Race Across The World 2026

[LindorDoubleChoc]

Hooray!

This is back for another series, starting Thursday.

I just googled very quickly and they set off from Sicily and end the race in northern Mongolia - sounds interesting.

I don't know anything else about it at this point, but thought that we should have a thread ready and waiting.

I love how the young lads are throwing themselves at everything. Taking every opportunity.

I agree. It is far more ‘produced’ than previously. I remember when they were given work and if they didn’t do it properly, they were paid less. Now they get paid for just turning up. The ‘work’ and ‘home stays’ are more like a tourism promotional advertisement now

That might be my favourite single episode of any series. It made me laugh and cry in equal measure. I would love the boys to win but I don’t actually dislike any of them this year.

Guess they enter as competition so are looking to win but at this stage competition I would imagine the win for life is to see or do something they may never get to do again it is not like being on a European city break thinking I'll be back again.
So taking an extra few days and getting some more out of the trip I imagine would be better than bring up 20k
Like the lads as they young would be good for them to win as the 20k would help them but guess that true for bro n sis who I say are my fav team

I’m still confused as to whether the boys did any work on that home stay?

I’m totally routing for the boys. They give me hope that my 17 yo DS might launch into a confident and adventurous adult one day!

Home stays don't necessarily involve work .

I didn't really take onboard whether the boys did any work at the home of the judo enthusiast @NCTDN. But they had two paid jobs in the previous episode in eastern Turkey - cleaning hotel rooms and then on the geese farm.

And they had the job as waiters this week. Not that they were filmed doing much work.

For me there seems to be less actual info on how they decide on their routes. The narrator states “you can go X way or Y way” and then the pairs seem to pick between the two, whereas in previous series there has been a lot more discussion over routes. Also a lot less about buying food and paying for overnight accommodation, they price up the travel but the rest seems to disappear into the ether. It’s a shame - the editing seems to focus much more on the countries and their personal stories and less on the actual challenge of travelling.

Finally caught up. I didn’t want to watch this series as the last one was so crap… can’t even remember who won!

@LifeOnTheVeg Totally different opinion here 😄

I loved the last series so much we were inspired to book a holiday in China. Just got back and now I want to see the first 2 or 3 episodes of last series again because I think we have now visited some of the same places.

I didn't think the last series was crap there was just one particularly annoying competitor but I won't drag that up again.

That's awesome! Hope you had a great time.
We're thinking about various places in Turkiye and Uzbekistan from watching the current series!

Maybe I was a wee bit harsh. Crap might have been a bit strong, but there were no food or accommodation worries or budgeting shown last series (all just seemed to happen by magic or not be mentioned) and too many backstories. There wasn't much sense of peril or cliff-hangers which would have been a better thing for a "race"!

I’m really enjoying this series.

There’s definitely more involvement from production than they show, though.

I recently read a (Good Housekeeping) magazine interview with one of the previous winning couples and they said that what you don’t see is that they’re told they have to use 5 (I think) different modes of transport per leg, and they can’t just decide to stick to whatever would be the quickest mode of transport.

Makes it more exciting for viewers to see more than hours of train or bus footage I guess, but I wish they were more upfront about these ‘rules’, of which I bet there are more too.

Caught up with last week’s episode - so emotional. I think the boys are really embracing what’s facing them and growing throughout.

Does anyone know what’s Molly’s dad is called, as reading through this thread, it’s always ‘Molly and her dad’! Without being cynical, have we heard their background, ie sob story, yet? Unless I’ve missed it, there doesn’t seem any mention of Molly’s mum, but the dad and Molly have a too close a relationship for this to be a ‘getting to know you ‘

So far the back story is know-it-all Dad doesn't accept his daughter has grown up.

they’re told they have to use 5 (I think) different modes of transport per leg,

I don't think that can be right. It would be impossible.

They said they’d be reminded about it by the team along the way too, and there would be a time penalty if they didn’t manage it. I only just put the magazine out for recycling last week!

It comes up if you search too.

@SilverbirchleafI think Molly's dad is called Ian.

I agree with @CaptainMyCaptain- patients obviously put their trust in her to save their lives but he can't trust her to work out a route. I thought the way he mouthed "Be quiet" and shooshed her was terrible. Like she was a naughty child.

@Silverbirchleaf Molly’s dad is called Andrew, but I did have to look that up!

He’s also only 54 - I had assumed a lot older.

Andrew is a fairly typical middle aged Northern Irish man, I know many

I agree & acts just like my dad! Never able to really see me as an equal adult.

interesting. That cant have been true for the covid canada series because the only way they could get anywhere in that was to hitch hike. That must have been exhausting.

Maybe it is 5 different buses or trains or taxi or lift. So they can't just stay on one bus that does the whole route.

I wonder if they are also obliged to do either a trip or work every leg, so there's something interesting to film, and those who take interesting detours aren't disadvantaged by being slower than everyone else.