Original subtitles

Seven months ago, the race of a lifetime began.

What have we got ourselves into?

F ive pairs of ordinary brits

embarked on a 25,000-kilometer journey...

Let's go.

...from Mexico City to ushuaia, Argentina,

the most southerly city in the world.

They battled extreme weather...

Oh my god.

...Trekked high into the andes...

If I can do this I can do a hell of a lot more.

Crossed vast deserts...

I can't see anything for miles.

...And navigated some of the world's most volatile regions.

- He's coming over with a gun. - We need to evacuate asap, before the border closes.

Oh my god.

What's next?

All with budgets stretched to breaking point.

We do need to move fast, but we need to move cheap.

- Hang on, where's my money belt? - It's gone, babe.

- Our race is over. - You're joking.

The rewards have been great.

That is the best view I've ever seen in my life.

I'd be absolutely gutted if I knew I'd missed this.

The way they live their life is just heaven.

- Oh, my god.

And the first team to the finish line...

- Let's go! - Claim the prize...

We're here.

- ...Of £20,000... - Our bus stop.

...In a race across the world.

Come on!

Excitement, adventure, trauma.

For the first time since the race, all five teams are reuniting.

So excited to see everybody.

Yes, it's a race and you want to win, you want to beat them.

But they're the only family you've got.

It's gonna be surreal meeting everyone again.

Mother and son, from Manchester,

Jo and Sam.

- Hey, we made it. - Finally made it.

That's an experience that'll stay in my head for life.

London couple Michael and shuntelle.

- This is the adventure that we were looking for. - Not me.

I weren't anywhere near ready.

Siblings from Yorkshire, dom and Lizzie.

I just remember sitting on the edge

and just thinking, "how the hell did we get here?"

Race you to the top.

Race winners, uncle emon and his nephew jamiul.

Made me think about my own life.

That's the way family should be.

We did start this as strangers.

You know what? I think we've made up for ten years' time.

Check in! Check in!

And married couple from reading, Jen and Rob.

There were three people in that race.

Jen, Rob and checkpoint Jen.

I can't do it!

It's a chance to share in some euphoric highs...

It's just like heaven to me. It's just heaven.

And heartbreaking lows.

I was gutted, I'm not going to pretend I wasn't.

Revelations emerge...

I genuinely thought that when the cameras went off

we'd get like a sandwich and a wine.

...as they confess to what they really thought when they first met...

Well, I thought it was a good combination of muscle and brains.

...And relive what else happened at checkpoints.

- You were voted chief. - I was chieftain for the day.

Rivalries are re-examined...

Your face was like, "don't look at him."

- It was awful. - She can do it, so can I.

There you go.

...As they compare different strategies...

You kept bringing up that you were low on your budget

and I had set in my mind that you were just telling us that

so we'd spend more money.

...divulge the secrets to winning race across the world.

Turned out, actually, money wasn't the key to winning.

Hello!

And we find out how life has changed since returning home.

- How you been? - Flew in yesterday.

- Where are you then? - Austria.

- Oh wow. - I'm doing a ski season.

Throughout the trip it just became one big family.

Oh, 'ey up!

We share such a unique experience.

This is so nice to have our family back together.

- I know! - Is this a group hug moment?

Mexico City.

The team's assembled at the start line.

Wow. OMG.

Just two days before, they departed the UK with no idea of the starting point,

the route, or their ultimate destination.

White trainers, dom.

- I'm not sure about that. - We'll do a nice "before and after."

Oh! Oh!

We don't even know where we're going.

We don't even know where we are.

So here it is.

In Mexico, that's when we realized how hard it will be.

- The final destination is... - Oh, my god.

- "Ushu..." what? - "Ushu..."

- "Ushuaia?" - who found ushuaia

- on the map? - I think it was me.

Maybe flip the paper.

We were like, "oh god, it can't be that far."

And I saw it at the very bottom.

From Mexico City to ushuaia, Argentina.

Passing through 16 countries and seven checkpoints.

To get there they had just over £1400 each,

the price of the air fare.

I don't think it's a lot, really. That's food,

travel and accommodation. That's everything, innit?

How you feeling? You feeling energized?

Just wanna get out of the city now.

How we gonna get there?

You look at things on a map and think, "oh, it's only two thumbs."

I just didn't realize the scale. I've never traveled.

I definitely felt under-prepared at the start line.

I had no idea what was about to happen.

I was in competition mode straight away.

I wasn't.

It was the first chance to size up the competition.

Some fellow competitors.

- Hi. - I'm Lizzie.

I think everyone was putting on like a fake, "oh, hi, how are you?"

But deep down, we were like looking up and down like... "Hmm."

Now the race is over,

they can share what they really thought when they first laid eyes on each other.

I actually thought dom and Lizzie were going to be our biggest competitors.

I was like, "you know what? They're gonna smash it out."

I was quite intimidated by everyone because we were the youngest combined pair.

I mean, shuntelle kept on referring to you as kids.

"Bless 'em, I hope they've got good clothes,

hope they're gonna wrap up properly, hope they're going to eat."

- How you guys doing? - Nervous.

- A bit nervous. Excited. - Yeah.

Mike, game face. Knew he'd be a competitor.

He looked like a raging bull.

He was geeing himself up.

"We've got this. Come on."

You know, I just thought, "I don't got anything."

- I thought Jen was there for a holiday. - Ooh!

He's got a shirt on! What's going on?

Seemed like he was coming down for a job interview.

I did laugh. I'm sorry, Robert.

I did laugh. I was like, "dom, he's wearing chinos."

"Have they just accidentally joined the line?"

"It's not the queue for the bus, guys."

