Race Across the World

[Liquorandvinegar]

New series starting next week - really looking forward to it. The teams are travelling in Asia, but I can't find information about the couples yet. Wednesday nights sorted!

I read somewhere that a a recreation of Hallstatt an Austrian village has been created for tourists in China.

Oh golly gosh, just found this thread!

Love Letitia's skin, does she model?

Sad to see Gaz and Yin go. Interesting about one brother sent to boarding school. Look how different the brothers are.

Sending one away to boarding school and the other not is bound to mess them both up. My sister has never forgiven me for passing the 11 plus and going to Grammar school in 1966 when she failed hers 2 years later.

Hallstatt is beautiful but a long way from China!

Just read that Hallstatt was featured on an Asian tv show and named the most instagrammable town in the world.
A town in China was recreated to look like it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt_(China)

Yes, hearing about one of the brothers going to boarding school and one not was so interesting. And how, decades later, it's still deeply and permanently and differently affecting them both. And thinking about how they both interpreted their parents' decision.

You can see why they have had difficulty connecting - they've had two completely different lives.

Yes his stressy Mum and her constant references to being a Mum is driving me mad. Have a day off.
I don’t like she way she repeats everything loudly to The Foreigners hoping that they’ll understand better.

Lots of families sometimes treat children differently, I can only assume that the older brother was more academic or maybe the parents just couldn’t afford two lots of boarding school fees. Seems very unfair to me and even worse if the other brother had been a girl too ( which is probably common too!)
I feel you would resent your parents whatever the reasons behind it though.

The difference in education has definitely had an impact on the lives of the brothers. They even have different accents.

Then again, Tom also had the boarding school education and it doesn't seem to have helped him much yet!

The elimination round is always upsetting. However that was a great episode. Everyone has an interesting backstory. Next week, India and it will be chaos for some!

I'm always sad about the elimination round, and almost wish that they didn't do it. It was the right decision though. Much as I did like the couple, I suppose they were just too far behind and it wasn't recoverable.

Looking forward to next week's episode as they start to head into India.

India is going to be so interesting with the trains and the tatkal booking thing. When we were in Ooty it took us 2 days to get a train because they were already fully booked and the day tickets were taken so quickly!

Can’t wait!!

I couldn’t do this show as I am just too impatient and the idea of killing time in a grotty station or bus terminal would seriously annoy me!
The queues for trains in India are often long ( only seen it on tv, but they look hot and crowded too when you do get on one !)

I noticed that, even though the Receptionist probably speaks impeccable English.

That sounds like an immense trip!

I have to say I got the rage with Tom and Caroline when they were heading for Wuyuan, got someone local to say the name for them, then kept totally mispronouncing it as ‘Woo yeah!’ and roaring with mirth as though they were being immensely clever and amusing.

It’s usually better to try and be respectful and make an effort with local languages when you travel, then people are more inclined to help you - it’s certainly stood the sisters in good stead.

I was laughing at John Hannah's voice over as it sounded like it had been written by the Chinese Tourist Board! 😁

I didn't mind Tom and Caroline so much this time. I left school at 15, albeit with O Grades, and then had a very physical job for a while, so weirdly can relate to Tom despite being at the other end of the social spectrum. I'm also distressingly forgetful.

Was sad to see Yin and Gaz go. The storm really knocked them, then poor luck meant they were never going to catch up.

I want Brian and Melvyn to win!

Apart from the grotty room that the brothers had this has been the perfect advert for China. A bit too perfect.

I suspect this series has been very curated (or at least more than usual) so that they could be given permission to film.
The first series they went through part of China but no filming was allowed. Last year they had to skip the China leg due to "increased COVID precautions".
Whilst I'm enjoying watching this year's series it definitely feels like a tourism advert for the China legs at least - I'm looking forward to the next sections tbh.

I feel sorry for Sioned. She was all “I know you’re the one for me” and then he said “I’m using this trip to see if I want to be with you or not.” I mean, honesty in a relationship is good and all that, but there is a time and a place to say something like that and IMO it’s not to a TV camera!

Yes that was a cringey moment.

I thought that was really horrible. Like he’s testing her.

Bit of a red flag! Although she also said the trip would either make them or break them.

Hopefully whatever happens they'll both realise there's a big world outside their limited life experiences.

It wouldn't surprise me if the BBC had been approached, as I doubt the Chinese government would be happy with previous depictions!

I don’t understand what happened with the sisters and the money, can anyone enlighten me?