It was announced by the BBC on 30 July 2024 and began airing on 14 August 2024 in the 9pm time slot on BBC One.
In the same press release the BBC confirmed that the series would once again consist of 6 hour-long episodes and revealed the four pairs of competitors as broadcaster Jeff Brazier and his son, Freddy; actor Kola Bokinni and his cousin, Mary Ellen; former model Kelly Brook and her husband, Jeremy; and BBC Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills and his then-fiancé (now husband) Sam.[1][2]
The race had five checkpoints with enforced rest periods, with contestants only finding out the next destination on departure from a checkpoint. Teams were given a budget of £1100 per person – equivalent to the air fare for travelling the race route. Contestants were not permitted to subsidise their budgets, but short-term opportunities allowed them to work for money or bed and board. The contestants were not allowed access to telephones or the internet, but were provided with a map, travel guide and GPS tracker.
The four teams, having checked in at the Farol de Belém lighthouse to hand over their wallets and mobile phones and to collect their race essentials, began the race in earnest at 2pm underneath the clock tower in Siqueira Campos Square. It was revealed that the first checkpoint was 1,750 kilometres (1,090mi) away in the beach resort of Canoa Quebrada on the Ceará coast.[4]
Two teams opted for an inland route whilst the other two opted for the more touristic and costly coastal route, but ultimately all four teams would pass through Fortaleza, the largest city closest to the checkpoint in Canoa Quebrada.
The two inland teams headed straight for work opportunities with the promise of free bed and board. Scott & Sam helped make Goiabada at a confectioners in Carolina in the Cerrado whilst Jeff & Freddy helped out on a Chacaras (farm) in São Raimundo.
Of the two coastal teams, Kelly & Jeremy headed to nearby Bragança to assist with planting mangrove seedlings in the Caete-Taperacu Reserve in exchange for free bed and board, whilst Kola & Mary Ellen headed initially to the state capital of Sao Luis and then immediately onto Santa Amaro. Having been delayed for a day due to poor transport links, Kelly & Jeremy reassessed their strategy and decided to divert inland to Teresina, a destination that Jeff & Freddy and Scott & Sam were also headed towards.
Kola & Mary Ellen did some dune bashing at Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, but found themselves stranded without any options of public transport forward. Desperate not to backtrack to Sao Luis, they splashed out on a costly taxi.
In Teresina, all three teams pressed forward to Fortaleza. Jeff & Freddy and Scott & Sam found themselves on the same 10-hour bus journey. At the bus terminus in Fortaleza, Scott & Sam immediately took a taxi whilst Jeff & Freddy tried to hitch a lift, a decision which would cost the latter team an hour and a race position.
Kelly & Jeremy arrived first at the checkpoint in the dying minutes of day 4, followed by Scott & Sam a little over an hour later. Jeff & Freddy finished third, a further hour after Scott & Sam.
The race restarted on day 6 and the finish point of the second leg was revealed to be Lençóis, gateway to the Chapada Diamantina National Park, in the Brazilian state of Bahia, some 1,550 kilometres (960mi) away.[5]
Once again, the teams faced the dilemma of selecting either a well-connected, but relatively expensive route traversing the coastal cities or a cheaper, rural one through the more sparsely populated interior, with the inland route entailing backtracking to Fortaleza first.
A complete lack of foreign exchange bureaux in Aracati forced Kelly & Jeremy to wait seven hours for a bus they could afford with their remaining Brazilian Reals. This unanticipated turn of events allowed Scott & Sam to catch up to the leading pair, but they also found themselves without enough local currency to pay for bus tickets. Some helpful Mormon missionaries facilitated an impromptu exchange and so Scott & Sam managed to secure seats for themselves on the same midnight service to Natal as the leading team.
