Rucksacks Ready! Celebrity Race Across the World starts 14th Aug!!!

[diian]

It is going through South America.

"The four new famous faces embarking on an epic 12,500 km race of a lifetime are:
Broadcaster Jeff Brazier and his son, Freddy
Actor Kola Bokinni and his cousin, Mary Ellen
Broadcaster Kelly Brook and her husband, Jeremy
Radio 2 host Scott Mills and his husband (then fiancé), Sam"

"Their journey begins in Belém, Northern Brazil - the gateway to the Amazon - and will pass through five checkpoints across the length of South America, to reach the finish line in the Andes, Frutillar in Southern Chile."

That threw me!

And me. I was sure I hadn’t been paying attention.

I missed it :(
Does anyone know when I can watch it on BBC iplayer app?
Thanks

It's on iPlayer now

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0022f0p

I found this episode a bit harder to focus on, maybe as soon as many were in catch up mode.

The sweet exchanges between the family couples were lovely.

The thing I notice about this series is so few female contestants - only 2 women to 6 men!

I know they are accompanied by a small crew but it does make you wonder if there are parts of South America where they didn't think 2 women together would be safe??

I didn't know who Kola was but I really like his relationship with Mary. They seem to be enjoying themselves the most probably. It wasn't clear how they managed to go down from 2nd to 4th in this leg since they seemed to have taken quite a direct route.

Scott is annoying. He seems to be very moany and not really getting into the spirit of things. He and Sam seemed to be not very organised on this leg so I'm not sure how they caught up. Perhaps the 25-hour bus trip speeded them up.

Jeremy is VERY intense and I'm not sure if I like Kelly or not.

I'd love to see the actual % of how much screen time each couple is getting because it feels like we're seeing a LOT more of Jeff and Freddy than anyone else. BBC clearly pushing very hard on the lost-his-mum angle.

Mary Ellen was brave, dancing like that!
What an incredible place Brazil is, so huge and diverse.

I think that a few of them had super long bus journeys, which don’t make for good TV.

The thing I notice about this series is so few female contestants - only 2 women to 6 men!
I know they are accompanied by a small crew but it does make you wonder if there are parts of South America where they didn't think 2 women together would be safe??

I suppose it's due in part to which celebrities say they'll do it and what their family set up is/which family member agrees to do it.

Freddy and Jeff went by bus from Salvador to Rio. I was amazed that they just popped up in Rio without any footage of their journey or even much mention of it because I did that exact route in reverse in 1997 and it remains to this day the longest bus journey I have ever been on- 33 hours!

It was really boring though so not surprised they didn’t show it.

I love Kelly’s jump suits… but on a 17 hour bus journey? Not sure negotiating bus or public toilets would be great in one!

I know. I never think jumpsuits are practical like that! I remember wearing one and the top part falling on an unclean toilet floor. 🤢

Thank you :)

Especially not having seen that toilet on Scott's first long bus journey 😂

🤢

Catching up on episode 3. Jeremy is so joyless! I know it’s a race but he’s not really making the most of the opportunity to see anything. As Kelly said, they’ve not really had any fun (on this leg on the journey).

Yes, Kola and Mary and Freddy seem to be having much more fun.

There doesn't seem to be any hitch-hiking in this series either.

Jeremy is a sportsman he is going to be incredibly driven.

They’re obviously told which route to take and which jobs to do so some people are going to have more fun legs than others, I’m sure Kelly and Jeremy will have more fun next time round as well as Scott and his boyfriend (whose name I forget). otherwise, everyone would just jump on long-distance buses for the entire race and the footage would be too boring.

They also tend to focus on one person’s story per episode so this week we had Freddie because he was in the most picturesque setting. With Kola and ME close behind – though it was weird they didn’t show a little bit more of Belo Horizonte which is one of THE big tourist destinations in Brazil and absolutely gorgeous

Oh, I am not sure about not having fun. After all they spent a night in the 'Sex Hotel' !!!

They did. But didn't Kelly give it short shrift? I seem to remember her saying something like there'll be none of that, although of course, what she says on camera might not be what she was thinking 😉

Are you sure you’re not mixing BH up with another city? It’s a fairly bland place, though it is a hub for the historical towns in Minas Gerais like Ouro Preto.

www.geodyssey.co.uk/brazil/brazil-guide/belo-horizonte.aspx

They seem like an incredibly ill suited couple. Kelly is right. He is making the whole thing just a tick box exercise. This is my new programme! I'm so glad I have another series to watch/ catch up on!

OhGod that was heartbreaking. And when Jeff tried to talk about mothers day he just went ' oh look at that bird'

I think that is totally fair enough. Poor kid never knew his mother and has clearly spent his entire life being told about her, having other people’s memories of her projected on to him and being expected to feel emotions about it. It’s a bit fucked up really. Let’s face it, he would be less of a desirable booking on TV shows if it wasn’t because of who his mother is, yet he has no personal connection to her at all. He seems like a great lad, I wish they’d just give the Jade stuff a rest. His brother is talented in his own right, hopefully both will be allowed to leave their mother’s shadow once they’ve had a bit of exposure that allows them to be themselves.

I think he has a mother figure in Jeff’s wife, who has been around so be he was small. Hope they mentioned her off-camera in the context of Mother’s Day.

(PS nothing against Jade, I liked her and was sad when she died).

It's very similar to his brother Bobby - l felt like he was being exploited somewhat on Strictly because he was being identified as Jade's son, and I thought the dance was mawkish.
He never really knew her, sadly, but I hope they can forge more of an identity outside of their mother's death..