I think people just thought "idiots."

I don't know. People underestimate us a lot, don't they?

- Ha! Well... - Ha!

- Yeah. - Little did they know.

Hello.

When I saw your wheelie case, I thought, "brilliant.

She won't last. She'll be gone."

It just takes a rocky path and, boom, case is off the end of a mountain.

Well, I thought it was a good combination of muscle and brains.

Then Sam stands next to me and lets one off.

I'm like, "nice to meet you."

And that's how you knew you were gonna be friends.

This is it, eh? Let's get going, guys.

And I was just like, "these two have overdressed."

Seeing all the other contestants there, it was daunting.

I didn't smile too much at the start, just to try keep a game face

and make sure that they were fearful of us.

I was just looking straight ahead. I could sniff the winning line.

I was ready.

"Get to the end." That was the goal. "Get to the end."

- Let's go. - Let's go, let's go, let's go!

You two were just tearing off everywhere,

and we just thought you'd wear yourself out in about four days' time.

It was more like four minutes.

We sort of like set the agenda.

We were gonna be quick.

Slow down.

We were completely shattered after that.

Maybe we shouldn't have started off like that.

Get out everything that we don't need.

I think I speak for all of us. We didn't expect the race to be what it was,

how hard it was, how tough it was.

Don't think anyone will have been prepared.

I genuinely thought that when the cameras went off

we'd get like a sandwich and a wine.

'Cause I just didn't think they'd actually make us do those bad things.

Left, left!

Escaping Mexico City, the largest Metropolis in North America,

would be tough and burn precious time.

God. I probably should have gone to the toilet before starting.

The first hurdle to overcome became a constant one.

Excuse me, do you speak English?

The language.

Sorry. Do you speak English?

No.

What's it called? Do you know where that is?

- Bus e stación? - No, we're going subway.

Been looking for a bank for three hours.

Opened the bumbag and realized we already had pesos.

I feel like an idiot.

I think we made an assumption that everyone would have

at least a little bit of English.

And, how wrong we were.

"How would I find..."

Speaking English in a weird voice,

- hoping they'll understand. - But it works, it works!

Six weeks in and things got even trickier.

How do you say "how long" in Portuguese?

Just about learning Spanish.

And now we're in a different country.

I'm not happy about the new language.

I'm going to get ever so confused.

Portuguese. Is that... I don't want to say it.

- Where do they speak Portuguese? - Portugal.

I was gonna say that but I felt too stupid.

But for Jen and Rob, the struggle to communicate

was difficult from the start.

I got so frustrated by my inability to communicate.

And actually what happened is, I really kind of like

went insular, didn't I? I completely retracted

and I dare not even start conversations.

What time do we leave?

Oh, god, I don't know what that is.

- Whereas for Robbie... - i found it the other way around.

I wasn't concentrating on the words.

- I looked at body language. - That's the same in the UK for him, anyway.

I lost my hearing in my left ear in childhood

and then recently I lost hearing in my good ear.

In a weird way, having difficulties hearing was a kind of advantage.

You show us how to... What you want doing.

Boat for free, if we work?

We're getting free board and a free canoe ride.

I think it was down to you that we overcame the language thing

- with your charades. - We were both involved.

You're really getting more expressive. I love that.

The checkpoints may have been fixed,

but each team embarked on their own individual journey.

We're quite high up. I'm already out of breath.

When we were younger we were so close.

But we've grown apart.

I would say we're siblings, not friends any more.

There's no better way to save our relationship than this.

Right, dom, off you go. Run.

We didn't have a game plan. Just said we're gonna wing it.

We're gonna use our natural charm and just see what happens?

Hola. Does anyone like free shots?

We were gonna sort of blag our way into things

and that didn't really get used.

Free shots? No?

I really don't wanna do this.

I'm quite shy around people I don't know.

I think at the beginning of the race, I lacked self confidence,

and I didn't have much faith in my ability to, you know, go off on my own.

I think we should ask them.

Go on, then.

- Can you come with me? - Yeah, I'll come with you.

But I'm not asking.

I feel like every younger sibling could relate to how I felt.

But no matter how old you are,

you fall back into that old routine of,

"they're the older brother. Follow what they do."

But in Peru...

- Shall we book a ticket? - We need to get money first.

...A terrifying health scare almost ended dom and Lizzie's race.

He's having a seizure! Someone call an ambulance.

And Lizzie had no choice but to step up.

It's really scary. Usually he'd be the one looking after me,

and now I feel like... I don't know whether I can do the same for him.

It wasn't just you were doing more than me.

You were having to do all of it.

Yeah. I think that massively helped.

Definitely.

We wanna go to angra dos reis.

Oh, my god. That was...

Quick. Well done.

Towards the end of the race I saw my own confidence growing.

Me being forced into that situation, I realized how capable Lizzie actually is.

- And she was actually making better decisions than I was. - That's true.

The intensity of the race forced the siblings

to open up to each other for the first time since childhood.

I've always known that Lizzie does care,

but when the seizure happened, it upset Lizzie so much,

it sort of really hit home. I was like,

"she actually really does care about me."

I shouldn't be such an idiot sometimes.

I do feel that you don't want me around. And that's how I felt.

Ok, well, I will try to change that.

- Okay? - Okay. Yes.

I do love you. Okay?

Now we understand each other. I think we're more like friends...

- Yeah. - Rather than just siblings.

I don't think I've ever seen anything

as beautiful as that in my entire life.

It's just a completely different relationship to before

and we actually miss each other,

which is something that I never really did before, no offense.

And by the end of the race,

dom and Lizzie's charm offensive started to pay dividends.