Jeff & Freddy, the only team to opt to make their way through the interior, headed first to Quixadá where they worked alongside Alpacas at a glamping site in the Caatinga, after which they left for Juazeiro do Norte on an overnight bus. There, they visited the monumental statue of the city's patron saint, Padre Cícero Romão Batista, before pressing onward to Brejo Santo where they caught a bus to Seabra, within striking distance of the checkpoint in Lençóis.
Having arrived in Natal, Scott & Sam and Kelly & Jeremy went their separate ways to their own work opportunities. The former pair headed to Pipa Beach where they were mistaken for father and son. The latter duo, having lost another four hours searching for a place to change currency in Natal, eventually proceeded to João Pessoa and then back up the coast on an unpaved road to a hostel in Barra do Mamanguape.
Last to leave Canoa Quebrada on day 7, Kola & Mary Ellen headed straight to Recife on a 12-hour bus journey. On arrival they took a side trip to nearby Olinda to see the sights. That evening they bumped into Scott & Sam who were just arriving at Recife coach station as they were departing towards Petrolândia in the interior where they had arranged to top up funds working in a local restaurant.
The next day Scott & Sam caught a nightbus to Feira de Santana. Meanwhile, Kelly & Jeremy had journeyed down the Brazilian coast to Maceió, leapfrogging their rivals, and were also heading to Feira de Santana.
When Kola & Mary Ellen found out the bus from Petrolândia to Lençóis was sold out, they caught a lucky break when they were offered a taxi at the same price as the cost of the bus tickets.
On day 9, Jeff & Freddy were the first team to arrive in the colonial mining town of Lençóis. They were first directed to the Church of Igreja do Rosario and then onto the checkpoint at the Hotel Canto das Águas. It would be another day before Kola & Mary Ellen and Kelly & Jeremy reached the checkpoint in second and third place respectively.
The race recommenced on day 11 with a leg that started from tranquil Lençóis but finished in the bustling megalopolis of São Paulo, 2,400 kilometres (1,500mi) away to the south west.[6]
Leaving in the morning, Jeff & Freddy decided to head to the coast and the city of Salvador. There they celebrated the life of Freddy's mother, Jade Goody, by viewing the sunset at the Barra lighthouse and taking a dip in the Bay of All Saints.[10]
Kola & Mary Ellen left the checkpoint in the late evening, but with no overnight buses found themselves stranded for another night in Lençóis until the next day when they chose to head to Porto Seguro to work as a waiter and an Axé dancer respectively, at a famous beach bar.
That same day, Kelly & Jeremy also departed checkpoint two but chose to travel via Seabra to the capital Brasília, where they arrived on day 13. Whilst in the city they visited the Oscar Niemeyer designed Metropolitan cathedral before trying their hand at shoe shining at the intercity bus terminal.
Last to depart, Scott & Sam took a chance and requisitioned a taxi to Itaberaba, 140 kilometres (87mi) away, for an opportunity to top up their funds, but having underestimated the journey time, arrived too late both for work and any onward travel. Determined to turn their fortunes around they managed to secure a job that evening in the kitchen of a pizzeria.
Having made it to Rio de Janeiro via Vitoria, Freddy took the opportunity to sell Mate cocido on Copacabana beach to replenish funds he had spent on souvenirs. Also continuing to top up funds were Scott & Sam (serving drinks in a bar in Goiânia) and Kola & Mary Ellen (working in a coffee shop in Belo Horizonte).
Having made it as far as Uberlândia, Kelly & Jeremy pressed onward to São Paulo desperate to move up the leaderboard. When the teams arrived in the city they were instructed to take the Metro to the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) in the Jardins district and then given directions to the checkpoint at the Hotel Unique. Jeff & Freddy arrived first, followed by Kelly & Jeremy almost 9 hours later. Scott & Sam arrived third, a further 6 hours later followed eventually by Kola & Mary Ellen just over an hour after them.
