Race Across The World Series 5 Thread 2

[TwentyKittens]

With only five posts left on the old thread, thought I'd start this so we can link between the two.

This thread carries on from the first:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5314933-race-across-the-world?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

I think the issue was for some of them they revisited the same bit of backstory all the time.

If you mention something different each week, or something gets brought up a couple of times or again in relation to something else e.g. Tom talking about being expelled in episode 4 and then mentioning in the last episode about how not having passed exams affected him, it seems more natural and less annoying. Or Bridie (?) last year who was very dyslexic saying once how it made some jobs like waitressing really hard, but then at another saying that it didn't bother her the alphabet was different because she struggles to read and is used to asking for help anyway.

But when it's every week for no other reason than they've decided to ask them about it... I definitely blame the edit and the instructions for the camera crew (some very leading questions were asked!) for that. E.g. the sisters could have said they didn't really know each other as adults, get the losing the house stuff over with earlier, and then show them having fun and getting to know each other rather than keep coming back to it.

There should be enough drama from the travelling!

The celebrity one definitely showed more food and hotels and more talking about money.

Remember Kelly Brooke and her super-competitive French/Italian husband ending up in a pay per hour hotel and joking that they couldn't afford the individually-priced condoms on their race budget?

There's a balance for both though right? This year the same back stories have been regurgitated again and again

Betty has missed the point.

It's the sheer volume of time dedicated to each person's background stories that results in people getting fed up with them and so they end up feeling like sob stories deliberately pushed on us.

Things started to change a little last series. For instance Alfie was somewhere on a little row boat talking about his mum. Then we cut to a distance shot of him on the boat which must have been filmed afterwards. So that must have been set up by the crew to emphasise his loneliness. I remember it because it struck me as the first time something like that was very obviously set up.

So it didn't surprise me to learn that the main producer had changed. He's stated that the stories are what he thinks are important, and I think that's why this series the time spent on them ramped up.

The actual race elements have reduced so much that parts feel like they've been missed, and all through the threads we're asking what happened because there are now visible jumps.

Background stories wouldn't end up feeling like sob stories if we went back to the ratio of stories:race we had in the past.

Exactly. Surely we watch for the characters and the human element? Otherwise, just watch a travel show.

I wonder if folk would still watch this if the contestants were literally not allowed ro speak, or if robots were used instead?

I like finding out more about the people, I don't like a single-focus carefully-curated topic that's the only thing they talk about!

No. (I assume you mean an employee of whoever makes the programme.) Why? I don't see what that's got to do with my comment!

Just completing it was s massive achievement for them all.
The brothers did very well to almost catch up. And poor Brian looked really ill when he had the stomach upset.

I was hoping the brothers would win. but didn't mind C&T.
the sisters were the most annoying.

Yes, I thought Brian looked like he had lost a lot of weight by the final episode - he still didn't look 100%.

Plus point for this season was the reduction in John Hannah's recaps. You would previously have to fast forward through a full 5 minutes before the episode actually started.

Minus point - it all seemed so much more controlled by production. Did Tom really 'stumble' across those Chinese fishing nets as he claims, or was he directed there by the producers? Similarly, the wedding party was far too convenient.

Final point - all the silly chasing around at checkpoint still annoys me! BEEP climb these stairs BEEP cross to the other side of town BEEP find a random mural. Especially as Finn and Sioned were clearly at the end destination before Tom and Caroline, but got waylaid due to the stupid instructions

Yes they eliminated someone at that stage every series. Which is a shame. It would be better if they could all carry on.

But I think people like this format, given the ratings. I certainly do. It’s not a travel show. If it’s a travel show I want to know details eg hotels, restaurants etc . It’s a race and the people
stories are a huge part of that.

I agree about getting to the final checkpoint. Go to the temple go somewhere else then get on a bloody boat. I was actually shouting "Get to the fucking end" at the telly.

I had to whizz through one couple finding it all so exhilirating. Just found them so annoying.

They also get to visit some amazing places and do things they wouldn't normally do. I think just being on the show is a prize. The 20k is just an extra.

If it could be 20% backstory, 80% travel, eating, budgeting etc in each episode, I'd be happy.

I’d definitely watch Robots Race Across The World

Nobody's saying contestants shouldn't be allowed to speak. It's just that we were hearing the same things over and over again. It was tedious and took time away from the actual point of the show.

@TwentyKittens I agree. If this is what people want then fair enough but I'm in the smaller group of people who would prefer to see more of the journey itself.

I do think it sets the contestants up to be judged on their ability to entertain us too which invites criticism.

I have enjoyed these last two series the most because I loved the areas they visited.

I do prefer this to the celebrity version, as I feel that ordinary people get the chance to do something they would never get to do otherwise, whereas the celebrities could do it if they wanted to, I wonder if they get paid?

My favourite contestants ever with the Muslim lads who gave half their money away I felt they had a real blend of compassion and exploration.
What's been nice in this series has been seeing the group growing together, I remember the first time the sisters saw Brian and Melvin and being really snarky about it, whereas once they got to know them they all seem to genuinely welcome bumping into each other even if being a bit frustrated to be so close...

I think it's a safe bet that if I applied to go on, I'd have have a better chance of being selected if I went with one of my wider relations on a relationship building experience than if I went with happily maried DH.

The chat hasn't been so much about the places because the editorial focus wasn't on the places so much. I've had more idea about what the places were like because there was a lot of overlap with places I've been to, but the focus on them was very brief.

I still like the celebrity version and they do end to get novices from the organisation side of it who are just used to being flown/ bused in, doing their thing then being moved on.
But I do favour the series of regular contestants.

My favourite contestants ever with the Muslim lads who gave half their money away I felt they had a real blend of compassion and exploration.

And the end of that one was literally a race. It was really exciting. I remember the poor woman from the couple competing against them, spotting them from the busstop without their backpacks and knowing one was an amateur athlete. And she still gave it her all!