We got to experience the kindness of strangers... it restores your faith in humanity

No phones, no money, no problems. We caught up with Race Across the World’s Emon and Jamiul Choudhury about their adventures travelling through South America. Warning: Contains spoilers.

We spoke to Race Across the World winners Emon and Jamiul

Few TV shows captured our lockdown imagination like series two of Race Across the World, which saw pairs compete to travel from Mexico City down to Ushuaia – but without access to phones or credit cards. We spoke to contestants Emon Choudhury and his nephew Jamiul about their experience.

Was the race what you expected?

Emon: I didn’t realise it would be as difficult as it was. The main thing for me is that we didn’t have our phones so we couldn’t communicate. The longest I have ever been away from my wife before this was a weekend away. But this was two months.

What was the most memorable view you saw?

Jamiul: Rainbow Mountain in Peru. The colours are beautiful. The trek up is hard but as soon as you get to the top, you can see all the other mountains. It was blistering cold, snow was pouring down, but you could still see

“The trek up Peru’s Rainbow Mountain’s hard – snow was pouring – but you could see all of the colours of the mountains"

all of the colours of the mountains all around you. Jamiul: Ilha Grande [Brazil], That was just like a little island paradise. It was truly beautiful.

During the show you chatted to – and relied on the kindness of – strangers for directions, lifts, food and work...

Jamiul: No matter who you are or what country you’re going to, the thing that everyone should do is speak to locals. It gives you great insight and it helps you to understand a different dynamic. Emon: [Locals] are the best people for information. They know the best route out or the best connections. At the end of the day, it’s their country, so I would say it was key for us [winning].

Is there a country that surprised you?

Emon: For me, it was Peru. All I’d really heard about Peru was Machu Picchu, but when you go there, you realise there are so many other things to do. We went to this small town called Huanchaco, which is just this little town full of surfers, from all around the globe, who were loving life.

Jamiul: One country that gets a bad rep is Brazil. It was phenomenal. You have to have your wits about you but the people we met were so kind to us – I can’t really describe how much that changed my view.

Is that why you donated your prize money to the children in São Paulo?

Emon: Definitely. It was at that point in São Paulo, when we came across the street kids, that we both decided that if we were to win, we’d donate at least half the money to these kids. At the end of the day, we were on an amazing trip, and you can’t put a price on that. We just felt we needed to give something back to a place that had given us so much. It’s made us friends for life, given us incredible stories to tell and the best thing about it for me was, you know when you go on holiday and you come back from holiday at the end and you tell your friends about what you did? This way, everyone can see our story – it’s on TV.

People are talking about it, and that’s key. When we say ‘poverty’, we don’t really think about poverty in South America.

Catch up with the whole series now on BBC Iplayer

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See you in Argentina Emon (left) with his nephew Jamiul take a break for a photo