Celebrity Race Across The World is finally here, despite the fact that the series about an arduous voyage had its own risky journey to make it on air.
Initially scheduled to debut The BBC’s greatest jewel was in the middle of recording its first star-studded edition in 2020 when the epidemic struck, and I won’t bore you with the specifics of what occurred afterwards.
Regardless, three years later, a surprisingly amazing lineup of celebrities and their families are undertaking the 10,000-kilometer journey from Marrakesh, Morocco, to Tromso, Norway.
McFly’s Harry Judd and his mother Emma, All Saints’ Melanie Blatt and her mother Helene, Good Morning Britain weather reporter Alex Beresford and his father Noel, and Formula One ace Billy Monger and his sister Bonnie round out the first ever celebrity line-up for Race Across The World, ensuring it’s packed with the right balance of heart and tension, which ultimately is the secret to the ‘civilian’ version’s success.
Initially, I was opposed to a celebrity version of RATW.
Of course, the star of the show is the unrelenting travel over thousands of miles on a shoestring budget, performing tasks one never imagined doing for a bank and a handful of dollars in the desperate goal of reaching the finish line.
The competitors’ camaraderie, which grows so much deeper during the process, their intimate bickering and eventual reconciliations, and emotional experiences are what make it such a unique unscripted show amid a sea of reality television that has grown so superficial.
Would celebrities be treated with the same warmth? I wasn’t convinced.
Fortunately, I was completely incorrect.
Judd takes the plunge to backpack with his outrageously entertaining mother after spending much of his life on the road with McFly and a staff organising his every accommodation and making sure every step he makes is precisely planned out for him.
Blatt has also traversed the world, although on a first-class ticket and on a limited budget.
Judd’s mother expresses her satisfaction in her son’s instant success. In one of the most popular UK bands of the noughties came the heartache of her youngest leaving sooner than she expected.
He went on to have his own children, and as a mother and son, their time together became so restricted – or, in her words, ’empty’.
Blatt’s mother was in the army and was used to travelling and scrounging, although her chart-topping daughter was not. Blatt immediately demonstrates that he is not a financial specialist.
Both popstars will get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engage with and learn from their parents on a trip neither of them could have anticipated.
When it comes to the game, Beresford and his father have quite different ideas, and they overcome their usual father-son roles. In just one episode, the TV star learns to take over from his parent.
Billy collided into a stalled car during a race at Donnington Park three weeks before his 18th birthday.He was placed in an induced coma and nearly died, but he awoke three days later as a double amputee.
His connection with his sister Bonnie on Race Across The World is at its finest when they work together, taking on the grimmest assignment ever on Race Across The World.
My concerns that Celebrity Race Across The World would lack the depth and passion of its ‘civilian’ equivalent were completely unfounded.
Race Across The World may accomplish it better than any other reality TV series that has taken on a celebrity edition.
Celebrity Race Across The World launches September 13 at 9pm on BBC One.
