Lily Waddell
·Entertainment News Editor
Updated ·5-min read
Celebrity Race Across the World’s 2024 stars have been watching back old series in a bid to win the show.
There has been one series of Celebrity Race Across the World before 2024, and four instalments of Race Across the World. So this year’s contestants admitted they have done their homework to see if they can get an upper hand on their competitors.
In a series of interviews before filming Kelly Brook and her husband Jeremy Parisi, Kola Bokinni and his cousin Mary Ellen, Scott Mills and his then-fiancé Sam Vaughan as well as father and son duo Jeff and Freddy Brazier have revealed the things they have learned from previous series.
Jeff Brazier was convinced watching helped them identify what contestants got right and crucially — got wrong too. He said: "I've watched most of them. Because I love the show for starters but also for research I guess and it's really interesting to see where people seem to get it right and where some people seem to get it wrong, but it also can be quite exposing on the relationships that we're watching as well."
We take a look at what the stars have picked up from the previous series...
Don’t get cabs
At 19 years old, Freddy Brazier is the youngest in the competition but he was convinced he knew the one thing they needed to steer away from: taxis. Past contestants have splashed out lots of taxis when they are in desperate need to get back in the race. In the Canada series of Race Across the World, father and daughter Kevin and Claudia ran out of money after they kept getting taxis everywhere. Freddy wants to make sure they don’t make this mistake when it comes to the race.
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Freddy said. "[My tip] is don’t get cabs unless it’s really, really needed. If you can afford to stay overnight and get the first transport to the next stop, fine but I've seen it too many times where people just rush to get a taxi, and then not have much of their budget left."
Jeff said they need to keep their cool in the chaos of the race. He added: "I think people worry themselves so much that they're falling so far behind that they'll be eliminated or something like that. So, I think it's just keeping calm and being like we don't need to go to that expense, that's a bit knee-jerk. Let's just sort of chill out and just take a hit."
Don’t lose the money
In the last series of Race Across the World, James was robbed of his money belt in Cambodia sparking worries they could be out of the competition early on. Luckily, they were able to recover his passport. His sister Betty would then lose both their passports by leaving them on a bus but luckily the siblings recovered them. In the second series of Race Across the World, Shuntelle and Michael bowed out after losing half of their money in leg two.
DJ Scott Mills and his fiancé Sam Vaughan were sure this was the biggest thing to takeaway from the previous series. Vaughan said: "I think one of the biggest things we've taken from [watching the show] is don't lose your money. Because if you lose your money, you're out. If we decide to get a taxi and it costs us 10% of our budget, at least we can work that back a little bit. If you lose your money, it’s game over."
Be yourself in front of the cameras
Ted Lasso star Kola Bokinni said one of the important things he had learned from watching previous series was the importance of being your true self.
He said: "Just be yourself. Because at the end of the day, human nature is to make mistakes. And if you go left when you should have gone right, that’s it, isn’t it? Don’t punish yourself because you’ve lost half an hour."
Balance of the race
One of the big things the contestants talk about is learning to balance the race with experiencing the wonderful things along the way. BBC radio star Scott Mills said they need to make sure they get the balance right while filming the show.
He said: "I know it's a race but I think you also have to take a bit of time, not too much, but a bit of time to realise where you are and take it in. Not to the point where you've taken yourself out of the race.
"But I mean, just to be like, we're never going to get to do this again, this is part of the experience. I also think you should probably work when you can, is what I've taken from it.”
Importance of teamwork
Teamwork plays a big part in the BBC show and this is something that Vaughan hopes viewers will see in his relationship with Mills.
Vaughan added: "I also just think from the last series the relationship between Harry (Judd) and his mum was just really heart-warming. How they worked together, how they bounced off each other and how they helped each other get through each different bit, each of them struggled at different points.
"Looking back at that, I want people to go away and go, Sam and Scott have got that nice relationship where they help each other and just kind of get on."
Celebrity Race Across the World returns to BBC One for series two on 14 August at 9pm.