The race recommenced on day 17 from São Paulo in Brazil and finished in Tigre on the Parana River Delta, just north of the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires, a distance of approximately 2,250 kilometres (1,400mi).[7]
The teams faced a choice of which countries, if any, to traverse to reach Argentina. For Jeff & Freddy the choice of route (via Paraguay) was determined by a work opportunity at a camp site just outside the Brazilian city of Cascavel. Although first to depart the checkpoint, they just missed a bus to Cascavel and had to wait another six hours for the next service.
Kelly & Jeremy made the decision to cross into Argentina directly from Brazil at Foz do Iguaçu. Whilst there they took the opportunity to see Iguazu Falls before crossing the border (most likely via the Fraternity Bridge) into Argentina at Puerto Iguazú.
Scott & Sam selected a route that would take them through relatively expensive Uruguay in the hope that they could command higher wages for any work they did there. Initially they travelled by train on the Serra Verde Express to Curitiba in the state of Paraná and then took a long distance bus to the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo.
Kola & Mary Ellen wanted to attend a Saint Patrick's Day festival to celebrate their Irish roots in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre which also dictated that they use Uruguay as a stepping stone to Argentina. The bus to Porto Alegre broke down en route and the pair missed the celebrations, but worse was yet to come. Having successfully taken a bus to Punta del Este in Uruguay for a budget boosting job, Kola realized he had left his passport on board. Without it he and Mary Ellen would not be able to cross the border into Argentina and their race would effectively be over.[11] Disheartened, the pair pressed ahead to their job in a vineyard, where much to the relief of Kola, learned the passport was with lost property in Montevideo.
Arriving into Tigre on Day 21 the teams were initially instructed to take a water taxi towards the Museum of Art and then commandeer it onto the Delta Eco Hotel. Scott & Sam arrived first, with Kelly & Jeremy arriving almost 7 hours later. They were followed by Kola & Mary Ellen in third place and eventually Jeff & Freddy now bringing up the rear.
The penultimate leg started on day 22 from Tigre just north of the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires and finished in Tilcara, approximately 1,800 kilometres (1,100mi) north-west in Jujuy province of the same country.[8]
The first two teams to leave back-tracked to Buenos Aires from Tigre by train. From the capital Scott & Sam caught an onward bus to Empedrado. When Kelly & Jeremy departed some six hours later they spotted a job opportunity near Córdoba at a vineyard in the town of Villa Giardino and made their way there as it promised both good pay and free bed & board. The third and fourth placed teams avoided the capital and found themselves making nearby El Talar their first port of call. Kola & Mary Ellen, desperately short of funds, pressed onward to Gaucho country and the town of Esquina to work with the livestock on a ranch and tried their hand at sheep shearing and horse riding. Whilst at the ranch Kola reflected on the death of his father from Dementia.
When Jeff & Freddy left at almost midnight on day 22 they had few transport options, so they caught a taxi to El Talar and managed to find seats on an overnight bus to Córdoba. From there they took another bus to San José de las Salinas, where they secured a bed for the night in a hotel near the Salinas Grandes salt flats in return for a housekeeping shift.
In Empedrado Scott & Sam undertook a shift washing cars and were rewarded with a buggy ride amongst the dunes along the Paraná River. Stranded in the small town, their meagre earnings were wiped out by the cost of a hotel room for the night. The next day they caught a bus to Corrientes, a city which Kola & Mary Ellen were also headed towards. The two teams crossed paths at the bus station. With no direct buses from Corrientes to Tilcara both teams caught a bus to Salta and then took a taxi to Tilcara.
Jeff & Freddy gambled on a taxi from San José de las Salinas to a remote town called Frías as they were reluctant to backtrack all the way to Córdoba, whilst Kelly & Jeremy chose the opposite approach and headed back to the transport hub of Córdoba when they had finished at the vineyard. With very limited options in Frías, Jeff & Freddy caught another northbound bus that only took them as far as San Miguel de Tucumán. In Córdoba with six hours to kill Kelly & Jeremy took the time to visit the Cathedral before catching an overnight bus to the city of San Salvador de Jujuy. By the time Jeff & Freddy reached San Miguel de Tucumán they had managed to secure tickets onwards to the same city, thanks to a fellow passenger. At the bus station the two teams missed each other by a matter of minutes. Jeff & Freddy made it onto an onward bus, whilst Kelly & Jeremy chose to take a taxi instead of waiting for the next service.
