
Yeah. Oh, gosh.
But having the lead is one bus journey away.
Big money moves? Big money moves, but little money moves!
It's right there. Yes, Poshy!
Come on!
Hope and pray now.
We were looking out for the boys, because we noticed you
becoming more savvy and more competitive.
Because you said from the first,
"We're in it. We're really, seriously in it to win it."
But there was more and more, like, "We're not going to talk to you.
"You could be a threat." And it was. These guys...
See, that's cos yous are clever, that's the thing.
Both of yous are very, very like... But quite quickly you were like,
"zip"!
Here are the boys. How are we? Do you know where you're going now?
Yeah. What about you guys, you got a plan?
Yeah. We have a plan, yeah.
Are we allowed to know where you're heading to?
See you, boys!
We'll see you guys soon. Take care.
Oh, no! Best friends last night, sworn enemies today!
Yeah! Whoa! Oooh!
We were there to win, realistically. We are... We were there...
I've been saying this from the start.
We both have been saying this from the start -
we were there to win. Well, I think...
We're there to win. You just want to do better than everyone else.
We're ten short. Is there anywhere we could change money?
There was a situation where Molly and Andrew were ten euro short.
You wouldn't give us a tenner for a tenner, no?
Aw, that's a shame. Thought not!
It's a shame.
I was like, nah, realistically, we're here to win.
No. Oh, lad. What are you chatting?
You were very, very down to just lend them the money.
I'm glad we didn't give any money!
I'm glad. Set a precedent! 100%.
I would very much say that your experience was to win,
and you really enjoyed it.
And the whole way through you were very competitive, obviously.
But we were fourth, and we were trying our hardest,
and we were still coming in and, um...
Like, we were constantly at the back of the pack,
back of the pack, and it was about staying in it.
People talk about strategies. If we had any strategy
coming into this, was to stay in the game
as long as possible and then try and win it at the end.
And that's what we did. Yeah.
Were you two right behind each other at the final leg?
We were neck and neck. Not speaking to you again!
That's it! No, finished! It's all right. That's OK.
The gloves are off now!
But there's a good amount of luck.
And I think, like, the favourite moments for me -
and it sounds so sad - but it was when, like, connecting transport
just worked out!
LAUGHTER Honest to God! Like, I...
I just couldn't relax until I knew what transport was going on.
Elimination leg, Mr Meanie made us wait for a bus.
I decided, on budget terms, that we should wait
and get the bus rather than pay the taxi.
And we waited three... Three and a half hours.
..three and a half hours for a bus.
You should have waited 12! We would have caught you up!
Smile! CAMERA CLICKS
Oh!
Did your shoes get wet?
Wet shoes. I love my feet right now.
They're very happy.
The cousins embarked on the race to step away from the busy careers
they'd worked hard to build
and embrace a more unpredictable way of life.
Peperoncino?
Calabrese?
This is different.
Rosh is absolutely smashing it. She's maintained her energy levels.
Look at her. She looks so cute!
Cuanto?
What are you doing? Oh, no!
Yes, you can! Why? Yes, you can!
So, growing up, you know, we lived, like, two streets away.
We were very close. But life happens.
I think the goal of just going onto this
is we'd both been in our careers for, like, ten years.
So life gets very intense,
and we wanted to do something about that.
This guy, he is a Guard of the Gods.
OK. He's waving.
I've always wanted to take time off,
but there's always been a reason not to.
So I guess Race kind of forced us to take the time off.
And it kind of...it showed that it's not the end of the world.
Where are you going?
Ah! Oh, sorry.
What time is the bus?
Yes! Yes!
I'm feeling pumped. We're flying high.
I think we've handled ourselves really well on this leg.
I'm excited, Posh.
We're second. We're second!
It's been a wake-up call.
With family, you always think people are going to be around,
but actually, you need to put in that effort to make sure
you keep that relationship.
And, you know, we wanted to make sure this didn't break us,
and it's actually made us stronger.
Yeah.
But their momentum faltered in Turkiye...
We asked if our bus is tonight, but unfortunately
there wasn't anything available.
It gives the other teams time to catch up.
..and arriving in last at the third checkpoint
led to their surprise elimination.
Please sign in overleaf.
Oh! Oh, my God. We're last.
I think, when we saw the book, we didn't expect
that everybody would have done so well on that leg.
But you guys aced it.
But saying that, it was a great leg.
Like, we had an incredible time.
And honestly, Mongolia was for you guys.
Like, I'm so happy that you guys had that adventure.
