Race Across The World - BBC

I’m really enjoying the show again this year. It’s got a real sense of adventure with a likeable cast. I did think that the couple who quit gave up a bit easily, they could have gone on a bit longer, found work along the way and maybe stop if the money did run out. I never heard of the rainbow mountains in Peru, so it was nice to see them. I was impressed that Jamiul got to the top with his asthma.

Did last years race eliminate one of the couples? Maybe not. It was interesting that the continuity announcer said the show was filmed last year. I doubt the BBC would have the contestants racing in the current climate, maybe viewers did comment?

jimmii wrote: »

I had never heard of Ushuaia before seeing the advert a couple of weeks ago but since then its popped up in other things a few times! Funny how that happens sometimes. Probably a case of it always popping up but had just never paid attention to it.

Ushuaia is a cool little town, spent almost a month there snowboarding in a tiny resort locally and loved the place. Its also the main hopping off point for cruises to Antarctica.

Really enjoying this program, especially as I did most of this route about 10 years back so seeing a lot of places Ive been on it is great.

Ah here, this is beginning to stretch my credulity - a LOT.


It's all soooooo staged. The uncle/nephew family bust-up chat.... the mammy leaving the son off in La Paz and trusting to luck that he (and his camera crew, duh!) would find his way back..... the wife (not unreasonably) telling the husband to f*** right off..... the sister having to take charge after the brother gets ill (although in fairness, they hardly staged that).


I'm loving all the far too brief snapshots of places they're visiting - but I feel like I'm seeing far more of dots moving along a map, and the contestants hamming their personal stories up for the cameras.


The last series felt much more like it was about the travel, the figuring it out, the adventure - this all feels completely manufactured. And fake.



I'll keep watching, because I want to see who "wins" - but not sure I'll be tuning in to the next one, if there is one.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Ushuaia is a cool little town, spent almost a month there snowboarding in a tiny resort locally and loved the place. Its also the main hopping off point for cruises to Antarctica.

Really enjoying this program, especially as I did most of this route about 10 years back so seeing a lot of places Ive been on it is great.

I was briefly in Ushuaia before I hopped off on a boat to Antarctica a few years ago! Still my favourite holiday EVER. Will we ever see those days again, I ask myself??? (part of me says hopefully not)



That looked like Perito Moreno glacier that they showed - we also did a week around Patagonia, trekking and seeing glaciers - OMG, it was amazing. I was blown away by the small bit of South America I saw on that trip, I really hope I can get back there again some time.

The husband and wife look like they've found the Johnny Fox's of Salta :rolleyes:


It might be the wine, but my cynicism at this show has gone through the roof, and my patience with it is wearing very thin!

4Ad wrote: »

It is annoying.
The blonde girl ran away when her brother had a fit, amazingly a medic with the film crew was nearby..
Blonde wife with bun is painful, poor hen pecked husband.
The son getting 'lost'..bollix.
At least write the hotel name down..
As for the 'working' for money lark..I guess it is only television.
No sign of them being stuck in a strange city at night,in the rain and no language, no bed and everyone trying to rob you or rip you off !

Yea I largely agree on all of the above- it was a bit dramatic tonight. The fella offering the lift and then going out on the lock was funny enough thought too, no way that could be scripted! The uncle and nephew must seriously put the boot down off camera to do so well.

I thought it was harsh that that brother and sister lost 24hours over a medical emergency. It was hardly their fault and it could encourage the young lad to keep quiet on how hes feeling in future in order to keep them pushing on. I wasnt quiet sure either what happend them when they got the safety alert to leave chilies asap. Do the producers evacuate them to the boarder directly or do they need to get there on their own dime?

20k as a prize is nothing to be sniffed at in a 4 horse race either and if I was doing it I'd be 90% eye on the prize and 10% having a look around but the contestants seem to be 99% in it for the experience and dont mention the prize much. Maybe there is some requirement that they do X amount of jobs and visit X amount of places to ensure there is enough content.

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

I was briefly in Ushuaia before I hopped off on a boat to Antarctica a few years ago! Still my favourite holiday EVER. Will we ever see those days again, I ask myself??? (part of me says hopefully not)

Would have loved to have gone to Antarctica but it was out of season when I was there. Dont think I could have afforded it anyway, I think those cruises are something like $3k and upwards?

That looked like Perito Moreno glacier that they showed - we also did a week around Patagonia, trekking and seeing glaciers - OMG, it was amazing. I was blown away by the small bit of South America I saw on that trip, I really hope I can get back there again some time.

Yeah that was the Moreno glacier, fab spot as is all of Patagonia. The Valdes peninsula is also great in that area, we timed our visit there to see the killer whales hunting for seals, it was unreal to watch, proper Attenborough stuff and I believe thats the spot he goes to when the BBC want to film killer whales in action. Also saw a colony of over 5,000 elephant seals roaring and beating the crap out of each other, stunning sight.

I really must get back to Argentina soon, its easily within my top 5 in the world. Food there is top class too, had some of the best meals of my life there.

Surprised people think that there aren't medics, security, translators as part each teams entourage.

I still think the show delivers, albeit through the lens that it's a manufactured reality TV show and not some gritty raw documentation of a race across the world.

Regarding the prize money, I'd assume they're also getting a salary as part of the production to a £10k prize wouldn't be that big in the grand scheme of things.

He had his chance to push Jen into the waterfalls. Even though it would have been captured on film, any judge would have cleared him.

The brother seems to spend a lot of time beating himself up and believing his sister’s version of him as an overbearing bully. I know these things can be edited but he seems to be none of those things and she’s the one with the problem.
Really like how the uncle and nephew seem to get along with everyone they meet.

JoeExotic81 wrote: »

Lizzie comes across as even more spoilt than Sam.

What ones are they? I havnt taken anybody's actual name on board at all!

The mother is a really nice lady alright, so patient! I dont think that 'job' of moving the sand was real at all for a second! They spent a considerable amount of time last episode on about how they were changing strategy to spend more and spoil themselves but their budget is there or thereabouts with the others too, they must have been very frugal at the start.

PieOhMy wrote: »

What ones are they? I havnt taken anybody's actual name on board at all!

.

Lizzie the sister to Dom, Sam the son to Jo.

You'd swear they were both 14 the way they carry on. I know Sam has issues but he's still hilariously spoilt. The strops they both pull too!!!

I'm not sure who I want to win. Maybe just Jo, leaving Sam in some food coma after eating his weight in boots meal deals!

On reflection it must have been a very very incident free trip relatively sneaking, of the screen time that isnt dedicated to the racers personal circumstances the majority of time is spent either showing them in yet another bus station asking 'what time the next bus leaves' and 'how much' or the part where they spontaneously start jogging at the end. The balance being the narrator reading out the first few lines on the wikipedia page for the new location. Could be my mind playing tricks but I feel like the last season had more of a racing/ travel element but I could be wrong

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Only starting to watch tonight's show... but I'm honestly starting to lose patience with this now.



Are we seriously expected to believe that they all make decisions on a 3600km trek based on a large scale paper map? Given that they apparently haven't heard of (or can even pronounce) their destinations?

I'm calling shenanigans!

When the brother and sister were squabbling about having lost the map, Dom referred to the travel guide so I imagine they have some form of guidance to set them on their path and with work opportunities and stuff. There is no way they pick out the next checkpoint by looking over the map.

Don't think The Amazing Race is televised or available to stream in the UK.

Not sure why.

It's a lot more contrived that this show too, there's not many similarities between them beyond being a "race around the world".