- Cheers. - Salud.

- New friends, salud. - New friends.

- Homemade food's always the best. - It is. Chicken and potatoes.

A new-found confidence helped them mix with

Argentinean locals, Thomas and Mariana.

Are you guys going to posadas?

- Sure. - Perfect.

We actually have a party tonight so if you want to join us.

Yeah, sure.

Helping other people, you can gain a lot from it.

A lot of people helped us all the time.

I came home and I've taken a job as a teaching assistant at a secondary school.

Challenging sometimes, but I've actually really enjoyed it.

And I found it rewarding.

Thank you for letting us come.

One regret, I might have had.

The birthday girl was showing some interest.

And I just remember thinking, "I need to go to bed."

Now, I look back, I'm like, "dom, why did you not just seize the moment?"

You could have had an argentinian girlfriend.

Checkpoint, here we come.

After racing for days on end...

Nearly there, mum.

...the competition to finish first at each checkpoint meant

the final sprint was frantic...

Dom, wait for me.

We're finishing this together.

...and often adrenaline-fueled.

Check-in! Check-in! Check-in!

There were three people in that race,

Jen, Rob and checkpoint Jen.

- Couldn't cope with checkpoint Jen. - You couldn't.

She was way too stressed.

I'm going to ban you from all decision-making at checkpoints.

You're just too stressed.

"Ban you." Ban you from my life.

Just chill.

Oh, my god, we're nearly there.

Little sprint. Last little push.

Seventh checkpoint.

But the brief comfort and time-out from the race

meant it was always worth the effort.

Made it. Made it to Panama.

When we got through those doors

and we walked into the most beautiful hotel.

Compared to where we'd been for the last week,

it was just breathtaking.

The feeling when you got to a checkpoint and saw a bed was just...

Like overwhelming, just want to lie down and never move again.

- Cheers, winner. - Cheers, winner.

Please, don't...

The times spent together at checkpoints

soon took on added significance.

I love these checkpoints as I get to hang out with you guys.

I genuinely enjoy your company.

The checkpoints just helped galvanize you to keep going on,

and galvanize you to kind of get to them.

- That was our bonding moments. - Yeah, and share

all the memories of the legs together.

- You know, it's kind of counseling. - Yeah.

This is awesome. I feel like a proper cowboy.

I'll just follow you guys.

Yes, it's a race. And you want to win, you want to beat them,

but they're the only family you've got.

Oh, my god.

Getting to share your stories...

They're the only people that truly understand...

What you're going through, definitely.

The group grabbed the opportunity

to immerse themselves in local customs.

Lake titicaca, home to the uros people,

many of whom live permanently on the lake's 120 manmade floating islands,

each constructed from living reeds.

We went on floating islands and you were voted chief.

I was chieftain for the day, wasn't I, yeah.

Who we nominating as president?

It needs to be someone semi-sensible, so dom, you're out.

We'd have a lot of fun on the island though, wouldn't we?

I think if you want a party island, I should be president.

I don't think I'm worthy of the title. Sorry, guys.

- Oh, I'll take it then. - Okay, Rob.

- I'll look after you all. - Oh, thank you.

- Should we hold him up? - Yeah, let's go.

That was incredible.

It was just such an alien lifestyle.

They literally were living on floating reeds.

It was just a really eye opening day for every team.

- And to share that experience was just even better. - Yeah.

I'm loving it.

These fleeting checkpoint moments created strong bonds.

Honestly, I did not expect this going into the race,

but the bond we formed with the other teams.

Oh god, like we talk every day.

So, you've been busy recently, mate?

Yeah, it has been a bit busy to be honest. Yourself? How's life?

That's one of the best things to come out of this race.

- Definitely. - It's that family of people we have now.

happy birthday, dear Jo ♪

♪ happy birthday to you ♪

You're not getting any. This is getting us to ushuaia.

Para llevar. Take away.

Are you nervous?

I am, but don't want to admit it.

We'll be fine.

For Jo and Sam,

the chance to complete the challenge of a lifetime together.

It's the perfect time to go traveling now

because my mum's getting to the age where she's too old.

Thanks.

So glad I brought you.

Probably I don't have many backpacking years left in me.

Thanks, love.

I know he's always wanted to travel,

and I thought it would be really good fun to watch Sam see the world

and hopefully give you the confidence and enable you to...

Go on my own and do it myself.

- Well, hopefully that's what we get out of it. - Yeah.

Okay, so, go and spread that around and pick up the eggs.

For mother and son...

How do you understand all that?

I didn't, I'm guessing.

...a little Spanish went a long way.

I'm glad I've got her here. If I didn't have her here then I'd be screwed.

Think it's here, mum.

Chatting with locals led to an early advantage.

- Name, date and signature, please. - Oh, my god, we're first.

I think the key strength was my mum speaking a little bit of Spanish.

This is the most uncomfortable seat.

But the grueling reality of back-to-back buses...

I've got a limit on how much heat I can take.

Just too hot to compute in this.

saw Sam struggle.

Do you think it's got anything to do with your adhd?

It probably does.

I don't know. I've never been able to explain why I'm anything.

Just sat there, driving for hours.

I wanted to stick toothpicks in my toenails and kick a wall like, it's horrible.

During the long drives and stuff,

I hated that, but I knew it was all worth it.

'Cause at the end of that bus journey,

there's going to be something amazing.

Whee!

It's just like heaven to me. It's just heaven.

The salt flats were absolutely stunning.

That was a real moment when we really felt the point of it all.

You just got such a feeling of insignificance.

You did.

And in the mountains of northern Argentina,

Sam found his spiritual home.

