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

On the map.it looked at one point like the brothers had to go back on themselves when leaving the vineyard which won't have helped!

Wasn’t there a situation last year where they couldn’t get their bags out of the locker for some reason?

I feel like the money would be more useful to the girls or Fin and Sioned. Caroline’s family are loaded and one of the brothers is well off as well.

I agree. One of the brothers is well off. Tom and Caroline aren’t short of a few Bob. Not sure about the sisters. It could make a big difference to the youngsters. I font mind who wins really but I’d like it to be them.

Mumbai Motions got me. Caught in the airport of all places! We'd been delayed at the airport in Rajasthan for 6+ hours due to fog and it only had a little kiosk and transfering in Mumbai left us with a very narrow window to eat and little choice. I had a bad feeling halfway through the burger, and was cramping an hour later on the plane...
Fortunately India is really good at wet rooms so you can sit on the toilet and let it all flow out at both ends and still have an easy clean up
It also has really cheap hospitals for IV fluids and antibiotics.

It was only the second time we'd had meat there. We decided shortly after arrival that paneer was far nicer than "lawn mower chicken" so mainly ate vegetarian which was easy, plentiful and delicious. We'd lasted over 2½ months eating locally/ fresh street food through Asia, and it was a national chain that got us.

Are any of them doing it for the money though? £20K is a decent lump sum but it’s not permanently life changing. I would imagine after weeks of the race, they would all simply want the pride of winning.

I actually think it would mean the most to Caroline. Not sure why so many are disliking her on this thread. I can imagine a lot of women in her position identify with what she’s been saying - hasn’t worked because she stayed at home to raise the children, husband earns the money so she doesn’t feel like she contributes or has a say in anything, children leaving home/empty nest/feeling like she’s lost her place. I don’t have children but I can certainly identify with getting to a certain age and starting to feel invisible.

I'm confused as to how Sionedd and Fin earns £11 odd selling chai ?

I feel exactly the same. Wish they’d do a spin off series where we see loads more of the travel & they interview them about that specific leg!

Wow this really makes me want to go to India, really enjoyed this season a really interesting mix of thjngs

I liek them all but I think the either youngsters winning would benefit them more so I want them to win
but have a soft spot for the brothers too

Interesting way they finished this last one.
When the guys were walking alone to the check point I felt quite certain they would be last and yet the filming suggested otherwise.

Felt really stressed for Caroline and Tom wondering if they had a seat out of Mumbai. They took a real risk there.

It looks like Sionedd and Fin are going to run out of money. The last leg tends to be expensive in that last run to the finish line although they clearly make it part way as at the end it showed them on a boat. I’m hoping they all at least get to the finish line.

Getting very tired of the personal stories though. Would like to see more on the places they visit, food, costs etc

I agree about there being too much of the personal stories and sob stories. Yes it helps to get to know them but they are rehashing the same thing over and over and it’s not all that interesting eg how many times can they tell us that one of the sisters left home to live abroad and so they grew apart? Please. Enough already.

is there only one episode left?

brian and melvyn took a ferry and they stayed in a hotel

I don't believe a woman of her generation (10 years younger then me) was forced to stay at home and do nothing especially as her children were at boarding school. Fair enough she didn't have to do paid work but there are plenty of other things she could have done and THEN information comes to light that she keeps horses and has been very successful in the eventing word so it wasn't true any way. She seems to imply her husband kept her tied to the house, if that was true then coercive control is a matter for the police. Of course, I don't believe that is the case at all.

She has exaggerated her story for effect and there are plenty of women who have had a much more difficult time than her and are more deserving if sympathy.

That's why I don't like her

Yes last one next week. Although they may do a catch up episode the week after where they all meet up again.

When I used to watch the X factor and other Reality shows etc the posters on here would talk about ‘ ringers ‘ people who were actually good , but pretending not to be that good and this is how I feel about Caroline! The way she got onto that train with such determination, what we have discovered about her from social media and her horse eventing background, she is definitely a ‘ ringer ‘ 😂

The ending me sigh because I didn’t think that the brothers would be last .. sneakily filmed !
Dh said they might though because they went so far out the way.
I still don’t mind who wins now, but it would be lovely for the teens.
I have a feeling that Tom and Caroline might have the edge now though.

dont forget about the editing
the tv makers want the story
bored of it tbh and cant wait for it to end

Even if the teens don’t win, the exposure might help them earn some money in other ways maybe , but I feel they want to travel more now and do other things before getting married, so good for them too.
It’s been a good series, but I agree their different back stories have over taken a bit.

I do feel that i a way they are all acting a part. the brothers are the only ones who seem real. the posh mum pretending she is so shy, the young ones who are so welsh and never been out of wales and the giggly sisters.
wonder what they are really like.
was annoyed at the way it was made to look like the brothers were first.

Yeah are we seeing nothing about the food costs ?

Fed up with the sob stories too although that is more directed at the editing team. I liked the brothers at first but I am finding Melvyn (is he the driving instructor) quite irritating now - all that I’m a Yorkshire man and proud of it nonsense and trying to unsuccessfully gaslight his brother - ooh not sure how Brian is going to cope with long uncomfortable bus journeys/talking to the funny local people/basic accommodation etc etc. Brian has done just fine.

re Caroline - agree with pp. There is no reason for any woman her age to have believed that a woman’s place is in the home unless she had a coercive husband. Did she really believe that women gave up their careers when they married and became a mother, it’s a choice ffs!! Own it.

I’ve been pretty muck OK - just about - with the harping on about the back-stories, but even I have to say that last night it seriously bugged me. I like Brian and Melvyn but we really didn’t need to be told again that they’d had a difficult relationship but this trip had really changed things for them, or that the sisters felt their heart-to-heart had made things easier.

And as for Caroline’s constant refrain about ‘finding herself’ and never having been allowed to do anything as a person, and ‘I’m only a housewife’ who ‘hasn’t been able to find the real me for all these years’ - ENOUGH!!! Thanks to this thread we all know she’s a successful eventer, to the point where she’s deemed worthy of an article in ‘Horse & Hound’, where she even describes herself as ‘prepared, fit, determined’ and with ‘an aim in mind,’ the qualities she needs in eventing. I’m sorry, but I now don’t trust what I’m hearing.

Why not be more honest right at the start and call her ‘amateur horsewomen Caroline’? As it is I’m left feeling - like PP - that all the ‘poor me’ is hiding some stress in her relationship with her rarely-mentioned husband.

I think the delay was they travelled cross country instead of the more direct route through Mumbai and so they weren't able to travel on the faster trains.
I would like them to win but even if they don't they have had an amazing experience anyway.

I think someone on this thread it another said that the young couple it at least the girl had travelled abroad before.

Caroline Bridge is a seasoned horsemanship professional with extensive experience in both dressage and eventing. She has successfully trained horses to the Grand Prix level in dressage and has also been involved in the training and selection of top-level eventers. Notably, she helped source and train Sharon Hunt's 2008 Olympic ride, Tankers Town, according to Horse & Hound magazine. She also participated in the BBC's "Race Across the World" with her son, Tom, and won the 2024 British Eventing BE80 league, according to Horse & Hound.