Race Across The World returned to the BBC on Wednesday night with a brutal new rule.
In the fourth series, five teams travel 10,000 miles from Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands, to Lombok, an idyllic island paradise in Indonesia.
The BBC show has strict rules: teams of two are not allowed to fly between pit stops and stick to a tight budget of £1,390, the cost of the plane ticket.
In addition to traveling only by land or sea, they must also put down their smartphones and have no access to the Internet or bank cards.
But for the fourth series a new rule was introduced and a new means of transport was banned.
Race Across The World returned to the BBC on Wednesday night, with a brutal new rule (pictured the race’s youngest trainee driver Owen and football referee Alfie, from St Albans, both 20 years).
In the opening minutes of the first episode the teams were told that they are not allowed to travel on Japan’s famous Shinkansen bullet trains.
Viewers laughed at the rule, joking that it was “wild”, while another noted: “haha, that Shinkansen is off limits for this length of Japan because otherwise this episode would have been over in ten minutes.”
For the fourth series, five teams compete to reach the Lombok finish line first and win £20,000.
The new teams include the race’s youngest competitors: trainee driver Owen and football referee Alfie from St Albans, both aged 20.
Retired couple Stephen, 61, and Viv, 65, from Rutland, are this year’s oldest runners and embark on a quest for one last adventure, after suffering a stroke and heart attack between them, before “dribbling into old age.”
For the first time on the show there are two mother-daughter pairs, including Isabel, a trainee clinical scientist, and her mother Eugenie, a teacher.
Sharon, 52, a cleaner from Kent, and her daughter Brydie, 25, a snowboard instructor, are also in the running for the award.
The competitors are siblings Betty, 25, and James, 21. Betty has traveled a lot, but her brother is more used to spending holidays in Magaluf with the boys.
In the fourth series, five teams will compete from Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands, to Lombok, an idyllic island paradise in Indonesia.
A new rule has been introduced for the fourth series and a new means of transportation has been banned: Shinkansen bullet trains.
Viewers laughed at the rule, joking that it was “wild”, while another noted: “haha, that Shinkansen is off limits for this length of Japan because otherwise this episode would have been over in ten minutes.”
Retired couple Stephen, 61, and Viv, 65, from Rutland, are this year’s oldest runners as they embark on a quest for one last exciting adventure before they “hit old age”.
For the first time on the show there are two mother-daughter pairs, including Isabel, a clinical scientist in training, and her mother Eugenie, a teacher.
Sharon, 52, a cleaner from Kent, and her daughter Brydie, 25, a snowboard instructor, are also in the running for the award.
The competitors are siblings Betty, 25, and James, 21. Betty has traveled a lot, but her brother is more used to spending holidays in Magaluf with the boys.
Race Across The World has previously seen teams race from London to Singapore, across Canada and from Mexico City to Argentina.
Last year, a series of celebrities saw weather presenter Alex Beresford and his father Noel win the race from Marrakech, Morocco to Tromsø, Norway.
GMB star beats Racing driver Billy Monger, star of McFly Harry Judd and All Saints singer Melanie Blatt in the first celebrity series.