That is really cool.

Like I never thought I'd ever be doing this.

- Hector on the farm... - Yeah.

I didn't understand anything he said,

but I still knew everything he meant,

because of the way he works, and that's what I sort of do,

so we got on really well.

Gracias!

This is beyond what my expectations were, and...

At the end, I can absolutely say

you were communicating with everybody.

You made real bonds with people that we met.

- Muchas gracias. - Muchas gracias.

You had a great time there, didn't you?

It was a very sp... Don't look at me

like I'm gonna cry again.

Oh!

I know, you're crying.

No.

As mother and son

enjoyed experience after experience...

Ciao!

The race began to take on a whole new dimension for Jo.

One of my main motivations to go travelling,

particularly with Sam was, I've got a few health issues,

and so I was aware that I probably

didn't have that many more opportunities

that I could do something like this with Sam.

I think, I don't know,

some of you know that if I've got lymphoma

and I had chemo about four years ago,

and I knew it would come back, but I didn't know when,

and then when I was on the trip, I kind of thought,

"mmm, I think that there's some signs,"

and it has come back,

so I'm actually now on chemotherapy.

Well, you know what?

We know you, Jo, you're a strong person.

- Yeah. - And if anyone can fight it, you can.

- Yeah, thank you. - So, do you know what I mean?

That wasn't easy, you know, even doing the journey itself,

and then knowing what you knew.

Had all this going on,

yet you still was like...

You're here for all of us.

But despite the relapse, what the trip has made

me think of, is to basically take every opportunity I can.

As the realities of their dwindling budget

began to hit home...

We need to get at least one job on this leg.

We just don't have enough money to complete the race.

Sam made sure his mum

got to fulfill a lifelong dream.

Whoo!

Definitely, it's gives me the bug to do more travelling.

- Yeah. - So I just have to get this chemo over with,

and go again before it comes back again.

- I love your attitude, amazing. - Yeah.

I wanted to be out there,

um, living life and seeing the world,

whether it was us together, or whether it was, you know...

- With your boy? - I'd ditch you.

Balls hurt so much.

This is what we signed up for.

I'm so glad I'm doing this with you, love.

Couldn't do it with anyone better, to be honest.

- I'm so hungry. - Mmm.

- I'm starving. - Need some food.

Oh, that's what you call a barbecue. Look at that.

Throughout the race,

heads were turned by the smells and tastes

of Latin American cuisine.

It's spicy, that.

- Oh, that's good. - Ha-ha!

Some good...

This is muy bien.

- The bribri tribe in Costa Rica. - Oh.

Well, they slow cook this chicken

on a wood fire.

This is indigenous food.

- Ah, okay. - Yeah.

That's really tasty.

I swear to god, it was the nicest bit of chicken

I've ever had in my life.

- Good god! - And some,

a more acquired taste.

Spatchcock Guinea pig.

My favorite pet.

They just present it so badly.

Ugh, it's face.

They fried its face. Ugh!

And its claws were still there.

Oh, god.

He ate the hottest chili in all of the market.

I want one of these chilies.

Everyone's looking at me.

It is hot?

You need a fire extinguisher.

Go on, go for it.

- Is it really hot? - Right, that's hot.

Oh, my god.

Whoo!

He was just running around trying to find water.

Drink.

Hot.

Going for a slow releasing porridge for breakfast.

But with continued money worries...

Keep me going all day now.

Honestly, I think most of our conversations were about food.

...Food fast became an obsession.

I started seeing food where there actually wasn't food.

I'd look at a rock and be like, "mmm."

Who's a good boy?

You'd be tasty on a plate.

This is a romantic, quiet picnic spot.

We'd have a bread roll and we'd half it,

and we'd buy a tin of fake tuna, and we'd half it,

- and we'd half a tuna sandwich. - Fake tuna?

And that was a good... That was a treat meal.

Can I get a packet of cheetos?

Si, si.

Like, no-one can't know about cheetos.

They're in every country, everywhere.

But, Michael, you ran off a moving bus

to run into a shop to buy cheetos and come back.

I was starving, mate.

Fueling their journey

even more than food was the one constant

all the teams soon discovered.

The kindness of strangers.

- Cheers. - Cheers. Thank you very much.

- Cheers. - Thank you so much.

Thank you very much for hosting us.

Thank you so much for this.

I'm happy to help you.

One of the most fulfilling things in the race

was the people we met and the generosity that came our way.

I like to invite to my house, for dinner, tonight.

Sometimes just looking at our faces, how desperate we were.

We didn't even need to say anything. They were like, "come in."

- Yeah. - "Feed them."

- Salud. - To new friends.

Those moments are the ones I'll never forget.

You can tell they didn't have much, but they're still willing to give.

We found so many people fed us for free.

This is so different to what I'd imagined we'd be doing.

In the coastal town of huanchako in Peru,

emon and jamiul found work with local fishermen John and Santos.

Welcome to this family in huanchako.

And later bonded over a home-prepared meal.

- Beautiful. - Now we go to prepare the ceviche.

Okay.

Experiencing family life with John and Santos made me think about my own life.

- Bon appetit. - That is good, man.

For me, this is one of the best experiences I've had

because I got to meet you and your dad. It's the way family should be.

When I have children, I'll tell them John and Santos looked after me.

I want to start my own family and, you know, moving forward.

I mean, he gave you a few tips, didn't he?

Yeah.

The fresh fish have a lot of phosphorus.

Okay.

And then you have a lot of energy, you know, with a girl?

- Ceviche gives you, er... - Gives you that...

- that oomph. - That oomph!

And the parents of my father. Eighteen...

