The racers keep their feet on the ground
Race Across the World BBC1, 9pm
IT’S not too hard to see why people want to sign up for the reality challenge Race Across the World.
If you’ve watched the previous series (or last week’s opening episode), then you’ll know that the teams can experience difficulties while trying to complete an epic journey without smartphones, internet access and bank cards. But it’s still a chance to see the world and experience other cultures, especially as this year, the aim is to travel 15,000 kilometres from northernmost Japan to in Lombok, an idyllic Indonesian island paradise, cross six seas and eight borders along the way.
For some of the younger contestants, it’s also a chance to experience early 2000s technology.
Best friends Owen (a trainee pilot) and Alfie (a football referee), who are both 20, admit that being without a smartphone has been a challenge.
They’ve both brought ipods along for the ride, and their journey is being soundtracked by Alfie’s uncle’s playlist.
Alfie explains: “Because we’ve got so used to just streaming, I kind of forgot that you can’t download stuff form a streaming website onto an ipod because you can’t prove you own it so it’s only stuff that’s been purchased.
“Luckily, my uncle was around when itunes first came out so he bought a lot of stuff. I just transferred his entire library onto my account and there’s just a lot going on there.”
Fortunately, it seems his uncle has good taste. Owen adds: “It’s a good variety at least. From the 90s till now, a bit of everything.”
If that doesn’t make you feel old, Owen says that the most unusual item he’s packed is a digital camera.
He says: “Obviously we don’t have our phones, so I’ve had to bring an actual camera with me. I want our own pictures, not just what they film, so we have stuff to refer back to.
“It’s just weird having to have an actual camera, not just having it on your phone on your pocket. It’s going to take a while to get used to, I guess.”
But they are hoping that being too young to remember buying music on itunes will also have its advantages.
Alfie says: “We’re both quite young so we’ve still got that drive in us, but we’ll see how that looks in week six with no sleep.”
Hopefully that determination is still present and correct in this second episode, as the teams head to Lombok – especially as less than five hours separate the pairs.
After leaving Nara City, they must cross their first border into South Korea to reach the second checkpoint in the seaside town of Sokcho.
It’s a leg of two halves, the first of which takes them through budgetbusting Japan and presents them with a dilemma about whether to go for speed or take the opportunity to earn some cash for the rest of their journey.
Then the second half will take them across the length of South Korea, as they get a chance to look beyond the Kimchi and K-pop and learn more about the country.