Latest news with #TomBridge
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I won Race Across The World but hid a secret struggle from the cameras
Race Across The World came to a tense conclusion earlier this week. The BBC reality competition show, which started in 2019, sees five pairs of contestants undertake a cross-continental race - without smartphones, credit cards, the internet or air travel. The fifth series saw the travellers take on an almost 9,000-mile route from the Great Wall Of China, through Nepal, to the southern tip of India, with a budget of just over £1,000 per person. And its winners were mother and son duo Caroline and Tom Bridge, 61 and 21, who narrowly claimed victory - with sisters Elizabeth and Letitia only 19 minutes behind them. The pair, who took home the £20,000 prize, have now spoken out about the secret battles their epic 51-day journey helped them overcome. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Caroline and Tom spoke extensively on the show about the mother claiming - and her son accepting - her identity beyond being a housewife and parent. But she told Metro she had been facing another challenge behind the scenes too: 'We'd just downsized the house which I really struggled with. 'I didn't have a horse anymore and we had our dog put down. 'Tom was becoming more independent and I thought, "I don't know what life is going to offer me now". 'Luckily, Race Across The World came at the right time.' She took the loss of her horse so hard because it has emerged since her time on the show that Caroline is a successful eventer. The Race Across The World winner loves to take part in the equestrian event, which sees competitors take on dressage, cross-country and show jumping. Just before appearing on the show, which was filmed at the end of last year, she won all three events in British Eventing's grassroots BE80 league. And since finishing the BBC competition show, she got her horse back and made a successful return to the sport: 'I have a much more positive attitude now. 'I still spend a lot of time outside with my animals but I'm not as frightened of being lonely.' In fact, her return to horse riding has been so effective and positive that she has already topped the British Eventing BE90 March/April OBP league. Caroline told The Horse and Hound in May riding prepared her well for the TV show: 'Eventing has got a little bit of the challenge of Race Across the World because you have to be prepared, fit, determined and have an aim in mind... 'Horsey people are generally quite grounded and extremely tough. 'You can put up with being dirty and grubby and you just get on with it and that really helped because dignity goes out the window very, very quickly. 'You don't mind getting your hands dirty in both senses of the word. 'And I was quite fit, which was probably the biggest help for me in the long run.' But some viewers of the BBC programme, upon discovering her sporting career, questioned why it was not mentioned during the series. One said on discussion site Reddit: 'I'm not dismissing her feelings about being her role in life. 'But her whole "I'm just a stay-at-home mum who has never done anything in my life" attitude rubs a bit thin when you take her sporting career in to account. 'She's not just an amateur - she has been doing it for 25 years i.e. all the time she was running a house.' Another added: 'I don't like how Caroline is making out she is just some poor housewife who has never had a life when actually, she is a very successful eventer. 'She is making out that she hasn't done anything for herself since getting married. This is simply not true.' Someone else said: 'Caroline is successful in eventing which, to me, makes her sob story seem a little disingenuous and designed to counter their obvious privilege. 'They definitely have grown over the course of the series and become more likeable. 'I don't think the producers really needed to work as hard on it as they might have thought.' But other commenters defended her: 'I think that's more of an age thing and your children getting older. 'My mum kept going on about having lost her purpose and confidence when I went to uni... even though she had a very successful career. 'She's just retired and is saying the same thing now she's not working.' Another added: 'Oh for goodness' sake, it's the lowest level of eventing you could possibly do... 'She has a horse (not a crime, last time I looked) and she does a bit of very low entry-level eventing. As a hobby, not a profession... 'She's stayed home and looked after her children and husband. And now she is wanting to do a little bit for herself before it's too late. 