- Eighteen kids? - Eighteen kids.

And he was quite direct, shall we say? Quite animated.

Because it's too much energy, you know, for your body.

"All right, John. We get your drift."

Yes.

So, yeah, we found that a bit amusing and a bit daunting.

I really struggled with people helping in the first instance,

because I was thinking, you know, what the hell

are they going to want in return of me?

Or what have they just taken? That hindered my ability

to involve myself with communities, even with them kids on the island.

- Hiya. - Hey, all right?

Oh my god. Robbie, I'm so scared.

People aren't nice like this in england.

You were always asking me,

"oh, how do you know they're gonna take us to the right place?

How do you know they're telling the truth?

How do you know we're going in the right direction following them?"

You don't.

Do you know how much a taxi would cost?

I was thinking to take you in my car.

- Really? - How much would you charge us?

Uh, no, just for fun.

- No. Really? - Just for fun?

- Would you do that? - Yes.

It restored my faith in humanity

and made me realize that actually 99.99% of people

actually are friendly and good people and want to help.

And that was like when I really started to embrace it and really enjoy myself.

- Smash this here. - Got to.

Michael and shuntelle

approach travel with contrasting attitudes.

I work for a large international accountancy firm,

but Michael is ex-army, loves a challenge.

I think if he could sleep outdoors, he would.

I hope that we're able to work with each other

rather than against each other.

This is just fantastic.

I don't need a luxury five star hotel to enjoy something.

This is the experience, the adventure that we were looking for.

Oh, my goodness, the four seasons.

That's where I want to go.

When we started this race, we did say this was a make or break.

I was a duck out of water.

I'm very tired. And now we begin our epic journey.

Twenty odd hours on a coach.

He was lapping it up.

I'd rather do this than go to Barbados or Jamaica right now.

Totally out of my comfort zone.

The long bus journeys, the horrible toilets, the horrible hostels.

It was just constant. It was so much.

It was just trying to get from one day to the next.

Trying to understand the languages,

trying to understand each other.

Week one, that's all I was doing.

I was just taking in all the sights, all the views,

and the madness of it all.

I didn't feel in control, which I struggle with, so I kind of froze.

It really was traumatic, that first week, for me.

Do I look like someone who slept outside in my life?

No, but this is... This is about opening up your mind.

There was a definite thought process from my side...

I was like, "yeah, maybe we are too different."

It was a bit touch and go at that point.

As the first week wore on,

shuntelle rediscovered her competitive streak.

We stayed in a hostel last night.

Never stayed in a hostel before.

We shared with how many people?

- You did a dorm? - Yeah.

Oh, you probably went... okay.

Once I realized Jen had done so much out of her comfort zone,

then I was ready to just put everything in.

If she can do it, so can I.

I can do it.

- I think checkpoint two, we were like, "ok, game on." - Yeah.

- I have to woman up. - Man up.

I'm a woman so I'm womaning up.

Keep breathing.

- Keep focusing. - Focus on the second leg.

Don't focus on the second leg and make me go...

And had some r&R, good food...

I slept on a lovely bed.

I was ready.

We want to least beat who we left with today.

That's our aim. They were at the petrol station.

They are standing there doing nothing. High five, babe.

I could see you get more more competitive by the day.

But shuntelle's renewed determination

faltered when disaster struck.

My money belt's here, isn't it?

All I heard Michael say is, "I can't find my money belt."

I just looked over. "What do you mean you can't find your money belt?"

- Back pockets? - It's not here. Definitely not here.

I was absolutely devastated about the whole thing.

I still am now, you know.

We just wanted to complete the journey with you guys there.

I feel like that experience, journey's being robbed.

Well, we missed you.

Yes, we did.

It was like a piece of the puzzle just gone, isn't it?

I've messed it up. I'm sorry.

I just need you to know that we started as a team.

So we, as a team, have lost the money.

I learned at that stage, that she was on my side

whatever the situation was.

I learned that you had that humility about you,

and that made it easier for me at that time.

We knew our journey was coming to an end,

so we stopped the race and went whale watching.

I have not seen any whales in my lifetime.

Ah!

That is so cool.

Oh, wow.

I can't believe we're so close to them as well.

Since the race, life has changed for Michael and shuntelle.

Got back to London, got back into normal life.

Came to a conclusion that, our relationship,

we were gonna take a break.

We get along, we speak all the time.

And I think our communications have been a lot better too.

Well, if it just ends up a good friendship,

you can't go through that experience without having a really strong bond.

We're gonna be friends for life.

I wouldn't have done the journey with anybody else.

He was definitely the only person I would have done it with.

Likewise.

I'm sure you would've found somebody.

- Let's keep it real. - Okay.

Nice try, Michael.

145 for the hostel, 18 for the tube.

Food, taxis...

With only £26 each to spend per day,

it wasn't just Michael and shuntelle who had money troubles.

So we started the race in Mexico,

we had £1,453 each.

After 52 days of racing, ended up with £3.38.

Slept in some stupid places in my life, but this is a first for me.

There were some tricky situations with the money.

Yeah.

There were days when we didn't have enough money to get to the next destination.

You kept bringing up that you were low on your budget

and I had set in my mind

that you were just telling us that, so we'd spend more money.

But it was the truth though. We were struggling for money.

I know.

We had days without eating.

In the buses, when they give you three biscuits,

I'd go to the back and stuff my bag with all the biscuits.

We just had to hustle our way to get through.

Work was crucial in securing extra funds needed to finish.

We've got a lot to cover, man.

We could do with a jet wash here, lad.

We did a lot of work like washing the buses.

Yeah, you left that to me.

Only the top rim needs doing.

