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 don't trust her either she's doing it for effect. It's not just the edit with bits missed out she says quite blatantly that she has done nothing for herself. I hope they don't win.

but it is not a popularity show, it is a race
and perhaps she has done nothing for herself,
she feels this way

I don't have to like her and that is the way I feel.

She says she has done nothing with her life but the facts seem to differ. It isn't a popularity contest and whoever has actually won the race is already history. When we find out who the winners and losers are we are all allowed our feelings about it.

My mum was a sahm and she did find it extremely difficult. She did have a chance to do something for herself for a few years but then we moved back here and by the time the kids left home she didn’t have the confidence to get a job and then she got ill.

with that in mind, I did have sympathy for Caroline but having googled I now feel she is misrepresenting herself.

DS and I joked that if we applied we wouldn’t get on because we don’t have a sob story but I think we could probably make one up now!!

Brian and Melvin and Tom are the only ones that really have a thing

the sisters have something but I actually think it’s too personal to make good tv

Fin has his diabetes but he doesn’t seem keen to talk about it which I respect.

i think it does work best when the relationship is strained somehow and you see them grow together over time but it’s better seeing that through interactions than pieces to camera.

"Let's instead talk about all the interesting bits ..."

Nice idea, but the interesting bits are dwindling.

When they aren't sleeping on a bus or train, or staying in a home stay - where ARE they staying? How do they find the places? What do they eat and how much does it cost? How come no one's had food poisoning yet! How do they find the bus or train station? These are the things I'd find interesting.

I liked the glimpses of the Taj Mahal (and the sisters did seem to be genuinely excited by that) and the little bit of history about it we got - we need more of this and less of all the much-discussed family issues.

They must have so much footage. I wonder if they have a different editor who finds the travel bit boring

I actually Googled this the other day! I also read some of the Reddit forums on RATW - everyone over there is saying the same thing as Mumsnet re. the balance of travel to talking heads.

I'll see if I can find the article I read, hold on ...

Most reality shows end up being about the so called ‘sob stories’ . X factor was the same too.
Maybe they think it makes better tv ?

Here it is https://www.mediaproductionshow.com/exhibitor-news/race-world-producers-cast-open-up

It dates from last year but I believe Stephen Day is still an executive producer.

Stephen Day came on board last series. Before that it was Mark Saben.

So that explains why it changed so much, and has gone overboard this series, and why chunks of the journey are missing. They've been cut in favour of the ramblings.

Executive Producer preference. Hope he leaves before the next series!

Hopefully they monitor online feedback!!

I think it the episode they entered India someone said that fin and Sioned only got 8 mins airtime. Out of the hour that is quite low

i thought the mum and son got a lot of the airtime in the last episode

Where is left to go ? If they do Northern Europe that would be far easier ( very expensive, but they would speak English in most places and have good transport links )
They can’t go to Russia.
Have they been to Africa?
That’s probably a place that would be hard to get around in parts.

They could do namibia/botswana/zimbabwe/zambia/tanzania/kenya/malawi/mozambique

big distances to cover but so beautiful

I hope Africa is next. They could do a whole series on one continent!

big distances but there are buses and some train routes and people can be kind offering lifts. It could be amazing

I'd love it if they did Africa. I followed a woman on Insta who cycled from Morocco to South Africa down the west coast, so it's a doable journey one way or another.

However I am at the point of being turned off by the backstories dominating, so if that keeps up I'm not sure I'd watch an entire series. Maybe wait till it's finished and FF through them.

We did a self drive through Namibia and I was surprised by the number of cyclists we saw. A lot of the locals thought they were nuts!!

I agree Tom and Caroline seemed to have far more airtime than the others the brothers didn’t seem to have a lot either.

Just enough for him to tell us he missed his wife but we don’t hear much from the older brother.

their relationship seems to have improved a lot although DS thinks the older one gives in to the younger one a lot. But he’s an older sibling so may be biased!!!

I was wondering where the brothers were at one point in the last episode as they seemed to have disappeared. then they suddenly reappeared at the checkpoint town!

I really don’t want Tom and Caroline to win but it’s abit irrelevant

the only one I hear of who has used it to make a career is Alfie and I think he would have even if lost

fin and Sioned post a lot on tiktok

i follow Alfie on instagram
and also the father and son, from series 1 or 2, Darren is still travelling but tbh that used to get on my nerves because he kept repeating how his son needed to grow up!

i think in a way they are probably told what to say

Hopping on to agree with how disappointing this series is. Too much backstory, sob stories, drip feeding etc. Skipping over the actual travel to focus on the dramatic bits then showing people having got somewhere else without explaining how. Really don't like Caroline and Tom, don't know why. Don't like any of them really except the brothers.