Thank you. Also, we got to go on our own adventure.
Yeah. We went on a trip to Vietnam after all this ended.
It was just a great place.
Wave!
We got to have really good food.
Get massages. Yeah. We just had our own experience.
We plan to go away together again
with our husbands, with our families.
So, if this had not happened,
I don't think we would be doing that.
I don't think we would be as proactive. Yeah.
You think about, like, what Race and travel has given each one of us.
It has brought yous together.
And like my wife has said to me, "Who were you travelling with?"
All that kind of thing. And I said, like,
"Beautiful girl who's an anaesthetist in..."
And I'd go, "I just want Molly to turn out like you."
And I mean that. Just amazing. And lifelong friends, hopefully.
Absolutely.
We missed you, though, honestly.
We wanted to sign your names in the book as well. Oh!
That is amazing!
For all the teams,
this was a journey defined by endurance and extremes.
Look, look, look! Oh, that is really nice.
You can see the whole coast.
From the sunbaked coastlines of Europe,
to the untamed expanse of Central Asia...
Oh, my God!
Look at this. It is like the Wild West, Mark!
Look at it! It is, isn't it? Yeah.
..into the sub-zero temperatures of Mongolia.
Ooh! Feel the cold!
Retracing a path steeped in history along the old Silk Road,
they encountered a huge variety of people and local customs.
My father. Oh! Hello, hello. Nice to meet you.
Hello, hello, hello. Hello. Nice to meet you.
It's just such a, like, extreme, isn't it?
Like, you just started off in central mainland Europe
where you had all the comforts, really, of home,
and then going to just... Literally the middle of nowhere.
It's mad. Once you left Europe...
Yes. ..and went to Kazakhstan, it was an alien environment.
It was rocky, it was dry, it was arid.
And from that point, it was a completely different journey.
But even from the trains, did you... You must have got to see,
like, scenery. Nothing? Nothing. There's absolutely nothing!
What?! It's like being on the moon.
I can't describe it. There is nothing there.
You really, throughout the whole experience,
went from one to the other.
Done?
It went from language to no language.
Do you have avto? Um, car? Nzzzrrr?
Machine? Avto?
Lots of transport to no transport. Yeah.
The bus? It's all closed? Yeah, yeah.
Closed.
I found the bus station. It's just a shed.
Holy Moley! Traffic jam.
Look at them. There's millions of them.
Yeah, I'd say this year Race is very much extreme. Yeah.
That's the word to sum it up.
I think it's just so nice that you just...
You're worried that, oh, they don't speak the same language,
but you find a way to communicate.
Like, whether it's you dancing with everyone or,
you know, our man with the Tesco. Like, you... Like...
Yeah, you find your common ground.
You'll always find a way to communicate.
That was, like, the most beautiful thing. Yeah, yeah.
When we did all these home stays, like to, to live and sleep
under the same roof, share the food.
Like, this is such a privilege. It's even more of a privilege,
in my eyes, than being able to afford, like,
the five-star hotels. No, they treated us like family.
Oh, my God. You've done that so well. Thank you.
Places that we went were very different to the Western world.
It was a real... It was a culture shock, in the coolest way.
This is a really big deal.
Oh, my God, there's an eagle!
Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Nazgul. Nazgul? Kush.
It's nice to meet you. Your eyes are so beautiful. Oh!
Thank you.
I love the outfits.
This is what I think we were both searching for in this journey
as a whole, is the experiences that aren't readily accessible.
It's very bitter. I quite like it! Delicious.
Look at him, "Delicious." Good. It's very good. Yeah!
But when we got to Mongolia, it really got hard for us.
We really struggled.
It felt like your choices were kind of taken away from you,
because at the start it was kind of,
"Do you go by boat? Do you go by train? Do you go by car?
"Do you go by taxi?" It then just became, "Get there."
You couldn't be competitive with each other.
You were just being competitive against Mongolia.
The best way to put it is that you were fighting the elements.
I think the temperature swing the whole way, we figured out,
was like a 54 degree temperature swing from hottest to coldest.
And it's just...
I was looking forward to the cold, but maybe not that cold!
Maybe I wished too hard for that!
Like, your clothes had to change.
Your clothes for Italy, Greece,
and wild temperatures.
And then all of a sudden those clothes just kind of...
You should have just thrown them out!
We could have! Just thrown them out, had less weight to carry!
No, just layering up, layering up!
Mongolia, just wore the same outfit every single day. Yes, yeah.
