Race Across the World's Letitia and Elizabeth reveal 'pressures' of language 'advantage'

Yahoo

27-05-2025

Race Across the World sisters Letitia and Elizabeth tell Yahoo UK that the younger sister was "under pressure" to "perform" because she could speak Mandarin.
Some viewers claimed Letitia, 26, and Elizabeth, 33, had an "unfair advantage" on the race but the siblings reveal this is far from the truth. On-screen, Letitia's Mandarin skills came across well but she admits behind the scenes she was struggling with the language she hadn't spoken in years.
Talking to Yahoo UK, Letitia says: "To be honest, when we first found out where we're going [to China], I was like, 'Oh my goodness, this is crazy' because I've not spoken Mandarin in like... how many years?
"Maybe three or five years. I thought it was a lot of pressure because I knew a little bit of the language but I'm not fluent at all."
After starting the race at the Great Wall of China, the sisters took the lead for the first two legs. Navigating their way through China for the first three episodes wasn't as easy as it seemed for the siblings though.
Of speaking the language, Letitia further explains: "Honestly, it's very broken Mandarin and the fact [was] that sometimes I wouldn't understand what they were saying, and the clip you see on TV is very short.
"I'll be talking to someone for a good 20 minutes trying to understand what they'll say and trying to put my point across. Yeah, it was difficult with the language — or even without anyway. There was pressure I felt I had to perform well."
Her older sister Elizabeth also acknowledges the downside of Letitia knowing some of the language. She says: "And it's confusing because if you know just a little bit, you can get sidetracked because you think that you've understood something [and you didn't]."
Whether the language was an advantage or not, the sisters didn't know each other as well as some of their other competitors knew their travel companions on the race. They tell Yahoo UK how the race shaped their bond and influenced their future adventures.
When Elizabeth moved to live in Italy for 10 years, the sisters drifted apart. Race Across the World gave them the chance to rediscover their sisterly bond again.
"Yes definitely [it brought us closer]," Letitia says. "Considering we're travelling 24 hours together, making big decisions, being in each other's presence. You just cope. You're put in a situation where sometimes you are upset and you have to deal with it or give each other space."
"You really learn a lot about each other, so it definitely progressed our relationship and we've got a lot more comfortable with each other now and we're able to communicate better."
Elizabeth says: "[On RATW] you learn a lot about yourself as well and then when you learn about yourself, then it's easier to then like integrate with other people, so I think we were learning about ourselves as well in a way."
She adds: "For me, I learned that I'm not as decisive as I would like to be. It was quite difficult to make decisions under pressure. It was gonna be a difficult thing anyway. So I definitely learned that about myself and then I learned how Letitia was actually quite more relaxed than me at some times, which makes me feel like, 'OK, I don't have to be the big older sister all the time'."
Letitia says: "Similar to what you [Elizabeth] said, I was surprised, when we're put in situations making difficult decisions, you really wanted to think it out and make sure you know it was the right decision and things like that. Because for me I thought... older sister — you know exactly what you exactly what to do.
"But there's a little more that goes into your thought process and I was like, 'Oh, that's quite surprising', but it helped me communicate better with you. We gave each other that time to go through the process of decision making.
"And what did I learn about myself? I was just mixed emotions where I didn't think I would be able to do it. It's chaos everywhere! Being on buses for so long. It was so noisy. I thought I would complain a lot more."
Elizabeth adds her thoughts: "I feel like you gained so much more confidence."
Once filming was over, the sisters caught a plane on their next trip together to Kenya. As the race continues to influence their travel choices, their adventures together are only just beginning.
"Straight after [Race] we actually went to Kenya," Elizabeth says. "We really wanted to spend time with family and things, but also just trying to connect more. Our parents are from Kenya. It was a nice way to reconnect, have a family reunion."
Letitia says: "And honestly after the race, after the stress, we needed that relaxation! We needed a holiday to unwind and relax. I don't think the adventures will stop now. Definitely trying other things with travelling, got the travel bug!"
She adds: "The race definitely made me embrace everything and not look at my phone too much or don't take so many pictures, just embrace and live in a moment. When I travel now and I definitely still use my card. I still need to use Google Maps.
"But definitely appreciating and embracing and living in the moment when travelling has definitely come from Race, so yeah, I'm really grateful for that."
Elizabeth agrees: "Same with me as well. I don't really use my phone too much anyway, so I was actually OK without using my phone. I'm a bit of a follower when I travel, so Letitia is normally the one that's like checking reviews and things like that.
"So for me I actually really enjoyed not having a phone when I was going around but it's just, yeah, the freedom. Just embracing everything and just going slowly. It definitely encouraged me to speak a lot more to people. I like speaking to people but this is definitely encouraged that."
Race Across the World continues at 9pm on Wednesday on BBC One.