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’m pleased for Caroline and Tom. Would have been happy for any of them to win.

Lot of jealousy & inverted snobbery about Tom and Caroline on here, so what if he went to boarding school, that wasn’t his choice, so what if Caroline was a SAHM, lots of people make choices that others don’t.

I was on the surface a SAHM, what others didn’t see the pain I had to give up my career due to ill health or my dh and parents having to help look after DCs when young. Or that we chose for them to go to boarding school & flexi board so they wouldn’t see the struggles I had & could be looked after when I couldn’t. It’s not always that simple.

I actually disliked Caroline (the one presented not the real person) because I know her world and am her social class.

and DS made me skip the scene where Tom read from his journal. It was just too much. It was nice for them but I don’t think it needed to be shown.

I found some of the speaking to camera uncomfortable and intrusive. Particularly with Fin - he clearly didn’t want to talk about it

I’ve been around horses all my life, like Caroline and they take up a considerable part of your life.

She wasn’t just a SAHM, she was involved with eventing and training horses. That sort of involvement is very time consuming, yet she kept repeating that she had done nothing but be a SAHM for the last twenty years.

How this complete omission about the horses, came about we don’t know. Some say it was the producers. Whatever it was, as a viewer I felt somehow duped. That has nothing to do with snobbery or hating Caroline. The producers must think we’re all stupid, if they don’t get that we have access to the internet.

Really liked the winners. I don't think Caroline's eventing needed to be concealed, with or without that knowledge it's a hat's off for a competitive woman of a certain age with steely determination (and Tom of course).

They also have a lovely relationship, I can relate to things Caroline says as a SAHM so she can't be pulling a complete yarn, it seemed heartfelt.

All the comments about Caroline concealing her true life ... what about Sineod ... the narrative was that she's barely left her little Welsh village but when you look at her instagram she's been all over the world.

I don’t get why the producers needed to conceal all that. They’re just as interesting people - in fact, probably more so - if you get the full picture.

I don’t think we really heard much about sioned though and it was more focussed on her challenges during the race whereas Tom and Caroline had a lot of screentime and there was a lot of repetition

the editing wasn’t great ultimately

I don't think Sioned ever said that she never left her village/ Wales? She said she really struggled in some environments and didn't feel had had many life experiences, ie she was so upset when they saw barefoot children begging at a bus station. I'm not sure whether going on an all inclusive holiday with friends as a teenager really gives you that much life experience or prepares you for travelling around countries without your phone when don't speak the language...

Where did Tom or Caroline or anyone say that Tom had gone to boarding school?

He said private school and that was all that was said as far as I remember. Private doesn't automatically mean boarding.

I couldn't care less where he went to school, btw

Caroline wasn't a SAHM. She was a successful horse trainer.

A SAHM when children are grown is surely a privileged role to have, certainly not one to have a sob story about. That’s why it was so boring, it’s a non-story

i’ve just had a quick glance and the first photo said California and another Scotland. I now feel very duped by them. They definitely gave a ‘we’ve never left Wales’ image.

They were doing the whole ‘I come from a small village - this is a big adventure’ etc but they never said they have never left the village or anything

the Main point is that they live at home and on holiday or not probably take little responsibility for themselves so that was the main change

Caroline was on Women’s Hour this morning and came across as a really lovely person who found adventure and confidence and now wants to build upon that foundation's.
I don’t know whether this was before or after RATW but she talked about having to sell her horse and downsizing and it sounded like it was just her and Tom, but I may have misinterpreted that.
She and Tom are planning to use some of the money to travel together, I think she said Cambodia - but with phones and credit cards this time!

I'm pretty sure she's with her husband still

Saw it mentioned in an article after they'd finished

And it made reference to him being a barrister as well. Not a farmer like mentioned earlier in the thread

He clearly doesn’t want to be involved with the public nature of it as there was very little mention of him

Boarding school and being a SAHM were never the issues.

This.

It was Caroline who described herself to Horse and Hound as a farmer's wife, in the article where she talks about training horses and what she looks for when she buys them at auction.

I caught up with the final last night and was so pleased Caroline and Tom won.
My son and I went to India this spring and had a fab experience though had a private driver and guides. lol
India is fascinating and I am going back to see more. Love it.

I’d love it if they would do an extended version or an extra bit like they do with Bake Off. An after show with one of the contests and someone who knows the area.

Me and some others suggested this earlier in the thread so let's campaign for RATW part 2 - a more in depth look at the countries they visit: the food, accommodation choices, language etc! Then those of us who don't want so much repetitive sob story and crafty editing can still enjoy the RATW concept.
I think it's perfectly possible to want to watch the 'travel show' element of it balanced with the human stories but it's swung a bit too far to the latter IMO.

I wonder if they know before they travel how it is going to be edited to show them, in particular Yin and Gaz and us not realising they were separated until the producers decided so

It did occur to me that the producers must have been severely pissed off that Yin & Gaz had to go, as they had the most interesting back story and most interesting potential travel dynamic out of all the 5 pairs. I bet they were really annoyed when they got so far behind and just couldn't catch up and therefore had to exit according to the show rules 😂

It strikes me that there was quite a bit of scrabbling around to find a back story for the sisters.

thanks for the info, listening to Caroline on women's hour

Article here where Caroline talks about downsizing from a small farm.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/celebrity/race-across-the-world-winners-we-didn-t-realise-people-might-judge-us-for-being-posh/ar-AA1GB86L?cmp_prftch=2&ocid=msedgdhp&pc=DCTS&cvid=04203280ef79434bb38c212062ad7670&ei=17