The four star-studded teams suffered all manner of travel trauma as they tried to get across Central America from Mexico to Columbia in the upcoming series of Celeb RATW
The latest batch of stars taking part in Celebrity Race Across the World struggled more than ever before as they travelled the undiscovered Caribbean and Pacific coast of Central America. Presenter Roman Kemp admitted that he was reduced to tears during the “hellish” race, alongside his sister Harleymoon – while DJ Tyler West claimed he’d considered trading in his fiancé Molly Rainford “for a mountain goat” because they were so short of money.
Meanwhile Countryfile’s Anita Rani, 47, reverted to being a grumpy teen with her dad Bal and Derry Girls star Dylan Llewellyn and his mother Jackie nearly quit after struggling to get by on four hours sleep a night. Their journey begins on the Caribbean Island of Isla Mujeres, the most eastern point of Mexico and takes them 5,900km to the finish line in the remote Península de La Guajira in Colombia, the gateway to South America.
Roman, 32, has told how he came off antidepressants last year and found the race to be “a good test for my anxiety”. He explained: “It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done on television, but doing the race itself was hell!
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“I used to watch it and wonder why a contestant was crying – well, that was me.” The pair, whose parents are Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp and Wham’s Shirlie Holliman, said that they had “very different” personalities with Harleymoon’s “short attention span” meaning she didn’t have much sympathy for Roman’s anxiety issues.
“Ro would be talking about his worries, and I couldn’t remember what he was talking about,” the 36-year-old singer songwriter confessed to Radio Times. “Or I’d fall asleep. But I learnt to listen to him as the race progressed, and we understood each other for the first time.”
Tyler, 29, and 24-year-old Molly found love on Strictly Come Dancing three years ago and said their travel experience brought them closer together. “There were times when I thought about trading Molly for a mountain goat to get some extra money to race,” Tyler quipped. “But it obviously worked out in the end, because we got engaged after the trip.”
Molly, who plays Albert Square’s Anna Knight, said it had given her more confidence. “I used to ask Tyler to phone and make appointments on my behalf, but during the race I asked strangers for help. It was a big deal for me.”
The couple, who normally holiday in an all-inclusive resort in the same part of the world, said they’d loved the whole experience. “I developed my mental strength and didn’t want the race to end,” Tyler said. “It was us against the world.”
Anita Rani, 47, and her dad Bal, 69, jumped at the chance to have an adventure together – but soon they discovered it might be harder than they thought after he criticised her for standing too close to the traffic. “Maybe an hour into the race, the cameras were rolling and Dad was telling me off about something and I turned into teenage me, stomping and pouting,” the Radio 4 presenter admitted.
Other frustrations included being followed by a camera crew, waking up every day without a plan and not being able to speak Spanish. “But it was super fun as well,” they laugh, having armed themselves with a chess set, skipping rope and resistance bands to combat the boredom.
Derry Girls star Dylan Llewellyn, 33, and his mum Jackie, 59, make no bones about the fact they found the whole experience daunting. Nicknaming themselves ‘team tortoise’ because of their slow pace, they found it very hard asking strangers for help, getting enough sleep and feeling lost “the whole time”.
“It was so overwhelming. We struggled the most out of everyone, but it wasn’t for lack of effort,” Dylan sighed, with Jackie admitting they were close to giving up at the start. “We both felt despair when we weren’t getting anywhere. Those were very low moments. I probably only had four hours’ sleep a night.”
But somehow they turned the lows into highs. “We experienced so much kindness,” Dylan added. “And the beauty of central America was breathtaking.”
Celebrity Race Across the World airs Thursday 6 November at 8pm on BBC One.
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