'Have an adventure... what's wrong with that?' And it clearly worked - as they signed the coveted check-in book, Caroline said, through tears: 'We must never doubt ourselves, ever, ever, ever again.' Caroline has also since confessed how hard it has been to keep their win a secret from all their family and friends. They had to lie and say they had been visiting Tom's godfather in Australia and doing some travelling around the country. But both of them have never been there - leaving them quickly brushing off any family or friends who tried to ask anything more about it. Months after their life-changing trip, they still have not received the prize money - and even with all that time, they remain not quite sure how they will spend it. Caroline plans, sensibly, to put it in a premium bond until she decides - while Tom thinks he may well go to do more travelling. In the meantime, Tom has set up a new business endeavour with a friend the pair met on their travels. While in India, they stayed with a man named Mr Chhotaram and his family, who have a rug-making business. But Tom and Caroline know they are not going to stop travelling any time soon - with a trip to Kazakhstan in the works The mother and son had a go at it themselves, eventually buying and shipping their creation to the UK - and all Tom's friends have been admiring it. And ever since their interest, Tom has been importing Mr Chhotaram's rugs to the UK, selling them on his behalf and sending the money back to him. The business partners have imported ten so far, with a pop-up shop and a website both in the works. And Tom and Caroline are not going to stop travelling any time soon - with a trip to Kazakhstan in the works. She smiled: 'We're not going to do any research, just [fly] by the seat of our pants and just be impulsive, speak to locals and find out what's good to do.' Race Across The World is available to watch on BBC Two and to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Race Across the World winners: ‘We didn't realise people might judge us for being posh'
It's been an epic journey over some of the most spectacular landscapes on earth. The contestants have raced 8,760 miles across Asia, from the Great Wall in northeastern China to the southernmost tip of India, via the Himalayan peaks of Nepal. They've taken bullet trains, boats and bus journeys over vertiginous mountain passes; they've hot-footed it through back streets to find 'chakkdu' motorbike taxis. And now after eight weeks, the fifth series of BBC One's Race Across the World has its winners, mother and son team Caroline Bridge and her 21-year-old son Tom. It's quite the turnaround; they finished the first leg a country mile behind the leaders, with elimination looming. The pressures of the race told almost immediately as Tom broke down in tears after they'd spent 24 hours trying to arrange transport out of Beijing and got nowhere. 'It's never really happened to me before,' he tells me when I catch up with them the morning after the finale. 'When I had a little cry because we couldn't get our tickets… that never happens. Normally, if I can't get a ticket, I'll find another way around it.' He wasn't the only one affected, though. 'The lowest point for me was, I think, when we came into the first checkpoint,' Caroline says. 'Because I'd been running with the rucksack on my back, going, 'Come on, Thomas, every second counts.' And of course, when we got there, we were over a day behind. So it all seemed so pointless. I put my rucksack down and I absolutely wept. But it possibly was the making of us as well.' 'I think it's what we needed,' Tom agrees. 'If we'd started well, we would have thought, 'Oh, we're good at this. We're fine.' It was tough, but good to have to say, 'You need to get your a--e in gear, because this obviously isn't working.'' They're back in the familiar countryside of Suffolk. Home is a converted barn in a small village near Bury St Edmunds. 'It's in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by green trees and a stream, a country lane, and fields,' Tom tells me. 'We've just downsized from a small farm,' Caroline adds. 'That was one of the other reasons to go on the race, because it had actually been a particularly bad year for us. I didn't have a horse any more, and I had to have my dog put down. It was the most opportune moment.' We got fleeting mentions of Caroline's husband and Tom's father, Christian Bridge, in the show. He is not a global backpacker by nature, it turns out. 'Dad is a bit more of a luxurious traveller, shall we say – like a cruise or going to Vegas,' Tom says. 'You'd never catch Dad with a backpack.' And Caroline has a horse again now. She's an amateur event rider, who has won several titles over the years, which may explain her strong competitive streak. 'I wanted to win as well as experience the race,' she admits. (It was Caroline who talked Tom into applying for the show.) At one point, she forced Tom to choose between a bus (the cheap option) and a taxi (for speed). He went for the taxi because he knew how much winning would mean to his mother. 'I'm very frugal and I wasn't going to spend the money,' she admits. He nods with recognition at the word 'frugal'. 'I wasn't allowed to eat. It was awful.