Topic: Race Across The World (BBC Two)

[RedSince86]

Still say Channel 4 show Lost in the early 00's was a superior show.

Dropped them blindfolded in the middle of nowhere with £100 and have to get to the finish point in Trafalgar Square.

I remember when they landed on some former Soviet penal colony island in Siberia or a time they ended up in Tehran and a black contestant was mistaken for being a NBA player and locals mobbing him shaking his hand.

I hope season 4 is travelling across a continent instead of 1 country. Definitely the worst season we've just seen.

[redk84]

I'm severely pissed off

Spoiler

Ladi didn't win
My favourite human being ever

[close]

[redan]

Anyone read the allegations of bribery and fixing from this series?

I can’t say I’m surprised there’s been some allegations, there’s generosity and then there’s whatever was on display during this, especially during the finale. Maybe it says more about me as a person but no fucking way would I do a 800km round trip even for a member of my family or a friend (well maybe my kid) but for a pair of strangers you’ve seen at a petrol station??

Offer them a lift to the local bus/train station, sure, cook them dinner, maybe but that is off the charts.

[killer-heels]

Anyone read the allegations of bribery and fixing from this series?

I can’t say I’m surprised there’s been some allegations, there’s generosity and then there’s whatever was on display during this, especially during the finale. Maybe it says more about me as a person but no fucking way would I do a 800km round trip even for a member of my family or a friend (well maybe my kid) but for a pair of strangers you’ve seen at a petrol station??

Offer them a lift to the local bus/train station, sure, cook them dinner, maybe but that is off the charts.

No, where has this been reported. They ‘only’ win £20k.

[redan]

No, where has this been reported. They ‘only’ win £20k.

Pretty sure it was in the Mirror. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a huge exposè or anything but it just highlighted some of the coincidences and unusual stuff that went on. Also to clarify it seemed to point the finger more at the producers rather than the contestants, saying it was more staged than previous series.

However on the point of £20k, yeah it’s not the biggest jackpot but imagine if you’re right at the end like they were knowing a lift would win it for them and saying to the guy ‘give us a lift and we’ll give you £2k if we win’. Still £9k each and he gets a nice payday too. Not saying that did happen but it could

[Machae]

Pretty sure it was in the Mirror. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a huge exposè or anything but it just highlighted some of the coincidences and unusual stuff that went on. Also to clarify it seemed to point the finger more at the producers rather than the contestants, saying it was more staged than previous series.

However on the point of £20k, yeah it’s not the biggest jackpot but imagine if you’re right at the end like they were knowing a lift would win it for them and saying to the guy ‘give us a lift and we’ll give you £2k if we win’. Still £9k each and he gets a nice payday too. Not saying that did happen but it could

It would be naive to think no aid was given at all. Its TV, and these things happen behind the scenes, whether people would like to believe it or not

[Craig S]

Anyone read the allegations of bribery and fixing from this series?

I can’t say I’m surprised there’s been some allegations, there’s generosity and then there’s whatever was on display during this, especially during the finale. Maybe it says more about me as a person but no fucking way would I do a 800km round trip even for a member of my family or a friend (well maybe my kid) but for a pair of strangers you’ve seen at a petrol station??

Offer them a lift to the local bus/train station, sure, cook them dinner, maybe but that is off the charts.

Have you got the link?

The only one I can see is one titled "BBC's Race Across The World final branded a 'fix' as producers accused of intervening"
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbcs-race-across-world-final-29956815

It is a shite click bait, based on 3 tweets by randoms. The only people doing the branding are divvies on twitter.

Posting on Twitter, one wrote: "Another last-minute fluke..."

"Oh, how convenient. Sorry but this show is so fixed it's blatant now," added another.

"Wow these producers are persuasive," wrote a third.

That is it. That's the entire basis of the shite article

[killer-heels]

Celebrity version starts on the 13th of September. From Morocco to the arctic, destination point Tromso in Norway.

[RedSince86]

That sounds decent, I'll be watching that.

How many episodes?

[Ziltoid]

My youngest and myself watch this.  I joked that we should do it and how do you think we'd do.  He just said "Dad, you'd just go to the nearest pub and spend the budget". "You're probably right lad, you could go with your mum and give me slob at home time" 

[The G in Gerrard]

Celebrity version starts next Wednesday. Great stuff and it has Melanie Blatt in it so even better!

[Ziltoid]

https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/mediapacks/celebrity-race-across-the-world-meet-the-teams

[Boston always unofficial]

I just heard an ad for this on 6 music,and have absolutely no clue who the "celebs"are and i'm okay with this stuff  passing me by.

[The G in Gerrard]

Celeb one has been good. That McFly fella needs to go "easier" on his mum though. She isn't as young as he thinks.

[JerseyKloppite]

I just heard an ad for this on 6 music,and have absolutely no clue who the "celebs"are and i'm okay with this stuff  passing me by.