And all your clothes. Yeah. Honestly, did any of you...
Never changed. ..ever change your clothes in Mongolia?
Because I didn't. No.
But as somebody who's only kind of really gone on family holidays,
I really, really struggled with the...
Did I have the ability to put a backpack on me
and travel in that way?
Always wanted to do it as a child,
always wanted to do it as a young person, and never did it.
Because there was pure want to do it,
But there was a fear kind of stopped you doing it before.
Yeah. It was a physical test as well as a mental test.
One of the reasons I did lack self-confidence in my ability
to do it was...was the heart attack. Mm-hm.
And the heart attack put me back kind of mentally, quite a bit.
Starting off in Sicily. Yeah. My God, it'll be amazing.
For Andrew, the race became a way to see the world...
Look at that, Molly. Absolutely stunning.
..and prove his heart attack three years ago wouldn't hold him back.
I would always say to children in class,
"The world's your oyster. Go and enjoy it."
But I never lived it.
And I was always kind of a bit of a fraud that way.
Whoo!
Jeez!
You're sweating, boy!
The relief of getting to that first checkpoint and signing that book...
Yeah. ..gave me the shot in the arm.
I looked at you and said, "We can do this."
The stamina is there. We can enjoy it as well.
And we can enjoy it.
It's my first train in Italy, Molly! You know my love of trains.
Look at the striations of the rock.
The way they're going down the lines.
Oh, my God. Look!
I've never seen these before, ever.
Different way of doing it.
Totally different way of doing beekeeping.
And there's your honey.
Seeing the mountains, seeing the landscape, seeing where people live,
that's what I do. That's what I love.
Really looking forward to getting out in the kayak.
I have my own kayak at home,
but I've never actually used it because of my, uh... Dicky ticker.
My dicky ticker.
So, uh, haven't been able to do it, so... Yeah, it'll be lovely.
Whooo!
Out in the open water! Look at those mountains.
I wanted to do that for a long time, kid.
To prove to me that I could, uh...
..it wasn't going to get me.
Sorry, pet.
It was so nice to kind of have the kayaking and, like,
just that whole thing, to us, was just really special.
Like, you kind of have to cherish those moments,
and it's very important to cherish those moments.
Just enjoy it. And that's...
I think I tried to say that to everybody.
Absolutely enjoy it. Have you actually been kayaking since?
I've actually booked a trip.
We're going to Norway, with my wife.
I think that whole rocky coast all the way up there
would be unbelievable.
Yeah. And we've booked kayaking in the fjords.
Oh, wow. That'll be beautiful.
I don't want to be stuck in a train station.
For Molly, the race was an opportunity to find her own
path in life and prove her independence.
Is there a bus to Kiva? Bus, no. Taxi, taxi.
Taxi! Taxi!
I don't know what to do. I don't know.
Before the race, I would have found it very difficult,
those big decisions. I'd have overthought it.
I would have... I would have got annoyed with myself.
Especially if it went wrong.
I don't want 100. I want 70. 70.
70. 70. Daddy!
He'll do it for 70.
Well done. Yeah. Good call, yeah?
I do think now I am a wee bit more self-confident.
That contentment has come with my decisions.
People need their doctor to be confident,
because that's who you're looking to for answers.
So it's really nice to sleep at night
and not have thoughts and thoughts and thoughts and thoughts!
There was a definite change in you, Molly, towards the end.
Do you think? Yeah. There was a strong sense of more confidence.
Yeah. And more decisiveness.
Slainte. Slainte.
# She is the belle of Belfast city
# She is a-courting, one, two, three
# Please will you tell me, who is she? #
I think, pre-race, we kind of proved to each other,
and, like, in life, we've proved to each other
we're good as father and daughter.
And I think Race, the one thing that allowed us to prove
to each other is we're a good team.
Yeah. And that is we can make decisions,
we can have equal opinion, and hold each other and be like,
"Yeah, no, that's good, that's bad." And communicate.
We've done it. We did it. We did it. Ah, kid.
We're second! We're second!
Still be her daddy for the rest of my life. Yeah.
But also it'll be...it'll be more of a friendship, and a pal.
Yeah, absolutely.
There's features of beauty, isn't there?
Yeah. It's good stonework. Mega.
Also looking to strengthen their bond and find a new dynamic,
in-laws Mark and Margo.
Oh, wow! I'd love to have a go on one of these, wouldn't you?
I know you would. Come on, you get one, I get one!
Going with Mark, though, I really wanted this,
but there was a little bit...