I did a lot of work.

You did a lot of like...

It's called business development.

You gotta take, you know...

Take a leadership role.

There's all pubes on the back of that, by the way.

I think I'll just do the walls.

Honestly, there's pubes everywhere.

When I signed up for the race, I didn't ever think I'd be cleaning toilets in a bus.

Some jobs were better than others.

In Peru, Jen and Rob, spent a day working at a bear sanctuary.

But it wasn't just bears they were looking after.

So we have to clean the herpetarium.

- What's that? - It's a place where we have some snakes.

Just terrified of spiders, snakes, mice, terrified of all of those things.

Who cleans the cage of a snake whilst the snake's sitting there,

especially if it's a dangerous snake?

Crazy.

Have you ever done this before?

Never protected my wife from a snake

because she's too busy window cleaning.

We, as you know, didn't do the final leg.

We ran out of money.

I struggled with it

because the competitive side of me wasn't about winning,

it was about finishing it.

So I was really upset to not see you guys at the end.

Hey, guys. Come here.

Deciding to go home was a real low point for me.

Um, weirdly, I'm about to cry again.

Gordon Bennett.

- Lots going on. - How are we, guys?

Uh...

We realized we couldn't go on to the final leg.

Aw!

It's really sad not to finish it, but it's brilliant

to see you guys.

I don't give up. I'm not really a giver upper.

- She hates not finishing. - Um, so, I struggled with that.

It was in the back of everyone's heads

but you never really thought it would have actually happened.

Yeah.

It hit home that it could happen to anybody.

What's important is, we do need to move fast, but we need to move cheap.

Oh my god. We've gotta worry about our own pockets now.

We were like, "we cannot hit zero."

So, basically it's scooping up poo.

Who said it would be fun working with horses?

You want money? Stop complaining.

This was the first instance in our life

where this money that we're making is for us to eat.

And if we don't make that money,

we don't eat.

I think this is another job ticked off the list

of jobs I'm not sure I wanna do when I'm older.

It's definitely strengthened us and hardened us.

Made me appreciate things a lot more.

Oh! Cheers.

- We finished with £18.39 over the finish line. - No way.

We're not going to eat now for like, three days, you know.

- No. - Not one thing.

We were just so happy to finish at the end.

I was quite impressed at our ability to blag and to hitchhike

because we only finished, you know, a few hours behind you guys.

It's amazing what you can achieve when you have to.

Yeah, our strategy was basically

keep a fund of money back...

To get you over the finish line.

If we could hire a helicopter and chopper in, we were gonna do it.

Just turned out that actually money wasn't the key to winning.

And we ended with £45.83.

We were very mean with our money from the off, weren't we?

We had a very strict budget.

- Very scary, isn't it? - I feel so heavy.

- Now that it is real. - I feel sick.

Jen and Rob, the most unlikely pair of backpackers.

This journey is going to be challenging.

It'll challenge our communication, won't it?

Absolutely, yeah.

We do struggle with that from time to time.

All the time.

How are we even gonna get like out of the city?

I don't know.

We knew we were just average, you know, average Joes.

Just Jen and Rob from reading.

Bloody hell.

I didn't even own a backpack. Never even owned trainers.

This this like... Oh my god!

I had no clue.

Okay. Gracias.

Let me keep hold of this. You asked a clown.

We found it tough, didn't we? The first two legs.

I mean, i'm absolutely exhausted.

I've not slept for three days. I've not showered in three days.

I've had the same pants on for four days.

I'd like to brush my teeth. I'd like a glass of water.

I think one of the reasons why we wanted to do

the race, communication had definitely broken down.

We perhaps were kind of, you know, not as close as we should have been

for a newly married couple, who had just bought their first house.

The stresses and strains of everyday life,

was just, like, almost a barrier to remembering

why we're together in the first place.

We started realizing that actually

you've got to be in a good place with each other.

Can't be stressed.

You're going through these amazing places.

- Stunning, isn't it? - Gorgeous.

You've got to experience them.

You'll just regret it for the rest of your life.

I like time out from the race.

Stressed Jen isn't the best form of Jen, is it?

No.

You're given this amazing opportunity and...

You're throwing it away if you don't look at the places

that you pass.

Watch your bum.

You sneaky little boy.

Definitely worth the trip to get here.

Over time, we began to really carefully

pick our journeys to go through places that we were desperate to go to.

It was hard to find that balance between race and experience.

It was. I think we did nail it.

We'd say, "right, we got four hours now, before the next bus,

let's go and have an amazing experience

for four hours and then come back and, boom, the race starts."

That was a good strategy.

I don't have any regrets.

That sums it up, doesn't it?

No regrets. So we did something right.

Can you see up there?

Oh, look at that. Iguazu falls.

That is the best view I've ever seen in my life.

And sharing those kind of...

Moments.

Awesome experiences.

That's like a therapy itself, isn't it?

That's healing.

It unites us, doesn't it?

- Yeah. - We're stronger for it.

Exactly that.

From my point of view, the outside looking in,

you just seem to be such a brilliant team.

Have a laugh together, communicate individually and together.

You seem to work brilliantly.

I definitely feel that we've got stronger and stronger.

We had to get worse first.

- Ow! I said don't rip it. - You want anything out of it?

Yes. I told you not to rip my arms off!

But I think when we just hit that wonderful,

harmonious team work, it was the making of us.

Yes!

You can see her confidence grow.

I think that's making her a happier person,

which is nice and that, that makes me happy.

I'm canoeing! I'm canoeing!

We've grown stronger

because we're being kinder.

Oh, Robbie, I can't do it.

- You can, you're almost there. - I'm gonna cry.