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by BBC iPlayer (@bbciplayer) Of course, we've got to know all of the contestants well over the past eight weeks, and each duo has seen highs and lows. Retired business owner Brian and his elder brother Melvyn proved game for anything in their 60s, and will no doubt look back and laugh about the time that Brian got to work shovelling buffalo dung with his bare hands to earn extra travel money. Former spouses Yin and Gaz were eliminated early, but surely won't forget the experience of digging for lotus roots in flooded fields. Sisters Letitia and Elizabeth explored the Taj Mahal and went to an Indian wedding. Teenagers Fin and Sioned swapped life in a tiny Welsh village for a sometimes overwhelming introduction to the wider world – but found peace in a detour to a national park before being engulfed by the clamour of the subcontinent. We also witnessed Tom gain in confidence and resilience as the series unfolded. He had been expelled from school, we learnt, for smoking cannabis. 'It made me kind of feel like I was never really going to amount to much,' he says, 'because I think you're always taught at a young age that to do well in life, you have to go to school, then you do A-levels, then you go to uni, and then you get a job. Travelling has helped me realise that, especially, in today's world, you don't need any of that. If you're good with people, and you can chat to them and you're friendly, it can take you a long way.' Caroline, meanwhile, was surprised when she found herself opening up about how 20 years of being a stay-at-home mum had left her feeling. 'I didn't value myself at all,' she told Tom in a quiet moment, as the cameras rolled. 'Whilst I was useful at home and very loved, I felt I didn't have any value apart from that.' 'I felt like I was sort of fading away,' she tells me now. 'I knew Thomas would be moving out. And I just thought, 'Well, what is there for me?'' 'I didn't intend anything to come out like that,' she says. 'I'm quite a private person, and at my age, I'm not used to sharing on social media, but with the relentless travel and the tiredness and the trust you have in your crew, you just feel that it's time for it to come out. There's no mask to hide behind any more: you're dirty, you've got no make-up, there's no home comforts. And you think, 'I have nothing to hide. This how I feel. My son's here to support me, and it is the essence of me, and it is the truth.'' The show restored her self-belief, and a much more carefree woman emerged – one who whooped with glee as she leant out of a moving train near Mumbai. Tom also found himself talking openly about how cerebral palsy has affected what he can do with his right hand. 'I've had it all my life, and if there's something I can't do, I'll work around it or try and cover it up,' he says. 'I was a bit worried that it would kind of define me and I never wanted it to. And then in the race, there was a time where it became apparent…' On a home stay with an Indian family, he was expected to eat with his right hand, according to custom. 'I couldn't really cover it up, so I had to explain it.' In that moment, he admits, 'I didn't really enjoy talking about it.' But later in the series, he says, when he got work with a carpet weaver, he found himself volunteering the information for the first time and, seeing how simply it was accepted, changed his feelings about it. 'I'd built up this wall in my own head,' he says. 'Now I've had so many messages from people who have similar things, and they found it really helpful, and knowing that I've done that just by talking about it makes you feel so much better. I'm not really shy about it any more.' One message from a family friend saying how much it had helped even made him cry. 'I think everyone needs to just start sharing stuff, because it takes such a weight off your shoulders.' He's even investing some of his winnings in a small business with a friend – selling hand-woven rugs from that very workshop. Caroline bought him the one that he'd worked on in the show for his 22 nd birthday. She is 61. In some ways, they're not the type of contestants we're used to seeing on BBC reality shows these days… too 'privileged' by half… did they worry that viewers might turn against them for being 'posh'? 'I wasn't, and I didn't realise I would be viewed that way,' Caroline says, 'because being judged by how you speak is no better or worse than being judged by how you look or your colour or your height or anything else. But actually, you are a subject to prejudice because of that, and you're put in a box, which is a shame. I can't change it, and I'm not embarrassed by it, as it's me.' 'I thought that that was going to be the case, just because I know that's what social media is like,' Tom admits. 'And I was just hoping that people would look a bit deeper and see that we are just exactly the same as anybody else.' In fact, all the contestants have become firm friends since the series ended. 'We're meeting up again shortly, they are the loveliest people,' Caroline says. Even the camera crew who travelled with them have stayed in touch. 'There are times where you just think, 'Oh, for goodness sake, why is this camera in my face right now?'' confesses Tom. 'But it's all part of the fun. And we got this experience of a lifetime, so it's all worth it.'