We weren't completely comfortable, were we?
Not at all. No.
Uh, I found her annoying!
Margo thought I was a boring old fogey, basically.
Judgy and boring. Judgy and boring.
Yes. Yeah. You may all know,
Julia's last dying wish was that we became friends.
That we continued and built on our friendship,
and that's what we did.
I love Naples. Absolutely brilliant.
I hate it, I loathe Naples.
I just didn't enjoy it at all.
I did think, "How is it going to go with Mark?"
"How are we going to be on the race?"
And I have to say, some people were a little bit doubtful
about the two of us doing it together.
They were a little bit, "Why are you going with Mark?"
What in God's name?
This is my cocoon.
What? What's it for? What did you...? What's it...?
Modesty. So... Just think you look ridiculous!
But as the race progressed, we didn't have a care in the world.
Did we? No. Not a care in the world. Yeah.
Try and hit it flat on, like that. Oh, OK. OK.
Oh, yes!
Now we're talking!
Now we are talking!
We're just two people enjoying the moment. Yeah.
And we were just having a bit of a laugh, weren't we, really?
We were. Yes. Hey!
Hey!
And it just, organically, just grew.
The last two legs of it were so hard in Mongolia.
That's when the real...
It was the real cement between us, because that's when it was...
..we were on our knees and we were just...
Yes, we were, yeah. And we needed each other.
And we both needed to really pull together, didn't we?
And support each other? Yeah.
No.
Not the busiest of highways, this, is it? No.
We seemed to have missed the rush hour.
We had to suffer. I think we had to suffer,
and push, and strive,
for it really to be the adventure that it was,
and for it to truly make us unite
and have each other's back.
We're doing blue sky thinking today. That's all we can do.
You know, just determination to finish,
a side of Margo I had never seen before,
it's what kept me going. Just about.
Do you go to Kharkhorin? Yes? Oh, good.
So kind. Thank you. Off we go. We're doing it our way.
And we never, ever give up. As a team, we've always carried on.
We've forged on, haven't we? We've always forged on.
And I'm so proud of her doing that. You know, I would have given up.
I would have given up, without Margo being there.
I wouldn't give up on you, though, Mark. I know you wouldn't!
And that was so... And that's a sign of friendship.
Here's to you, Julia, wherever you are.
You inspired us. You inspired us. Thank you, Julia!
Yeah. Thank you, Julia! She's laughing!
For Margo, travelling was also an opportunity
to step away from her day-to-day routine.
Part of coming on the race was like running away
from real life, and just enjoying myself,
and just be me for a change, and just go, let rip.
Taking respite from her responsibilities,
like caring for her elderly mum.
Since I've got back from the race, I've been more centred.
I did feel like Dorothy coming back in The Wizard Of Oz,
you know, coming home. And there is no place like home.
I was kind of, in a way, running away from my situation in life.
But now actually the determination I was applying to those challenges,
I've applied them to my life.
There's BBC. BBC, yes.
Race Across The World.
To make things nicer,
to make things easier,
and so I'm...I'm living that best life. But in Liverpool.
Oh, my goodness!
For Mark, the race also became something more...
Oh, my gosh!
..shifting his perspective on life itself.
It's unbelievable, this!
Wildness! It's strange to say,
you know, at 67, I was always embarrassed
about doing things, of what people might say,
what people might think.
I just couldn't care less now. In a way, it's because Margo...
She's very open and very free and doesn't worry
what people think about her. And I've taken that on board.
You were the first on the dance floor in Sri Lanka as well.
He led... He led the party!
Oh, I was, yes! Yeah. The baila. Yeah.
You know, for us, we were winners.
Because we'd done what we set out to do, and we'd won for Julia.
That was the thing. Yes. Yes.
We are good, good friends. We're mates now. We are.
Yeah. Mates. Do you think you'd go on holiday again?
Well! We've been talking about it, yes! We have been talking about it.
Yes. And we'd like adventure.
We do want... We are definitely up for adventure.
Like, it's so nice that you have that relationship together,
and you've built that for Julia.
Like, wherever she is now,
I'm sure she's very happy to see you both like this.
It's almost like she was on the race with you.
Yeah. She was on the race. Yeah, yeah.
That's so lovely. Sorry! It's a lovely legacy. Lovely legacy.
Arriving in Mongolia,
the filming teams faced one of the toughest environments
the race had come up against,
navigating extreme weather and limited infrastructure
after months of meticulous planning.