After travelling through the Quebrada de Humahuaca valley, the four teams arrived in the rarefied atmosphere of Tilcara at almost the same time. They were first directed to the market and then to the checkpoint at the Las Marias Hotel behind the Nuestra Señora del Rosario church. A foot race ensued between Kola & Mary Ellen and Jeff & Freddy, with the former duo arriving first, just seven minutes before the latter. They were followed by Scott & Sam, another eight minutes later, and then finally Kelly & Jeremy, twenty-four minutes after them.
The last and longest leg of the race started on day 27 from Tilcara in Argentina to Frutillar, 2,750 kilometres (1,710mi) away in the Los Lagos region of southern Chile.[9]
All four teams left within an hour of each other at daybreak. With dwindling funds and the uncertainty of which country was more expensive, they were faced with a choice of where and when to cross the planet's third longest land border.
Kola & Mary Ellen decided to cross into Chile at the nearest border point (Paso de Jama) and used 20% of their remaining funds on a taxi to San Pedro de Atacama. They briefly stopped at Salinas Grandes to marvel at the salt flats before making their way to the Elqui Valley to top up funds gardening at a campsite.
With almost three times the funds as Kola & Mary Ellen and twice as much as the other two teams, Jeff & Freddy backtracked to San Salvador de Jujuy and planned for a 21-hour bus journey to Mendoza. Kelly & Jeremy and Scott & Sam also chose this route. Rather than wait for the bus, Kelly & Jeremy made a rare budgetary error by splashing out on a taxi for the initial part of the journey which cost five times as much as public transport. Having gained absolutely no advantage, they were reunited with Jeff & Freddy less than 90 minutes later at the bus terminal in San Salvador de Jujuy, where they were joined by Scott & Sam not long after. And so it was that three teams found themselves in each other's company for the long journey south. Arriving in Mendoza a day later, the three teams finally parted ways, heading in different directions.
Jeff & Freddy took some time out to rest and recuperate at the nearby thermal springs in Chacheuta, but having missed the bus back to the city they had to hitch a lift from some passing motorists who advised them it would be faster to reach Frutillar via Santiago. Scott & Sam had already decided on this course of action and were making good progress along the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores towards the capital Santiago despite the Easter holiday traffic. Meanwhile Kelly & Jeremy pressed on deeper into southern Argentina, but the bus to Neuquén broke down jeopardising their onward connection to San Carlos de Bariloche. They needn't have worried though as the onward bus through Patagonia was also several hours late, but on arrival in San Carlos de Bariloche the border crossing had shut for the night necessitating an overnight stay.
With funds almost exhausted Scott & Sam took a job with a Completo vendor, before spending some on a cable car ride up San Cristóbal Hill. They then caught a bus to Frutillar just as Kola & Mary Ellen arrived into the capital to catch their onward connection.
Next morning, having found themselves diverted to Rancagua, Jeff & Freddy caught a southbound bus to Concepción.
When Scott & Sam and Kola & Mary Ellen arrived in Frutillar they were first directed to the Teatro del Lago and then instructed to make their way a further 25 miles (40km) to Ensenada. Kola & Mary Ellen took a taxi with what little remained of their funds whilst Scott & Sam opted for a boat across Lake Llanquihue. Here they were told to head to the base station at the foot of the 2,652 metres (8,701ft)Osorno volcano. Having taken another taxi, when the two teams arrived they found themselves without sufficient money for the chairlift to the finish point marked by a Chilean flag.