What's the matter? What's the matter?

Almost there. Almost there.

You're stronger than you can ever imagine.

We're so close now.

And we're being kinder

because we've grown as individuals.

You're nice.

Coming out the other end of the race,

I feel like I've become more comfortable

with my hearing loss.

It doesn't stop me from doing anything.

And that's allowed me to go to loud bars.

Yeah, I'm not going to hear people,

I'm not really going to understand what they say

but you can still have a laugh, can't you?

It doesn't stop me from succeeding.

And I think this race has kind of proved that.

I can't do this, Robbie.

You can. We're a team.

I love how this journey has made you

a lot more adventurous.

And our holidays from now on,

are not going to be all-inclusive style hotels.

We want to engage with local culture.

We want to go somewhere new.

Definitely be less like planny, planny,

'cause I plan down to every single second.

I'd be happy just to get off a plane

and be like, "I wonder where we'll be sleeping tonight?"

Like, I genuinely would be quite happy to do that,

after I've had my first luxury holiday.

All aboard!

The need to follow the cheapest routes

led teams to sometimes bump into each other

when they least expected it.

- Dom and Lizzie. - Jamiul and emon.

- Hey, guys. - Hi!

How are you doing?

- It was like a little treat every time, wasn't it? - Yeah.

- Exactly. - It was like, "ooh."

Wazzup!

It's like sort of seeing family along the way, wasn't it?

- Oh, hello, darling. - Good to see you.

- Familiar faces. - Yeah.

It was just lovely. It was lovely seeing them.

But they weren't always thrilled to see each other.

They're on our bus.

And the only seats are next to me.

- Now, Lizzie. - Yeah.

- Don't tell them everything we've done. - No, I won't. Don't worry.

- And don't tell them where we're going. - Don't...

Have you chosen the route yet?

We have no idea where we're going.

Your face was, "don't look at him. Don't even..."

"be quiet, Rob. Don't say anything."

I think as soon as you bumped into someone,

something snapped in you, like,

"oh, my god." You make rash decisions.

You start worrying too much about what they're doing...

- Yes. - And it changes your plan,

and then you get in each other's heads

and gets very competitive.

- Whoo! - Yes!

Jen and Rob are here.

I feel really sneaky.

But then I feel, like, really, like, happy

that I've been sneaky.

How were we sneaky?

Rob, I hid in bushes so people didn't see me.

Robbie, Robbie, Robbie, Robbie, Robbie.

What's this? What?

I think emon was really competitive.

At checkpoints, it was nice emon,

and then as soon as the race started,

it was blinkers on, go.

It was puno for me.

We were literally like this.

I feel terrible.

They are your friends and you really want them to do well.

But at the same time, you want to do better.

I looked behind and you were having an asthma attack

and I was like, "yes!"

"He's on oxygen, Robbie. Leg it!"

I mean, how awful is that!

We have so much love for Jen and Rob.

I don't think they have so much love for me.

She's already wished death on me a couple of times so...

Jen will be Jen!

México.

Uncle and nephew, emon and jamiul,

were looking to reconnect after a family estrangement.

In the past 10 years,

I don't think we've spent a full day together.

Let's do this.

Come on!

Initially, we said we were gonna be quick.

And we sort of the team to beat.

I think we're way ahead of everybody else.

As soon as we get to palenque, that's it.

Give the others a chance to catch up to us.

Yeah, okay.

It definitely backfired on us.

Guys, I'm sorry, we don't have any more tickets.

Twenty-four hours behind now because we've missed the boat.

It's a big, big problem for us.

I came into the race quite confident.

I've done a lot of expeditions.

I thought my experience would benefit us.

But I really underestimated it.

It was nothing like what I've done before in my life.

Damn!

We ended up coming last in the first leg.

I think it comes down to,

us not really connecting well at the beginning of the race, isn't it?

And obviously, we didn't know each other.

We didn't know what our strengths were, what our weaknesses were.

Their strategy to - Splash the cash.

To the border?

160. Yeah.

- All right. - Okay.

The money that we spent on the first two legs crippled us.

And we felt it for the rest of the race.

We're $400 over our budget.

It was a show, wasn't it?

It was a show.

To get back in the game, they had to hustle.

$10.

You can do cheaper than that.

You're kidding me? Murder.

No?

This is hard, man.

We'll clean yours after if you like us to, but you have to pay us top dollar.

A jungle trek!

This is cool.

And as they got a foothold in the race...

Phew!

Give me some, man.

Their understanding of each other grew.

I thought, yes, it's gonna be an amazing race.

We'll see some amazing places, amazing countries.

Let's do it.

Ah, that feels good, isn't it?

We did it, eh?

I just did not expect the connection that we had.

I'm proud of you.

I feel more close to him than I ever have been.

I was always thinking of the wider picture.

In valle De la Luna, Bolivia,

jamiul built up the courage to seek some answers.

Why is it exactly that you left the family?

My dad was set that I should settle down and get married.

About 15 years ago, you'd get married to the person your mum and dad said.

That was the bengali culture.

I didn't see that as my future.

I had so many questions over the past decade.

I had asked so many family members what's going on?

Um, never got the right answer,

so it was just really nice to be able to get those answers from you direct.

Give me a bro hug.

I missed you, man.

I'm spending more time with my family now,

and that's what the trip's made me realize.

I mean, time is always against us.

Mission accomplished.

You could say that.

I'd lost connection with my father for 10 years.

I've started to make my time up with my dad.

Pick any card. This one, eh?

So I'm spending as much time as I can with him.

I finished the adventurous side of my life,

and I'm kind of ready to settle down and start my own family now.

