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Uppingham couple Stephen & Viv have been reliving memories of their once-in-a-lifetime trip across the world as participants in the recent BBC 1 series of the same name. The programme reached its conclusion as Pride went to press, so we\u2019ve been sworn to secrecy as to the winners, but you can join the couple on their epic 15,000km journey on the BBC\u2019s iPlayer to find out why, sometimes, it\u2019s better to travel than to arrive<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ufeff\u201cShall we?\u201d two little words spoken in May 2023 which would prove to have really significant consequences. Uppingham couple Stephen and Viv returned to Britain in autumn last year after going on a trip… but this was no ordinary holiday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As avid viewers of the first three series of BBC 1\u2019s Race Across the World, the couple found themselves completing an application to appear on series four of the programme, which sees five pairs of competitors putting the old adage that \u2018it\u2019s better to travel than to arrive\u2019 to the ultimate test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen is from Liverpool and Viv is from London. The couple met in 2005 whilst working at Uppingham Community College and between them, they\u2019ve seven children. After Stephen experienced a heart attack and Viv a stroke in 2011, the two created a \u2018bucket list\u2019 and reckon they\u2019ve ticked off most of the experiences they shortlisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neither, though, reckoned on venturing on an epic trip covering 15,000km (9,300 miles), over 50 days, competing against four other couples, to complete each leg of their journey first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019d been on holidays, but we hadn\u2019t \u2018travelled,\u2019\u201d says Stephen. \u201cThe most adventurous journey we\u2019d been on was to China to see our daughter who lived out there in Wuhan province, but these were organised and well-planned, conventional trips. Apart from a road trip around Europe \u2013 again, well-planned \u2013 that was our experience of travel; remaining on the beaten track.\u201d Stephen is fluent in German and French, teaching those languages at UCC, adds Viv. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo there was a degree of security in being able to communicate and plan our trips properly\u2026 but our recent experience was something quite different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe both loved the previous three series of the programme, with their spectacular scenery and that sense of adventure, as well as the competitive dimension. A message came up on the screen at the end of one of the closing episodes and invited entries for the next series and after the \u2018shall we?\u2019 conversation, we applied, and soon found ourselves submitting a video clip and speaking over Zoom to the producers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The series was filmed from September 2023, taking eight weeks to make. Race Across the World, for the uninitiated, sees teams embarking upon a journey with a deliberately tight budget of just \u00a31,390 per person (the equivalent air fare of travelling the race route). The overall route is divided up into eight legs, each designed to be around four or five days in duration with mandated rest periods of a day or two in between… the first couple to reach the finish line will win a prize of \u00a320,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The locations vary from series to series, and remain a secret right up until the moment the teams meet one another and set off. In Stephen and Viv\u2019s case, they travelled to Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido in Japan, arriving at the Gokuru shrine and handing over their credit cards and mobile phones, collecting their budgeted cash and then making their way to Odori park where they met their fellow contestants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe became very close to the other teams and we wouldn\u2019t hear a bad word said against any of them,\u201d says Stephen. \u201cIt was competitive, but also a shared experience so there was a great sense of camaraderie between us. You see people at their best but also at their most exhausted. We\u2019ve a WhatsApp group and still keep in touch. There\u2019s also a reunion planned not just for our series, but for all of the participants across all four series, so that\u2019s something we\u2019re really looking forward to!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 2pm a claxon sounded and the teams each separated, having received their first checkpoint destination, Nara, capital city of the prefecture of the same name. Soon each team was finding how to overcome language barriers, how to live on a modest budget, and why keeping hold of a map is important. Really important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe play a lot of sports together, we\u2019re competitive and we never argue,\u201d says Viv. \u201cWe thought \u2018yea, we can do this,\u2019 but the challenges and the pressure were always present. As well as a sense of competition and time pressures, there\u2019s so much going on, all the time. You\u2019re on a constant state of heightened alert; you\u2019re tired, looking for any clues and any information that can help you. But you\u2019re emotionally exhausted, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA team accompanies you all the time and you\u2019re equipped with microphones, with cameras constantly trained on you. They\u2019re lovely people and we liked them, but they\u2019re professionals \u2013 there to observe, not influence \u2013 so if you were about to make a huge mistake, they\u2019ll let you, and film the consequences!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes you end up reeling from overload, exhausted, with a lack of sleep and food taking its toll \u2013 we both returned having lost weight \u2013 but it\u2019s an uplifting experience despite the adversity, and we felt privileged to be a part of the whole experience. The producers and crew were all supportive and positive. And when you reach the mandated checkpoint breaks, the chance to reflect and to see the other participants is really welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe conditions have to be challenging \u2013 that\u2019s what makes it a competition, after all \u2013 but in the toughest conditions, you also see the best of each other, you work together and pull together, and you also appreciate gestures of support and kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are so many experiences we\u2019ve had on the journey, and we\u2019ve found that generally people are so willing to help, even if you\u2019re a stranger. In Japan, where we started, people are so polite and so humble, and in other countries we\u2019ve found that