The race ended on day 30, with Scott & Sam finishing in first place. Kola & Mary Ellen arrived second, two hours and twenty minutes later. It was the following day before the two remaining teams reached the finish point. Jeff & Freddy finished third, whilst Kelly & Jeremy were last.
Opinions on the first episode of the second celebrity series were favourable overall. Daisy Jones of The Guardian awarded the opening episode 4 stars out of 5, stating "It's utterly, wonderfully captivating TV,"[13] as did Vicky Jessop of the Evening Standard who opined "it's still got the magic."[14] Anita Singh of The Telegraph also awarded the opener 4 stars, commenting that it was "the funniest series yet – despite the obscure contestants."[15]
Related Research Articles
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race.
Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway was an American actor. He portrayed Kenickie in the film Grease and had roles in two television series: struggling actor Bobby Wheeler in Taxi and security officer Zack Allan on Babylon 5. Conaway was featured in the first and second seasons of the reality television series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
The Amazing Race 6 is the sixth season of the American reality competition show The Amazing Race. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, competing in a race around the world to win US$1,000,000. This season visited four continents and ten countries and traveled over 40,000 miles (64,000 km) during twelve legs. Starting in Chicago, racers traveled through Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Senegal, Germany, Hungary, France, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, and China before returning to the United States, traveling through Hawaii, and finishing in Chicago. New twists introduced in this season include uniting teams for a task, the double-length leg, and limits on team members' Roadblock performances. The season premiered on CBS on November 16, 2004, and concluded on February 8, 2005.
The ceremonial start of the 33rd annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the US state of Alaska began in Anchorage on March 5, 2005, at 10 am AKST, and restarted in Willow the next day at 2 pm. After covering 1,161 miles (1,868 km) of wilderness, musher Robert Sørlie, an airport firefighter from Norway, crossed the finish line under the "burled arch" in Nome on March 16 at 8:39 am AKST. After taking care of his dogs, and an inspection to make sure all the mandatory equipment was in his sled, Sørlie was declared the winner by Race Marshal Mark Norman, with a time of 9 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds and won US$72,066.67 and a new truck. When asked how it felt to win a second time, Sørlie said "it feels good, I'm ready for breakfast." His team of dogs averaged 4.65 mi/h (7.58 km/h). The Red Lantern in last was Phil Morgan, an Alaska Airlines pilot, and when he crossed the finish line on March 21 at 8:02 pm AKST, the Widow's Lantern hanging on the burled arch was extinguished, which signaled the end of the race.
Soccer Aid is a British annual charity event that has raised over £106 million in aid of UNICEF UK, through ticket sales and donations from the public. The televised event is an exhibition-style football match between two teams, England and the Soccer Aid World XI, composed of celebrities and former professional players representing their countries. It is the only mixed-sex match officially sanctioned by The Football Association.
The Polar Challenge was a competitive, 350 nautical mile team race taking place in the Arctic, to the 1996 location of the Magnetic North Pole. The race ran between mid-April and mid-May each year, taking teams approximately 4 weeks to complete, including the training time. This event should not be confused with the Polar Race, which was a different event taking a different route, and run by a different organisation.
The ceremonial start of the 35th annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska began amidst the crowds of Anchorage at 10 am (AKST) on March 3, 2007, and the start of the competitive race, or "restart", began at 2 pm the next day in Willow. The race followed the southern route for 1,151 mi (1,852 km) across the Alaska Range, through the sparsely inhabited Interior, along the Yukon River, and then up the coast of the Bering Sea to the city of Nome.
The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 61st season of professional stock car racing in the United States, the 38th modern-era Cup series, and the last Cup season of the 21st century's first decade, the 2000s. The season included 36 races and two exhibition races with the regular season beginning with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The final ten races were known as 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup. Rick Hendrick won the Owners' Championship, while Jimmie Johnson won the Drivers' Championship with a fifth-place finish at the final race of the season. Chevrolet won the Manufacturers' Championship with 248 points.