The “celeb” element of this is almost completely irrelevant. It’s not like “Celeb Big Brother”. The rules and the challenges are pretty much identical and they have little to no benefit from being celebrities. Think the McFly bloke has been recognised once, got a selfie taken and that was it. And they’re all quite nice, understated, “normal” people with their mums/dads/siblings.

It just feels like a normal series to me. The prize at the end is obviously a bigger deal for regular contestants, but it doesn’t feel like that’s made much of a difference at all.

Been a good series so far. Anyone’s game.

[killer-heels]

Yep, really enjoyed it and all of them seem pretty nice. In the the ‘normal’ one there is usually one couple that’s annoying but it’s not the case here.

[TepidT2O]

My wife has seen Mel’s vagina

[sinnermichael]

New series April 10th across Asia from Japan to Indonesia.

[rowan_d]

Hope there's much less reliance on hitch-hiking this series, presumably that'll be the case with better public transport and more of a language barrier. Not sure if the countries they'll be going through have a culture of it as well.

[killer-heels]

Not a single contestant in their 30’s or 40’s. 

[The G in Gerrard]

Not a single contestant in their 30’s or 40’s. 

Not all youngsters I hope?

[killer-heels]

Not all youngsters I hope?

Nope there are 2 women in their 50’s alongside their kids and a couple in their 60’s. But there are 6 contestants who are 25 or under. It doesnt matter but just found the mix odd. Guess people in their 30’s and 40’s aint got the time to go travelling for over a month.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Hope there's much less reliance on hitch-hiking this series, presumably that'll be the case with better public transport and more of a language barrier. Not sure if the countries they'll be going through have a culture of it as well.

The majority of Asia will be very much about the transport options over hitchhiking I would imagine. Certainly for Japan and I believe for Korea too

[killer-heels]

The majority of Asia will be very much about the transport options over hitchhiking I would imagine. Certainly for Japan and I believe for Korea too

Yep. In hindsight, despite the fantastic scenery, Canada wasnt a very fun choice. Couldnt even get anywhere unless you managed to convince someone to give you a lift. Plus its also put me off going to Canada, I would find it weird being somewhere where people are so friendly.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Yep. In hindsight, despite the fantastic scenery, Canada wasnt a very fun choice. Couldnt even get anywhere unless you managed to convince someone to give you a lift. Plus its also put me off going to Canada, I would find it weird being somewhere where people are so friendly.

Asia will have a tonne of the questions of speed over price - you can spend £120 on a bullet train and get there in 2 hours or spend £20 and get there tomorrow. And when you spend versus when you save.

Think it will be really interesting

Also I am a real fan of East Asia so I am really looking forward to this. I also suspect the Japan/Korea ferry is going to be involved which I want to know as I may be taking that myself next year 

[JerseyKloppite]

Great first episode but some baffling decision making at times

Still find it annoying that they sprint to the finish of each leg as if it matters. Reckon if it wasn’t on the Beeb they could get a £1000 bonus for winning a leg (ie prize money, not for their race fund) which would give it some edge. Just can’t imagine how fucked off you’d be if your partner started to sprint for the hotel then twisted their ankle under the weight of their massive backpack.

[kaesarsosei]

Great first episode but some baffling decision making at times

Still find it annoying that they sprint to the finish of each leg as if it matters. Reckon if it wasn’t on the Beeb they could get a £1000 bonus for winning a leg (ie prize money, not for their race fund) which would give it some edge. Just can’t imagine how fucked off you’d be if your partner started to sprint for the hotel then twisted their ankle under the weight of their massive backpack.

Yeah the urgency to win a leg baffles me too and it does need some reward for each stage - even a 10/8/6/4/2% budget bonus might work.

The decision making last night was incredible. The black mother and daughter got off to a cracking start and then took a fucking ridiculous detour to a completely irrelevant island and basically spunked about 15% of their total budget on it while losing a full day.

The two young lads looked good but then lost their map and while arguing, nearly their journal too.

The old couple spent a day at a nudist sauna.

I reckon the mother and dyslexic daughter are the favourites, they seem to have their heads screwed on.

Why does no one spend a day learning some basic Japanese like "bus", "train", "cheap food/hotel" since they surely knew where it was going to be weeks in advance?

[killer-heels]

Whats bus in foreignese?

[sinnermichael]

I was in Japan 4 weeks ago so enjoying the scenery so far.

[The G in Gerrard]

Really good start and the contestants all seem decent.

[smicer07]

It feels a bit stale to me this series. Maybe they need to change it up a bit. Knock a team out earlier. Win a leg and you can knock another team out. Just seems to be going through the motions a bit. Love the scenery though.

[Bcnsean]

It feels a bit stale to me this series. Maybe they need to change it up a bit. Knock a team out earlier. Win a leg and you can knock another team out. Just seems to be going through the motions a bit. Love the scenery though.

Agreed the forced sob stories are really tedious.