even those who are poor, relatively speaking for someone who lives in the Western world, are willing to share what they have with you and to support you, which is really uplifting, it validates your faith in mankind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSupplementing the budget we were working to, we were allowed to undertake paid-for work throughout the series, often working for bed and board. Doing so is much more personal than staying in a hotel and you find yourself really getting to know the whole family, finding out about their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are four people in particular we\u2019re intending to keep in touch with, people we were really grateful to see, people who were prepared to help us along the way with acts of kindness, giving us lifts or paying for hotel accommodation for us. We also discovered jobs that we didn\u2019t realise existed, duck herding for example (8,000 of the creatures!), harvesting wasabi and picking coffee beans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe eventual programme is an authentic reflection of the whole experience too, not faked or engineered,\u201d say the couple. \u201cBefore the journey began, we wondered if we\u2019d be a little bit coached by the producers, but absolutely not. You\u2019re given a world map, which folds out quite large, so the area that you\u2019re looking at is not at all detailed, it covers less than an A4-sized sheet of paper for the whole 15,000km journey. Japan was just a couple of inches in size on the map and we had to make our way from Hokkaido to Nara using just that, then on to the Hakata ferry port in the Fukouka prefecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou really do just get an envelope and then you sit down for half an hour and try to figure out what you need to do. Often a bus station and train station will be on opposite sides of town too, and if your connection isn\u2019t for another six hours, say, you\u2019ve just got wait it out. In some locations there was just a man or a woman at the side of the road sitting at a fold-out table, and your fate is in the hands of someone who phones someone they know, who phones someone they know, and they may or may not pop over shortly, which is frustrating given that it\u2019s, ultimately, a race!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A couple of the most memorable moments of the series include Viv opening up about her stroke whilst embarking on a visit to see pink dolphins in Thailand, and fellow participant, 20-year old Alfie, lighting a lantern for his late mother in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As uplifting as the experience was for the participants, it\u2019s also an uplifting series for the viewer. The camera operators following the teams around captured a whole series of bright, colourful and beautiful images with spectacular scenery, dramatic aerial shots and time-lapse photography, recording the teams\u2019 journey from crowded urban environments into some off-the-beaten-track rural places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modern camera kit and the expertise of the crew reinvent the traditional travelogue genre in absolutely gorgeous, high-definition, visually stunning form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone medically-trained was on each team and GPS trackers were given to the participants as they set off, ensuring the producers could ensure their safety but also send messages giving clues as to exactly where the next checkpoint was located as each one was approached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along the way the couple had their backpacks, and from an initial weight of 20kg, the couple both managed to slim their packs down to 11kg. Some of the competitors were much younger and the couple reasoned that in lieu of being able to jog around cities for hours, being canny when planning their route and travelling light was prudent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unaware of where in the world they\u2019d be heading to, they\u2019d packed for all eventualities, with thermal underwear quickly ditched in favour of insect repellent and sunscreen among other essentials like head torches, padlocks and shampoo bars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The couple even went as far as cutting out the labels from their clothes, shedding every bit of excess weight. There was little protection, though, from the 3pm monsoons which would frequently drench the participants in six inches of rain, leaving them with soggy rucksacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the checkpoints, the participants all checked into hotels, and could have all of their clothes laundered, ready for the following day, but they were still isolated from their families and friends for the duration of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was the hardest thing for us, really,\u201d the adventurers say. \u201cWe\u2019re sociable people, we love to talk, but we were under a strict embargo not to talk about our appearance on the series before the official announcement of the participants was made public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe made the excuse that we were seeing our daughter in China. We\u2019re members of Oakham Tennis Club and on our return our friends were all interested in where we\u2019d been. We had to lie which felt awful, and we found ourselves staying away from people so we didn\u2019t have to answer any questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur children were allowed to know we were participating in the programme but they didn\u2019t know where we were, and of course we didn\u2019t know where we were going next, either!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThailand was our very favourite place thanks to the coastal scenery and the wonderful people. We\u2019d go back there, but actually as much as the experience has left us keen to return to those places, it\u2019s made us more aware that there are places we haven\u2019t been, off the beaten track with those once in a lifetime opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve arranged to travel through Canada in an RV for a month, as we\u2019ve never been there. But nor have we been to Australia, New Zealand and any one of thousands of other places. We have a lovely life together and we\u2019re used to spending time together, so we\u2019re looking forward to travelling much more, off the beaten track, to see as much of the world as we can!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The whole of series four of Race Across the World featuring Stephen and Viv is now available to watch in BBC iPlayer (www.bbc.co.uk). As Pride goes to press the winning team is still a closely-guarded secret, but we\u2019re looking forward to finding out how far the couple get through the process! The series is produced by Studio Lambert.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n