Latest news with #KeziaWalker
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Race Across the World secrets revealed from axed US route to future location hints
Race Across the World (RATW) producers have been spilling the secrets from behind the scenes of the hit show. Wednesday marked the end of the RATW series with it's reunion episode. The five teams — winners Caroline and Tom, sisters Elizabeth and Letitia, brothers Melvyn and Brian, teen couple Sioned and Fin as well as ex married couple Yin and Gaz — reunited for the first time six months after the race. The journey took them from The Great Wall of China, through Nepal to the southern tip of India Kanyakumari. From sharing hints about future locations to revealing the route that was cancelled, Production Executive Kezia Walker and Producer Lucy Curtis from Studio Lambert revealed everything that happens during filming RATW on and off camera. The RATW masterclass was presented by Televisual and Sony at The Producers in a video shared on YouTube. Race Across the World nearly had an entirely different name, producers revealed. The idea was pitched as "Flightless" because the idea centres around the contestants not being able to catch planes between the destinations. It was only later in the development stage that it would get the great name "Race Across the World". A Race Across the World (RATW) route that travelled through parts of the US had to be axed because of visa issues, Studio Lambert producers have said. Series two was meant to start in bustling New York City but the contestants didn't get their visa applications back in time. The Studio Lambert team had to make last minute changes to the race route, just weeks before beginning filming. Curtis said: "We prefer it when things go wrong when we are filming because it can become the story. The frustrating thing is if it goes wrong three days before we're about to start our filming. "On series two... our route was meant to be New York to the Argentina, the southern most tip Ushuaia, and about three or four weeks before we were due to start filming, we found out we weren't going to get our US visas in time. "So we had to pivot and set up a whole new launch in Mexico City. With three weeks to go. It ended up being a brilliant launch and loved doing it there." Leg 1 - Mexico City, Mexico to Copán Ruinas, Honduras Leg 2 - Copán Ruinas, Honduras to Panama City, Panama Leg 3 - Panama City, Panama to Tatacoa Desert, Colombia (flight to Jaén Airport) Leg 4 - Jaén, Peru to Puno, Peru Leg 5 - Puno, Peru to Cafayate, Argentina Leg 6 - Cafayate, Argentina to Ilha Grande, Brazil Leg 7 - Ilha Grande, Brazil to Mendoza, Argentina Leg 8 - Mendoza, Argentina to Ushuaia, Argentina The TV producers want things to go wrong during the race. In the 2025 series, viewers were outraged when Yin and Gaz and Caroline and Tom were stranded by the typhoon in China. The producers said disasters are part of the storytelling of race. Walker said: "The things that you think are going to be a problem actually like says that's where the story often comes from." In fact, in series one a huge problem from the recce also became a disaster on the race that played out on-screen. Curtis shared: "In series one our assistant producer who's doing it had to cross the Caspian Sea between Azabaijan and Kazakhstan. And there's no passenger ferries. There's freight ferries that go kind of once every 28 days or something. And on the ferry it broke down and he was stuck there for three days. And we asked him to do video diaries and his video diaries came through and they were just gold. "And we just knew this was going to be this he was sort of going slightly stir crazy in this cabin with Kazakhstani truck drivers. And then the same thing happened on the shoot. The ferry broke down again when we were filming." Sharing the secrets, one of the producers also hinted at possible routes for the future series. They said that there hadn't been any significant changes to the format because new locations and routes made the series feel fresh. Then there's also the new set of contestants who have their stories to share. However, the producers hinted they could be looking at returning to some of the destinations they have previously visited for future series. Curtis said: "We haven't actually made really any significant changes to the format of the show itself, just because filming in brand new locations every year makes it feel fresh. We always say that every time we film it, it films feels like a first series all over again because we're filming in a brand new part of the world. "Brand new challenges, brand new excitements and also the contributors there's unlimited stories to tell. We're casting at the moment and we've had this wish list of people that we're looking for. And all these people have come through that are nothing like the people on our wish list but are completely new in different ways. "And it just makes you think it you know it's sort of unlimited really the stories we could keep on telling and we've got other ideas which I'm probably not allowed to say about about how we can go back to places we've already been but do them in a kind of different way." RATW series one: London to Singapore RATW series two: Mexico City to Ushuaia, Argentina RATW series three: Vancouver to St John's, Newfoundland in Canada Celebrity series one: Marrakech, Morocco to Tromso, Norway RATW series four: Sapporo, Japan to Lombok, Indonesia Celebrity series two: Belem, Brazil to Frutillar, Chile RATW series five: Great Wall of China to India Race Across the World: The Reunion is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The secrets to getting on Race Across the World as 100,000 people apply