BBC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Race Across the World: Caroline and Tom planning further travels
Warning: This article reveals the winners of Race Across the World. A mother and son who appeared on Race Across the World together have revealed they are saving up to go on more adventures BBC One show saw five pairs of contestants race a distance of about 8,700 miles (14,000km) between the Great Wall of China, north of Beijing, and Kanniyakumari, the southernmost tip of India. Caroline and Tom Bridge, from Hargrave, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, were first to cross the finish line after 51 days of the morning after the final was aired, Ms Bridge said: "It has brought us closer, we now try and have a bit more time for each other." The 60-year-old, who had not been travelling before, said it had been "amazing" to relive the experience by watching the series air, but the trip itself "took its toll". "You're so tired, so dirty, so hungry and you really feel like you've got nothing left in the tank but you just have to keep plodding on so it really was amazing," she victory came despite having a slow start to the race, finishing the first leg in last place."We were a day and a half [behind], we couldn't believe how slow we were," Ms Bridge said."We got stuck in Beijing. From the very first out we were so behind we had to dig deep."We went from fifth back to first." Ms Bridge said the experience had strengthened the relationship between mother and son."We now try and have a bit more time for each other," she said. "We actually make time to stop and enjoy the simple things together and we are hoping to go travelling again."While the pair's next adventure is still in the planning process, they know for sure that this time they will have a mobile phone, something which is prohibited on the show."Tom is back working and we are hoping to save up and plan to go to Kazakhstan with rucksacks but obviously with a phone this time and see what takes our fancy."It will just be the two of us because we like to walk and be impulsive and we don't mind roughing it." While Ms Bridge spoke to BBC Radio Suffolk about the pair's win, son Tom opted for a lie-in. However, upon reaching the finish line, the 21-year-old said he had "never been prouder" of his said: "It's a pretty good feeling. I am lost for words I can't believe it."Fifty-one days racing through countries that I never thought I'd go to, I never thought we'd come this far, I never thought we'd achieve so much and I've never been prouder of my mum - she got me through it." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Race Across The World winners cross the finish line in final leg
Warning: This article reveals the winners of Race Across the World. Mother and son Caroline and Tom Bridge have crossed the finish line first to become the winners of the fifth series of Race Across The BBC One show saw five pairs race a distance of about 8,700 miles (14,000km) between the Great Wall of China, north of Bejing, and Kanniyakumari, the southernmost tip of said: "We must never doubt ourselves again, ever, ever, ever.""It's a really good feeling. I'm lost for words. I can't believe it: 51 days racing through countries that I never thought I'd go to, and never thought we'd come this far, and never thought we'd achieve so much. And I've never been prouder of my mum," said winning duo will share a cash prize of £20,000. Teams had to pass seven checkpoints in China, Nepal and India on their route to the finish usual, all pairs were banned from travelling by air, and instead were given a budget of £1140 per person for the journey - the cost of a one-way plane could not use their smart phones or bank cards while seeking out their own transport, food and to ratings body Barb, just under 6 million viewers per episode have been tuning in or catching up on iPlayer within a seven day means the series was the most watched programme in the UK across all channels and streaming platforms during each week it aired, with the exception of the week Eurovision was broadcast. The mother and son duo thought the show would be a unique opportunity to create treasured were from Hargrave near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, but only Tom, 21, had travelling experience as he had spent about 10 months in South America and the show Caroline, 60, opened up about how she felt she had, in recent years, lost her identity outside of being a mother and a her son found new confidence when he told strangers about his cerebral palsy for the first time. New episodes of a celebrity version are due sometime in 2025 or 2026, according to the BBC's annual show is produced for the BBC by Studio Lambert, who are also behind The Traitors, Squid Game, Gogglebox and Squid Game: The for the next series of Race Across The World are open until 6 July.
