Race Across the World 2024 part 2!

[OutOfTheHouse]

Second thread about the BBC Series.

What's S's backstory? Viv said that he'd been living in poverty when she met him.

Stephen was living in a portacabin with an outside loo, Viv said. They met whilst teaching together.

I've got a feeling they said 'working in the same school' rather than specifying being teachers which could mean admin or TA. He said he'd had many jobs so I couldn't work out if he'd been to university or, if so, how he'd fitted that in. I was a teacher so I've never been rich but even as a single parent in London I wasn't reduced to living in a portabin but who knows!

I think in another episode Stephen mentioned that he taught geography.

It's not Viv's first marriage - I wonder if Stephen was recently divorced so living somewhere temporarily while finances were sorted

Maybe. He did mention a variety of jobs although I was a mature student so could probably say the same.

I think it is Viv's 3rd marriage. She said she was married and divorce at the 'young people's' age (Isobel and Betty are about 25).

https://www.lincsonline.co.uk/rutland/news/token-old-couple-tell-all-about-getting-naked-on-hit-tv-sh-9361831/

Stephen is a father of 5 and Viv a mother of 2. Stephen's daughter is a journalist on The Independent.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/race-across-the-world-sapporo-lombok-steve-viv-b2526995.html

Ah his daughter sounds lovely!

That’s very warm and honest article written by Steve’s daughter, and sums him up well.

I was googling something to do with Radio 1's "big weekend" festival which is in Luton this weekend and saw that James and Owen are there together. Nice that they've remained friends after the show!

Finally caught up, and it's been a really interesting watch.

The places have been beautiful; however, travelling through Sumatra is my idea of a nightmare.
Viv and Stephen still haven't grown on me.
Seeing Betty and James' relationship grow has been really sweet.
The boys! They were so cute with the kids, and I hope Alfie gets his dream Christmas.
Eugenie and Isobel... They are a bit triggering for me because I have quite a similar relationship with my mum. As soon as Eugenie talked about finding religion, their whole relationship made sense to me. If she's anything like my mum, who also found religion, anything that happened before she found God doesn't matter because he's forgiven everything, and so should you... Which makes things difficult.

My favourites are Betty and James. However it’s unlikely they will win due to budget restraints.
I will be happy for either S & V or the boys to win at this stage. As long as Isobel doesn’t triumph. She already has a superiority complex and apart from learning the language in the early days she doesn’t really deserve to win. I & E have been quite lucky throughout compared to the other teams.,
E appears to have placed her daughter on a pedestal which has resulted in her developing an arrogant and patronising attitude in general and towards her mother in particular. I feel I is embarrassed by her mother and speaks to her in a condescending tone. She directs negative comments towards E but in a sing song voice to disguise the intention.
I think E placates I to try and gain her approval. She seems to walk on egg shells around her daughter. When E speaks alone in front of the camera she seems relaxed and more natural. I think they have a strange dynamic. I is clearly privileged but it doesn’t seem to have done her any favours.

Eugenie and Isobel remind me a lot of a family I know, and when Eugenie mentioned paying for Isabel to go to a private school it made sense - same situation with the family I know.
The kids had the privilege of a good private education, but that placed them on a different level in society, mixing with a higher class (hate the term but for want of a better description), different views on life.
I think Isobel feels disconnected from Eugenie because her education has set her in a different place in life. She also talks a lot about her mums "older" age as though it's a wonder, but is very quick to be irritated by her mum doing things more slowly. For example when they need to run and she's shouting at her to hurry up rather than using more encouraging words.
Then Eugenie in return is quick to lose patience rather than explain or discuss.
It's a shame they haven't found an understanding in the same was as Monique and Ladi in the last series.

Im wondering wpif theres a big gap between her and the boys and it was only her that went to private school. I mean did she pay for them on her own? Have they got different dads? I know one midwife who worked her backside off to to send her only child to private boarding school as she said she didnt want her black son on his own whilst she was on nights, not there to entertain him etc. said it was safer. Made sense really. God knows I dont think a nurse could afford to do that now in London.