The BBC's Race Across the World is one of the most popular shows on TV, and it seems to be one of the most transformational experiences that reality TV can offer, so it's not surprising that the producers get inundated with application to The show received 100,000 applications last year. From the slush pile, TV bosses have the tricky job of choosing the line-up for the travel show. It begs the question, just how is Race Across the World cast? And how easy is it to get on the show? Production executive Kezia Walker and producer Lucy Curtis from Studio Lambert, the company behind the show, have shared some insight into their process in a new masterclass — presented by Televisual and Sony at The Producers — shared on YouTube. Of course they have a wish-list (although the producers explained that the best stories are often the ones they didn't know they were looking for). "It's a travel show and I think people love — no doubt — they love seeing the locations and the you know beautiful GVs (general views) and the places we travel through but at the heart of it, it's about the people taking part," Curtis said. "It's a challenging casting job because the contributors have to sustain. It's eight episodes. The civilian version is eight episodes. I mean one of the things that I don't think anyone realised when they watch it, is quite how gruelling the process is to go through. It's a physical challenge and also a mental challenge as well." There is a special in-house casting and welfare team who work with the contributors from the very beginning of the show until way after they have left. These are some stand out qualities they are looking for when casting the Race Across the World series. Those hoping to take part in RATW must be "physically and mentally robust", the TV bosses explained. The application asks for a medical letter from their GP confirming their fitness. Also there is a tough audition where the participants must escape the Studio Lambert offices to a mystery location without their phones or credit cards. Talking in the masterclass, Curtis said: "So we have to make sure that the people who take part are really sort of physically and mentally robust. So that's a big part of the casting process. Everyone has to take part in what we call the escape challenge which is where they start from the Studio Lambert offices. "We give them a location in London, somewhere they won't have heard of and they have to get there without their phones or their credit cards. And then you sort of see the dynamic between the pairs unfold much more naturally when they've got a task to do." The casting crew are also looking for an interesting dynamic and relationship that will play out over the eight-week journey. Immediately former married couple Yin and Gaz, who are now best friends after the breakdown of their 30-something year marriage, will have caught the attention of casting bosses. Walker said: "You want that relationship you know? Something that often people can relate to whether it's siblings or parents or friends. It's something when you're watching as a viewer you relate to and making sure you've got a broad range of people from all sorts of backgrounds." She added: "We take them through the journey of the race, that you're learning something unusual ,or surprising about them that maybe on other TV shows, you don't have time to do that." Other than the relationship element, perhaps the most important part of the casting process is that the individual has a story to tell. The race element of filming is unpredictable. However, they can plan for the documentary style moments where the contributors share their life stories and experiences with viewers. "We've got these rich interesting stories to tell, and we can think about... we don't want to tell all their stories in episode one," Curtis said. "We don't want to lean into their backstories right at the top. We want to tell them slowly over eight episodes. So we can plan a little bit for for when those stories are going to come come out." The producer used the example of two stars from Race Across the World series four. "Alfie in series four who lost his mother when he was very young," she said. "We knew he was going to be going to Hoi An and in Hoi An they send these lanterns down, go on boat trips and send these lanterns down the river. So we knew that that might be — if he was comfortable doing it there — a really lovely place to tell the story about his mum." She added: "And then with Betty and James... Her story was that she suffered from this condition called MRKH which is she was born without a womb. And she was on just only comfortable talking about that with her brother in leg seven. "So episode seven, which is right at the end of the series. So it feels sort of quite different that we would be landing this huge story about her which is this huge thing to know about her right at the end of the series. But that was when she was able to talk about it with her brother — that was the honest and right time to tell it." The Race Across the World application asks if contestants have applied for other TV shows. The TV bosses don't want someone who is attracted to the bright lights of fame. Curtis explained: "And I think that's the thing with Race Across the World and and lots of other Studio Lambert shows is it's the type of people you might not usually see on television." Race Across the World: The Reunion airs at 9pm on BBC One on Wednesday.