The planning of Mongolia,
it must have been a huge endeavour for everyone.
We're here in Mongolia, it's all very exciting.
We've got this massive map of the country
that our lovable fixers have lent us,
and we basically have just got all of the stops
and the potential places we think that the cast might be headed.
We just need to make sure we know where all the teams are
at all times.
To ensure safety, production members keep the teams trackable
and in sight whenever they travel by car,
in what are called 'follow vehicles'.
So this is day 42 of Race Across The World,
and I'm in our SV, following the cast and crew.
They are...they are over here.
I'm currently wrangling yesterday's rushes.
This is my office.
It's the final two weeks of Race,
and this just feels like an absolute privilege and pleasure
to be here, filming this.
It's in the middle of nowhere, but we're in Mongolia!
I actually currently can't hear them,
because we've got so many devices plugged into me!
We've got walkies, we've got phones, we've got Garmins.
Currently, the only way we can contact the SV is with our Garmin.
So... Yes, we're on our own! Yes.
Right, weather - again, we may hit minus 25 degrees.
It's going to be cold. Stay covered, properly.
Yeah. Good luck.
And stay warm. We will!
While we're nearing Mongolia,
it's cold during the day and even colder at night,
so we need quick access to extra layers after sunset.
From Italy to Mongolia,
we've gone from plus 30, down to minis 30,
which in itself brings new problems.
Where Italy was sunburn,
here, it's hyperthermia.
To battle the sub-zero conditions, everyone on the ground
had to be equipped with extreme cold-weather gear.
This is where we slept last night, but the stove was off.
It's exceptionally cold. Lots of layers on.
It is quite extreme here.
The worst part of the entire night was Duane snoring, guys.
That is such a fib! That is your snoring!
Your snoring.
It's colder than I had expected. Don't know about you.
The coats we had, the outfits,
like, you'd put your hood up and pull the zip ties,
and you'd literally have a little space like this
to look through. It was just boss. It was...it was just fun, innit?
Yeah. But I think...
I think I grossly underestimated how cold it was going to be.
Ending in Mongolia was just crazy.
It is so cold! Yeah. Oh, my God!
Where are you going? I don't have a clue.
There's just such vastness, and so many random things can happen.
So, for the crew, the amount of planning needed
to try and get ten idiots to race across the world is insane!
I mean, when we started this whole journey,
we always said, we were like, "When we travel, we want to live it."
But me and Jo have never really... We spent some time together.
We've been on, like, little holidays,
but it's never been more than, what, like a week,
two weeks we've ever spent at the same time?
And so it was nothing to what I'd imagined.
This is important.
Oh, slides. And these. Comfort.
Comfort is your best friend.
Those are old man shoes, them, bro. Those are old man's shoes! Oh!
Eager to make every second count,
fresh out of college, Jo and Kush wanted to explore life beyond
the familiar world they were raised in by their mums in Liverpool.
This is our plan. This is our security,
which I'm going to be taking charge of!
You still need to be on it with Kush sometimes.
Have we got our passports? Cos... Yeah, yeah. Excuse me! Definitely.
What are you trying to say?!
Liverpool's a small place.
We've gone out of the city, don't get me wrong,
but it's kind of like you still don't scale
how big the world is.
I mean, coming into this, once we applied,
we realised we are probably going to be the youngest.
Come on! So I think with youth comes this,
this preconception of a lack of maturity,
um, lack of life experience.
We seen ourselves as the underdogs, we seen ourselves as the...
..yeah, the least capable. And I think...
..it's flipped, hasn't it?
It embarks 3am in the morning.
Yes! 3am in the morning?
I don't think any teams could have done it faster.
Don't judge a book by its cover.
I think one thing about me and Jo
is we are actually, we're good at different things.
We worked well with what the other person lacked.
Like me, I sort of overthought a lot.
And I was like, "Oh, we have to do everything
"and think of it in a specific way."
And then some... And Jo would be like,
"No, just act, do." So that's where I would have
probably held us back if I'd kept trying to plan everything.
I would still be in Palermo, if I... ..if you weren't there. But...
..you were behind the strategy.
You're, like... You're very calculated.
And I think I focus too much on the present,
whereas you look so far into the future.
It helped me see the finish line, if that makes sense.
Actually, Jo and Kush,
I feel like you make the mistakes at the beginning,
and you learn from those mistakes early on,
and then you ace it for the final round,
which is what I think you guys basically did.
Tried our best. Yeah. Well, especially being last.
