After a wild journey across China, Race Across the World is heating up, and next week, one team will sadly leave the competition for good.
As it has been in previous years, the last pair to reach the next checkpoint will be eliminated. If you tuned in earlier this week, you’ll know that some turbulent weather conditions caused chaos for the second checkpoint, which could spark trouble for those left behind.
The BBC, of course, hasn’t revealed who will be getting the chop – we’ll only know for sure when episode three airs next Wednesday, 7 May. However, I’ve found three very clear signs that seem to indicate which contestants won’t be moving forward.
Typhoon trouble
Three teams made it to checkpoint two in Sanya. They are sisters Elizabeth and Letitia, who managed to maintain their lead. Brothers Brian and Melvyn, who jumped into second place from fourth. And finally, the young couple, Fin and Sioned.
Two pairs were still in the race for the second leg. That’s mother and son, Caroline and Tom, and formerly married couple, Gaz and Yin. Sadly, the latter team are in a much worse position than the former.
BBC/Studio Lambert
Caroline and Tom made it to the island of Hainan, so they’ve crossed the ocean and just need to find a bed for the night before heading out as soon as it’s safe to do so, which could be very early in the morning. Gaz and Yin, however, are trapped on the mainland, with no sign of when the ferry will go.
Unless Caroline and Tom can’t find transportation on the island, it seems unlikely that Gaz and Yin will be able to catch up – and there will be a huge gap between them and the first-place finishers.
It’s a true shame, as the weather is beyond their control and the other teams just about managed to cross the sea in time, but that is the brutality of Race Across the World.
The trailers tell all
If you watch the trailer from the end of episode 1 on BBC iPlayer, you’ll see clips from Nepal and India. In the footage, there’s one couple not obviously in either of these countries.
Yep, that’s Yin and Gaz.
We can see Brian and Melvin playing cricket in what looks like India, Caroline having a Bhindi applied and saying “look at this place” with a shot of Jaipur, Rajasthan (though admittedly, the latter could be a shot from another couple).
Elizabeth and Letitia are on a bus tour – I used Google Lens on the bus in front, and this appears to be in Nepal, which is not until checkpoint four – so after next week’s episode, which according to the route shown in episode one, seems to keep the teams within China.
Fin and Sioned meanwhile are shown in the first trailer sat by a road, which has the sign ‘Bithoor’, a town in India.
The only new shot we see of Gaz and Yin from the end of the first episode trailer is them running across a bridge, and they seem to be wet… perhaps from the rain of the typhoon?
So, unless the editors are using some clever tricks to mislead us, it seems likely that Gaz and Yin won’t make it past checkpoint three.
Their backstory has already been told
Some of the pairings, like Brian and Melvyn, haven’t fully delved into some of the most emotional parts of their backstory – their driving force for coming on Race Across the World in the first place.
BBC/Studio Lambert
But Yin and Gaz did, in episode two. They discussed how their daughter, Autumn, saw it as one last adventure for her parents, and how this show was difficult for them as they’d be missing her birthday for the very first time.
As a divorced couple, it’s been very refreshing to see the pair reflect on their marriage while remaining close friends – a unique bond.
The producers like to spread out these emotional moments throughout the series, and it would make sense to put Yin and Gaz’s earlier on if they only have one episode remaining.
Race Across the World series 5 continues next Wednesday at 9pm BST on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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