Thanks for the article link, v interesting!

So the boys, who I'm kinda' rooting for, completely lost their 23hr advantage! Eugenie & Isobel really caught up despite the work stops. Viv & Steve are how far behind? This is going to make the final episode interesting. Can't imagine anyone doing any work on the last leg - are they obliged to?

I hope the boys will win though it’s impressive how much E&I have caught up. Love Betty and James but I think they ll run out of money (I think that’s happened before?). Don’t mind Viv but really don’t want Steve to win, don’t think they will tho.

come to think of it it must be quite tricky to calculate how much budget they get for each trip. Maybe they send some people out there for a trial run (I’d go🤣).

I love south east Asia generally but Sumatra sounds like a right nightmare. Really poor travel infrastructure. And we complain about public transport here! Wow. I’ve backpacked through a lot of Asia and Europe and stayed in some horrid places but I wouldn’t cope there at all.

thhs seems so much longer than previous seasons. 45 days and counting. I’m sure the original London to Singapore run was just 20 days or something (travel links somewhat easier on that route which makes a big difference). There are def more episodes for obvious reasons but I think they are racing for longer too.

I'm always commenting out of synch because I don't tend to watch on Wednesday nights, but I'm afraid I do agree about the shoe-horning in of sad back stories in this show and other reality shows - it's definitely a TV trend and a very tedious one. DD and I used to enjoy watching Blind Dates together - now it seems you can't go on Blind Dates unless you've had cancer/been orphaned/got a hidden disability! It's dull, dull, dull. As a pp said - all of us have suffered bereavement, all of us have had trials, people as old as Eugenie and Steve and Viv will obviously been through ALL SORTS in their lives! I don't mind hearing about it in context, but so often now it is woven deeply into the guts of the show along with the guitar music, tears, hugs and then empowerment mentioned by a pp. I am a curmudgeonly old cynic obviously!

I only think we saw less arguing between Eugenie and Isobel because that's the way the show is edited = they went on their spa day, now the relationship is stronger yada yada.

Having said that, I am gutted the boys lost so much time and I desperately want them to win! They are absolutely charming - how sweet were they with the children of the host family? And imagine being young and fit enough to be able to surf like that when you've never done it before? (I don't think they had done it before).

I want them to win so badly.

My friend who has applied would be a Mum and son duo, have we had that combination in any previous series? I think if not that might be in their favour!

Yes I think second season? The son of 20 had some learning issues I think.
They dropped out before final leg I think.

2 older male friends /or related like brothers isn't one we have seen before.

Celebrity one had mother and son duo

I haven’t read the articles about Steven and Viv yet but they and the other contestants tend to veer between admiring them and irritating me in every episode.

I quite like them and I don’t like to see them being referred to as the token old couple to be honest. I find them really interesting and the dynamic between making the most out of it and keeping up is a nice balance. I like they like more ‘boring’ activities such as the cinnamon forestry job. And I like them both although I found Steven too brash at the start.
The person I haven’t warmed to is James. And after the taxi theft, I don’t particularly like Eugenie and Isabel. it was a big mistake divulging that Isabel was privately educated as that in itself is divisive for many people and would have caused a dip in their popularity which imo is not fair.

But I’m also very aware that the audience is constantly being deliberately manipulated by the production team and we like or dislike couples depending on how they are edited.

Yes the taxi thing was mean and showed Eugenie in a really bad light

They were a lovely team , one of my favourite ever. They run out of money so spent their remaining
budget going horse riding if I recall.

Yes season 2 - the mum had had cancer and the son had ADHD/FAS. She was so wonderful - chill and calm but organised and clearly loving the experience and so good with him. He came alive at the last homestay living off the land which was wonderful to see.

My heart melted when James asked for a hug from the production team after his emotional talk with Betty