Race Across the World is back, and the bar has been raised considerably for its sixth series. Five new civilian pairs set off on a 12,000km journey from Palermo, Sicily to the remote shores of Lake Hövsgöl in northern Mongolia. No smartphones, no bank cards, no flights, just grit, a cash budget of less than £26 per person per day and eight countries to navigate by their wits alone.
Their route retraces sections of the ancient Silk Road, passing through Italy, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, east to west, across some of the world's most formidable terrain.
As someone who packs five pairs of shoes to cover every eventuality for a weekend away, I'm most worried about how they'll manage the kit situation: they'll be going from Mediterranean heat to subarctic temperatures of –20°C, with one backpack between them and nowhere to restock.
But the real draw of this show has never been the geography – it's the relationships. And this year's line-up is a gift. Childhood best friends Jo and Kush, both 19, are the youngest duo – still living at home with their mums and fresh out of school. Then there are siblings Katie and Harrison, a father and daughter pairing in Molly and Andrew, cousins Puja and Roshni, both in their early thirties, and Mark and Margo, a pair of in-laws I am already obsessed with, largely for Margo's quote: "I've been practising talking more quietly, because I've always had a loud voice, and it can be quite booming or quite jarring."
Ready, steady, go (and have an argument about whether to get a train or a bus).
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