Do the normal things.

I knew that if we went on this journey together,

it would bring our families together.

It was the mission. It was... It was the aim,

and I'm happy that it's happened.

I'm really glad that the family embraced it.

It is really nice.

My auntie told me that he said my name in his dream a couple of times as well.

- Really? - Wow!

Fifty-two days together, like, in each other's pockets.

And as soon as I got back...

I think the first night, I woke up and went, "where's jam?"

Can't get him away from me nowadays. Always at my house.

What you lying for?

I'm actually...

I came back from work and laz goes, "jam's in the garage."

I said, "you what? What's he doing?" "I don't know."

You were just sat there, watching TV.

It's finally here. Boom. It's ushuaia time.

The last leg saw teams jostle back and forth throughout patagonia.

Stuff the money.

We're not settling for less than first.

God, this is risky.

With just one bus a day from rio gallegos...

Oh, my god.

600 kilometers from ushuaia, the remaining three teams

came face to face with each other.

Oh, my goodness.

After 50 odd days of racing, when we all arrived at that bus stop,

it was just remarkable.

- All three of us here. - Oh, don't. This is nerve-wracking.

The race was well and truly on.

The moment we realized we weren't going to win...

Ushuaia?

Hola. ushuaia? Sí.

We saw Jen and Rob, and jamiul and emon jump into taxis,

and we were like... Rats!

A cash-strapped dom and Lizzie were forced to hitchhike.

Huh? No! No!

It came down to emon and jamiul...

Rápido, yeah?

Versus Jen and Rob.

- Oh, we're here. - Oh my god!

And one team turned to the skills they'd applied throughout the race.

We're gonna have to dump these bags.

Just when it mattered most.

Oh my days!

To get the last taxi, we didn't have enough money.

- Yeah. - What did we have to give away?

My mp3s, which you told him were iPods.

These iPods. $100 each.

- Okay. - Gracias, yeah?

Gracias.

But you showed a lot of wit and a lot of hustle

which put you in the position you're in.

And even on the final bit of the race,

you didn't have enough money to get to the end.

But you managed to find a way to get to that finish line.

Can we leave our bags here?

Oh god!

Going around that corner and seeing them, I could even cry now.

- Ah. - They're here.

How the hell are you here first?

The final bus stop,

final journey to the final checkpoint.

Where's your bags?

- No way. - Don't even.

Without their bags on, you know, ready to race.

I'm so disappointed.

Heartbroken, because, yeah, it just dawned on me then,

like we've lost, we've got no hope.

We outran the boys last time. Believe in yourself. We can do it.

- All right. Go! - Quick! Quick! Quick!

Oh god, no!

We were closest to Jen and Rob

because we spent the most amount of time with them at checkpoints.

When we heard Jen scream that was heartbreaking.

We can cut ahead to the road.

- Can't see them. - Run strong, hon.

They're behind us.

Keep moving. Keep those legs moving.

We put so much into that last leg.

Go.

This is not it.

This is it. This is it.

- Come on! - Where's the blue line?

Come on!

Oh, my god.

We did it.

Are you ready?

Just reaching the top of that peak in ushuaia.

That was... Monumental for us.

Relax. Relax. Get my name in there.

We did it. And I loved every second of it.

Literally just got there.

Well done, boys.

Look around you.

Look at this. This is what it's all been for.

You know what? I think we made up for ten years' time, eh?

It was close. It was so close.

That's what makes it so much worse.

You just had to have one more asthma attack and it would've been me, mate.

They're definitely deserving.

Not only did they beat us at the final stretch, fair and square...

One of the hardest things I've done in my life.

But the money is going to a good place, which is nice.

Yeah.

The children we've seen throughout the trip,

always had, you know, a place in my heart.

I want to give what I can to them kids.

My father has an orphanage in Bangladesh.

To give back the children of saão Paulo,

the children of Bangladesh will be a great honor.

So we'll donate £10,000 to charities

to help kids on the street.

It should not be like this.

I've got to say, you know, the whole race,

I think you were probably the most altruistic out of all of us.

You're both amazing guys.

You two are definitely worthy winners. Deserved it.

- You're definitely deserving. - I'm furious.

Actually, I forgot how mad I am.

- So close! - I'm not over it.

After 54 days, these ten brits took on the challenge of a lifetime.

The race has definitely changed me.

Drinking tea in a cloud forest. This is, like, the best day of my life.

Cheers.

Definitely more adventurous.

Definitely.

That's the real win.

I loved being part of the adventure.

- Today is holiday day. - Hear the music.

- Party vibe. Let's go! - Let's go and party.

Would I do it again? Hundred percent.

It's just such a different experience.

- Hey, we made it. - Finally made it.

Oh, wow.

And this is just the start.

Day two.

You know, we've got memories to last us forever.

An experience that will stay in my head for life.

This is just what dreams are made of.

Run, dom.

The race was crazy.

Absolutely mental.

- There's a dolphin. - Oh, there!

Oh my god!

It's like two months of intense therapy.

You're my sister and I do love you.

Okay?

We've really got to look at ourselves and be really proud of what we did.

Dom. There you go.

We'll look back at that for the rest of our lives, I think.

This trip has been remarkable in so many ways.

I wanna feel it all, feel it in my fingertips.

And we'll forever be grateful.

Rocky couldn't do this.

Met some incredible, remarkable people.

Oh, my god. Wow.

I've never seen that many fish in my life.

It's helped reconnect ourselves.

- I've got a lot of love for you, man. - Thanks, brother.

We're very lucky to have been part of it.

Yes! Come on!

Smile.

- Best view of the trip? - By far.