What did you miss?
Race Across the World has crowned its winners, with Caroline and Tom beating sisters Letitia and Elizabeth by just 19 minutes.
The mum, 61, and son, 21, threw their arms around each other as they became the first to make it to the finish line in Kanniyakumari in India, after travelling over 14,000km through China, India and Nepal on a budget of around £1,000 a person. Tearful, Caroline admitted that she had felt like “a failure” at the start of the journey.
“We must never doubt ourselves again – ever ever ever!” she exclaimed as the pair realised they had won the race and the £20,000 prize.
What, how and why?
The last leg of the race aired on the BBC show on Wednesday, 11 June, with the contestants making their way from Panaji in India to Kanniyakumari, the southernmost tip of the country.
Caroline and Tom set off first, having won the previous leg, but came to a standstill as they waited for bus tickets. Brothers Melvyn and Brian were the last to set off from the previous checkpoint hotel, having arrived there last. They had previously vowed to pick up the pace, with Brian insisting: “We have moved from fourth to first before, and we will do it again.”
They decided “bombing it South” was the best strategy and they looked to be on track after a huge splurge when they splashed out £173.08 – almost 40% of the money they had left – on a taxi to get them as far along as possible.
However, Caroline and Tom managed to secure onward travel faster and made it to the final checkpoint at Vattakottai Fort first after a tense boat race and a foot race.
Caroline and Tom hugged as they won. (BBC screengrab)
They looked nervous as they turned the page of the checkpoint book to see that nobody else had written in it yet.
Gasping with excitement, they hugged, and Caroline, who has been candid about feeling as if she had no purpose beyond being a wife and mum, told her son: “I felt like such a failure to begin with. We must never doubt ourselves again – ever ever ever… Oh my God!”
“It’s a really good feeling,” said Tom. “I am lost for words, I can’t believe it.”
“I never thought we would come this far, I never thought we would achieve so much, and I have never been prouder of my mum. She got me through it.”
“Whilst I am standing here sweaty, smelly, exhausted, I am actually feeling on top of the world,” said Caroline. She added that it had been “glorious” for her “getting to know my son as a person, as a travelling companion”.
“We have discovered each other as people, and it’s as if the generations between us have disappeared and it has just been absolutely magical,” she said.
Tom, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child, added: “Throughout the race I have learned the confidence to not care about what people think and I have learned that from mum.”
Elizabeth and Letitia were second, with the sisters arriving at the final destination just 19 minutes after Caroline and Tom. Teen couple Fin and Sioned arrived shortly after them.
Letitia and Elizabeth were second on Race Across the World. (BBC)
What else happened on Race Across the World?
Brian and Melvyn had been fan favourites throughout the 51-day competition, as they opened up about their upbringing and about how they hadn’t seen much of each other in recent years. And they were tough competition for the other teams, arriving at more checkpoints first than anybody else.
Read more: Race Across the World
Elizabeth and Letitia won the first two legs, but the brothers beat everyone to Shangri-La in leg three, then were the first to Varanasi in India in the following leg. They were pipped to the post by Caroline and Tom when it came to the fifth checkpoint in McLeod Ganj.
Fin and Sioned were third to the last checkpoint. (BBC)
But they stepped things up and were the first team to make it to the hotel in Sasan Gir on leg six. Caroline and Tom overtook them in leg seven and made it to Panaji first.
The brothers looked disappointed as they discovered they had come in last, but noted that they were just three hours behind. “We have done very well actually,” said Melvyn.
The brothers were fourth. (BBC screengrab)
“Twelve thousand miles, three countries, a pair of old codgers… I think we have done well. No regrets. I am really pleased that we have done it together. Many times as a kid I was told I wasn’t good enough to do this or to do that, but you can do anything you want to do.”
“What we have done is we have got to know one another,” he went on. “We have rekindled a few lost memories, and we have made a few more.”
“We are brothers, so yes, we do love each other,” added Brian.
Race Across the World: The Reunion will air on BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday, 18 June.