From the Great Wall of China to the southernmost point of India, this year’s Race Across the World has certainly served up the drama in spades.
Over the course of several gruelling weeks, five couples have been attempting to cross a huge distance to be first over the finish line in pursuit of a £20,000 prize. But it’s not been plain sailing. Melvyn has been battling an upset stomach, Fin has opened up about his tumour diagnosis as a teen and Yin and Gaz have been unpacking their relationship history.
With the final checkpoint in sight, here’s what to know about where the teams are now.
Spoilers ahead
What has the route been?
The 14,000km race route takes the teams through some of the most populated countries on the planet. Starting at the Great Wall of China (or more accurately, Huanghuacheng, a village 80km north of Beijing), the teams raced through Beijing to reach the first checkpoint of Huangling, a village 2000km away that’s a tourist hotspot.
The second episode took them to the East China Sea and the cities along its coast: Shanghai, Hainan and Sanya, which is also known as ‘China’s Hawaii’.
Episode three saw the teams trek further west, visiting the colourful town of Kunming, and the city of Shangri-La, which sits in the Himalayan mountain range.
From there, they took a flight (as it’s impossible to get over the Himalayas on foot) to Nepal, trekking through Kathmandu, and heading down the River Ganges to Varanasi, the holy city in India.
The teams are now in India, and in episode five, they navigated the Golden Triangle (the area comprising Delhi, Agra and Jaipur) to see the Taj Mahal, before heading to Rishikesh and Mussoori before reaching the next checkpoint in the old colonial hill station of McLeod Ganj.
Episode six saw them head to Rajasthan for the final third of the race, which took them through Jodhpur, Jaipur and Udaipur, stopping off at the holy city of Amritsar before heading to the checkpoint of Sasan Gir, which is a village on the edge of the Gir national park.
Who is still in the running?
Fin and Sioned, brothers Melvyn and Brian, sisters Elizabeth and Letitia and mum and son Caroline and Tom are still in the running – with Melvyn and Brian now in the lead after being the first team to reach the checkpoint.
In the third episode, an elimination twist was revealed: the last couple to reach the third checkpoint would be sent home after just three weeks. That ended up being Yin and Gaz, who took a train 1,800km in the wrong direction – and going wildly off course in the process.
However, they have spoken positively about their experience: "There have been some really lovely moments," Yin said about it, while Gaz said that the race “has given me the zest to go off the beaten track.”
How many episodes are left?
Though the season has nine episodes in total, the final episode is always reserved for the reunion and post-race breakdown between the contestants. That means that there are three episodes left – and we will find out who the winners are on June 11, when the teams finally make it to the last checkpoint in pursuit of that £20,000 cash prize.
The reunion episode will then follow on June 18.
Race Across the World is streaming on BBC One