It's a...it gives a kick up the...kick up the arse!
LAUGHTER
Although he sustained a drive to succeed...
Uzbekistan this way.
He doesn't know his north. Oh, my days.
..Kush struggled with his mental health.
We need to do for this price.
There is no way. Oh, I feel sick!
I think the race was probably the peak of my...of my struggles,
when I was losing the most sleep.
The risk of making one wrong choice had such an impact.
You have a lot to worry about.
I'm going to be thinking the entire night.
It's been such a rough day. I had a lot of reminders of my dad,
and it dug up a lot of feelings that I hadn't dealt with.
We can still do this.
God.
We just can't give up.
I think a lot of the race involves how you cope with stress.
Because if you let the stress get to you,
you will break and you can literally...
..you could go home.
and you can't expect to go on a journey
and expect it to be all fine.
But I know you're benefiting from venting.
Just talking. Yeah.
I just really appreciate the fact
that Jo's always up for...for sort of looking after me, in a way.
Yeah. I mean, he is, he's my best mate.
But, yeah, we kept each other sane.
We...we kept moving.
Oh! Come on, bro. Final sprint. And we never gave up once.
What? Wait!
How did we do that, bro?
I've started seeing a weekly counsellor,
just to help process my emotions. And I think it's really,
really helped. Nothing to do with the race, just in day-to-day life.
And now I can learn to handle myself a lot better.
But it's about learning. Yeah, exactly.
Life's learning. And life's about learning,
and learning as you make it, as you go on.
Better learn it now when you're younger. Yeah, definitely.
Than when you're 67!
The one thing the race did teach, as well, is it is actually OK
to ask for help. I mean, we couldn't have done it without asking for...
100%. Hundreds of people helped us on our journey.
I'm going to pay them.
What? Are you serious?
Yeah. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Thank you. Thank you so much. You've been so much help.
Jo, bro said we could stay at his house. Whaaat?
You know how many time a week do you eat sardine?
Five, yes, yes. Five times a week?
Is that why you're strong, yeah? Yeah. No gym, no training, nothing.
Sardines! Just sardines! Yes, yes!
The people they met and the confidence they gained from them
inspired Jo to travel independently,
taking his first solo trip to The Gambia.
I think, yeah, the race definitely encouraged me
to continue travelling, and I don't think I would have gone to Gambia
without it. I did get in contact with this family
who owned a farm,
and they look for travellers to come help them work.
And in return they get food,
a shelter, and a family to chill with.
And that's what I did. And I did, I explained how I wanted to
explore my heritage. And I think they resonated with that.
They were very caring.
What would you like to do next? What do you fancy doing?
We've got no real plan at the moment in terms of the future,
but I know that we both are going to travel.
We don't know where yet, but it's going to happen.
At 19 years old,
you guys have accomplished something so major in your life.
I wish I was doing stuff like this when I was 19!
I was just revising for exams! That's my whole life.
Honestly, so proud of you.
So proud of you, from the bottom of our hearts. Genuinely.
Let's go. Let's go.
This is it, bro!
The race was tough. So tough.
It was tough, and it's amazing to know that we can get through it
and succeed.
Three, two, one...
Bro! Oh, my God!
Lad! Aaargh!
Go run, yo!
I feel this race is bigger than a degree.
You're...you're actually joking.
Actually, bro.
The biggest thing I've taken from the race is that
life's to be lived, and go and enjoy it.
It's not all be all, end all. Yeah.
Like, there is another way. And actually the wins end up
being a lot sweeter because you've dealt with the low.
You can just do whatever you want, and the world is there to be seen.
And put your phone down and actually listen to people.
Can I take you into school and say that?
Yeah!
I got a question for everyone - would you do it again?
Yeah, 100%. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.
I'd pay a lot of money to do it again!
Whoa! Whoa!
Oh, nice! Yay!
HORN BLASTS Mm!
Puj, look, look, look. There you go. Wow!
It's gorgeous.
Oh, where are we going?
It's definitely the most beautiful drive
I've ever been on my entire life.
Wow. It's almost mystical, isn't it?
Oh, my Jeanie Macarooney!
Oh, look. There's one there. Oh! It's huge.
You all right, kid? I love you.
I'm very proud of us, I can't lie. I'm proud!
Epic. Absolutely epic.
Oh! Katie, what are you doing?
Oh, BLEEP it!
Whoa! Oh, my God! Lad, what?!
Yes! Aaaaahhh!
We did it! We won!
She came, she saw, she gentrified.