Fame is not their game

RACE Around The World is a programme that I have a problem with. I don’t mean in terms of its content. No, content-wise, I’m a big fan. My problem is I’m forever getting its name wrong – as illustrated by the fact I’ve just done precisely that, albeit intentionally for once, its correct name being

RACE ACROSS THE WORLD (BBC1, 9pm).

Yes, “across”, not “around”. Why do I always struggle to remember that programme name?

It’s one of those mental blockages I just seem to suffer from now and again, a bit like certain spellings I can’t seem to nail, such as “accommodation”. (Good job I don’t write for a living, eh?)

For the record, I also have trouble remembering if I should spell Phillip Schofield’s first name with one L or two.

Although, come to think of it, I’ve not been called upon to do either much lately. Odd, that. Starting tonight, the fourth series of Race Across The World (hey, that’s twice I’ve got it right now, looks like I’m on a roll) sees five pairs of Brits undertake a journey of 1,600km, from Hokkaido, Japan’s most northerly island, to Nara, in its Honshu region.

Doesn’t sound too gruelling? That’s because Nara is just the first checkpoint.

Their ultimate goal is the Indonesian island of Lombok, 5,000km away. That’ll take weeks.

As before, each team has a budget equivalent to the air fare from their starting point to their destination.

This must pay for all their food, all their travel and – brace yourself, here goes – all their accomodation (oh, come on, I was close).

They could, you’d think, just use this to buy a plane ticket and save themselves a load of hassle, but that would be (a) against the rules, (b) quite tricky, as they’re stripped of their smartphones and bank cards, and (c) pretty pointless, as they wouldn’t be allowed the £20,000 prize money.

It would also mean they’d miss out on their 15 minutes of fame as competitors on this show.

But that, I’d imagine, would be the least of their worries, because Race Against The World (oh, dear – and I was doing so well…) never seems to attract particularly fame-hungry types.

Instead, it attracts people who genuinely seem to relish the challenge in its own right (OK, they probably wouldn’t say no to the money either), rather than the kind who would see it as a stepping stone to a stint on Celebrity Big Jungle or Real Housewives Made In Towie.

We begin with the teams handing over their belongings. In return, they’re each given their money, two GPS trackers and a map of the world.

Yes, the world.All of it. Handy, I guess, if they take a wrong turn just outside Belgium.