Immigrants is a 2008 adult animated comedy film directed by Gábor Csupó. It is also known as L.A. Dolce Vita or Immigrants: L.A. Dolce Vita. It is the fifth and final feature-length film from the studio Klasky Csupo, and the first and only feature-length animated movie that was directed by Csupo.
Red Nose Day 2011 was a fundraising event organised by Comic Relief. There was a live telethon broadcast on BBC One and BBC Two from the evening of 18 March 2011 to early the following morning as well as a number of run-up events. The theme for the Red Nose Day 2011 invited fund-raisers to "Do Something Funny For Money".
The Amazing Race Australia is an Australian adventure reality competition show based on the American series The Amazing Race. Following the premise of other versions in the Amazing Race franchise, the show follows teams of two as they race around the world. Each season is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in foreign areas, interact with locals, perform physical and mental challenges, and travel by air, boat, car, taxi, and other modes of transport. Teams are progressively eliminated at the end of most legs for being the last to arrive at designated Pit Stops. The first team to arrive at the Finish Line wins a grand prize of A$250,000.
Top Gear is a British motoring magazine and currently inactive motoring-themed entertainment television programme. It is a revival devised by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman of the 1977–2001 show of the same name for the BBC, and premiered on 20 October 2002. The programme focuses on the examination and reviewing of motor vehicles, primarily cars, though this was expanded upon after the broadcast of its earlier series to incorporate films featuring motoring-based challenges, special races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity timed laps on a course specially-designed for the relaunched programme. The programme drew acclaim for its visual and presentation style since its launch, which focused on being generally entertaining to viewers, as well as criticism over the controversial nature of its content. The show was also praised for its occasionally controversial humour and lore existing in not just the automotive community but in the form of internet memes and jokes. The programme was aired on BBC Two until it was moved to BBC One for its twenty-ninth series in 2020.
The Grand Tour is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and Andy Wilman, made for Amazon exclusively for its online streaming service Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 November 2016. The programme was conceived in the wake of the departure of Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman from the BBC series Top Gear. It was originally contracted with 36 episodes over three years.
Race Across the World is a British television competition programme, in which teams of two race across an area of the world to become the fastest to reach a destination using any means of transportation other than air travel. The programme was broadcast on BBC Two for the first two series, but due to better than expected viewership moved to BBC One for the third series. It has been narrated by John Hannah since first airing in 2019.
The first series of Race Across the World first aired on BBC Two from 3 March to 7 April 2019. Five pairs of racers travelled from London to Singapore, with the contestants each given £1,329 for the whole race without using air transport. The racers travelled over a distance of 12,000 miles in 50 days.
The second series of Race Across the World began airing on 8 March 2020 with five teams setting off from Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City in a race to the most southerly city in the world, Ushuaia in Argentina, covering a distance of 25,000 km in 2 months, passing through 7 checkpoints in Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Argentina. Each racer was given £1,453 for the whole trip, roughly £26 per day. Filming started in September 2019.
The third series of Race Across the World began airing on 22 March 2023. Unlike the transcontinental races in previous series, the race took place entirely in Canada between Vancouver, British Columbia and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Each two-person team was required to cross the country on a 16,000-kilometre (9,900 mi) route without using air travel, and was given a budget equal to the cost of the air fare. Contestants were provided a map, GPS tracker, travel guide, and bear spray.
The first series of Celebrity Race Across the World was first announced on 3 October 2019, but production was subsequently delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fourth series of Race Across the World began airing on 10 April 2024. Each two-person team was required to complete the 15,000 kilometres (9,300 mi) route from Japan to Indonesia without using air travel, and was given a budget equal to the cost of the air fare. Contestants were provided with only a map, travel guide and GPS tracker.
Freddy Brazier is an English model and television personality. The son of Jeff Brazier and Jade Goody, he made appearances in his mother's reality series as child before beginning his modelling career in 2021. In 2024, he appeared on Celebrity Race Across the World.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
