Race Across the World secrets revealed from axed US route to future location hints
Wednesday marked the end of the RATW series with it's reunion episode. The five teams — winners Caroline and Tom, sisters Elizabeth and Letitia, brothers Melvyn and Brian, teen couple Sioned and Fin as well as ex married couple Yin and Gaz — reunited for the first time six months after the race. The journey took them from The Great Wall of China, through Nepal to the southern tip of India Kanyakumari.
From sharing hints about future locations to revealing the route that was cancelled, Production Executive Kezia Walker and Producer Lucy Curtis from Studio Lambert revealed everything that happens during filming RATW on and off camera. The RATW masterclass was presented by Televisual and Sony at The Producers in a video shared on YouTube.
Race Across the World nearly had an entirely different name, producers revealed.
The idea was pitched as "Flightless" because the idea centres around the contestants not being able to catch planes between the destinations.
It was only later in the development stage that it would get the great name "Race Across the World".
A Race Across the World (RATW) route that travelled through parts of the US had to be axed because of visa issues, Studio Lambert producers have said.
Series two was meant to start in bustling New York City but the contestants didn't get their visa applications back in time. The Studio Lambert team had to make last minute changes to the race route, just weeks before beginning filming.
Curtis said: "We prefer it when things go wrong when we are filming because it can become the story. The frustrating thing is if it goes wrong three days before we're about to start our filming.
"On series two... our route was meant to be New York to the Argentina, the southern most tip Ushuaia, and about three or four weeks before we were due to start filming, we found out we weren't going to get our US visas in time.
"So we had to pivot and set up a whole new launch in Mexico City. With three weeks to go. It ended up being a brilliant launch and loved doing it there."
Leg 1 - Mexico City, Mexico to Copán Ruinas, Honduras
Leg 2 - Copán Ruinas, Honduras to Panama City, Panama
Leg 3 - Panama City, Panama to Tatacoa Desert, Colombia (flight to Jaén Airport)
Leg 4 - Jaén, Peru to Puno, Peru
Leg 5 - Puno, Peru to Cafayate, Argentina
Leg 6 - Cafayate, Argentina to Ilha Grande, Brazil
Leg 7 - Ilha Grande, Brazil to Mendoza, Argentina
Leg 8 - Mendoza, Argentina to Ushuaia, Argentina
The TV producers want things to go wrong during the race. In the 2025 series, viewers were outraged when Yin and Gaz and Caroline and Tom were stranded by the typhoon in China. The producers said disasters are part of the storytelling of race.
Walker said: "The things that you think are going to be a problem actually like says that's where the story often comes from."
In fact, in series one a huge problem from the recce also became a disaster on the race that played out on-screen.
Curtis shared: "In series one our assistant producer who's doing it had to cross the Caspian Sea between Azabaijan and Kazakhstan. And there's no passenger ferries. There's freight ferries that go kind of once every 28 days or something. And on the ferry it broke down and he was stuck there for three days. And we asked him to do video diaries and his video diaries came through and they were just gold.
"And we just knew this was going to be this he was sort of going slightly stir crazy in this cabin with Kazakhstani truck drivers. And then the same thing happened on the shoot. The ferry broke down again when we were filming."
Sharing the secrets, one of the producers also hinted at possible routes for the future series.
They said that there hadn't been any significant changes to the format because new locations and routes made the series feel fresh. Then there's also the new set of contestants who have their stories to share.
However, the producers hinted they could be looking at returning to some of the destinations they have previously visited for future series.
Curtis said: "We haven't actually made really any significant changes to the format of the show itself, just because filming in brand new locations every year makes it feel fresh. We always say that every time we film it, it films feels like a first series all over again because we're filming in a brand new part of the world.
"Brand new challenges, brand new excitements and also the contributors there's unlimited stories to tell. We're casting at the moment and we've had this wish list of people that we're looking for. And all these people have come through that are nothing like the people on our wish list but are completely new in different ways.
"And it just makes you think it you know it's sort of unlimited really the stories we could keep on telling and we've got other ideas which I'm probably not allowed to say about about how we can go back to places we've already been but do them in a kind of different way."
RATW series one: London to Singapore
RATW series two: Mexico City to Ushuaia, Argentina
RATW series three: Vancouver to St John's, Newfoundland in Canada
Celebrity series one: Marrakech, Morocco to Tromso, Norway
RATW series four: Sapporo, Japan to Lombok, Indonesia
Celebrity series two: Belem, Brazil to Frutillar, Chile
RATW series five: Great Wall of China to India
Race Across the World: The Reunion is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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