Mapping 'Race Across the World' (S1) Quiz

The first series of the British television show 'Race Across the World' featured six adventurous duos seeking to travel from London, UK to Singapore by land or water, all for the price of the airfare (£1,329 each). The show shares many features with 'The Amazing Race' in that contestants have to reach predetermined checkpoints and there are often bottlenecks - such as there only being one ferry per day to traverse a certain part of the route - which tend to level things up and make for a closer contest.

The starting line for the inaugural series was located at the magnificent Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich and it was here that five teams were introduced (one team had to withdraw later in the race and were replaced by a sixth couple): Darron & Alex (father and son from Bradford), Josh & Felix (friends from London), Natalie & Shameema (friends from London and Manchester), Sue & Clare (friends from Bishop's Stortford and Leeds) and Jinda & Bindu (husband and wife from Manchester). Their first checkpoint - Delphi!

The six episodes comprising the series were narrated by John Hannah ('Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'The Mummy' and 'Rebus').

Most contestants decided to exit London by train destined for the English port of Dover. The teams mostly managed this segment fairly effectively but the first major mistake of the show was made by lifelong friends, Sue & Clare. The duo decided to travel to Ashford, Kent to pick up a Eurostar service from Ashford International to Paris. By the time they arrived at the railway station in Ashford, the last service of the day had already departed which set them back massively. The pair unexpectedly bumped into comedian Paul Merton at the railway station!

Meanwhile, Jinda & Bindu received a phone call in Aachen, Germany that there was a family emergency back home in England which brought the couple's race to a premature end. Drafted in to replace the pair were Tony & Elaine from North Yorkshire. They adopted Jinda and Bindu's plan for the leg which entailed travel to the Italian port city of Bari via Milan. From there, Tony & Elaine crossed the Adriatic on their way to the first checkpoint.

Darron and Alex had a fantastic start to the race; whereas the majority of teams opted for the train to Dover and ferrying across to Calais, the Bradford duo instead chose to make their way to Victoria Coach Station for a cheap overnight coach to Düsseldorf, Germany. Coach travel may be cheaper but it requires more endurance than more expensive rail options.

This didn't deter Darron and Alex as they powered on by coach to Budapest, Hungary (Alex had a meltdown here). After a difficult time in Budapest, the pair chose to continue to Belgrade, Serbia by train before taking a short break in Skopje, North Macedonia to admire the statue of Alexander the Great.

The first checkpoint en route to Singapore was Delphi, the ancient home of Pythia, the 'Oracle of Delphi'. The first leg was won by London pals Josh & Felix after a successful cascade of coach journeys from Budapest to Delphi saw the pair arrive four hours before Darron & Alex. The race leaders also picked up some additional cash through accepting a job opportunity in Munich. Natalie & Shameema reached Delphi via the Italian port of Brindisi; Sue & Claire compounded their error exiting London by having to wait for nearly a day at Venice for the next ferry to Greece. Despite their delayed start, Tony & Elaine arrived just minutes after Sue & Claire.

The teams could now relax for a few days in a luxury hotel and reflect on their respective performances. The next checkpoint would be Baku, Azerbaijan and whoever would check in last would be eliminated from the race.

The second leg of the race, Delphi to Baku, was a dramatic one with the leaderboard turned upside-down. The winners of the first leg, Josh & Felix, opted for a train from Ankara to Kars but they didn't appreciate how slow the service would be. Whereas in Western Europe the train tends to be the quickest option, this was not the case traversing Turkey.

Tony & Elaine, in fifth place and with a 24 hour deficit to resolve, decided to travel across the entirety of Turkey by coach (talk about hardcore). This decision saw the couple move from fifth to first place as they arrived at The Flame Towers in Baku three hours before any other team.

Sue & Claire simply could not recover from their earlier mistakes in London and Venice; their race ended in Baku. Then there were four!

The third leg was revealed to the contestants to be Baku to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This infamous leg involved travelling across the Caspian Sea in a rather tired-looking ferry. A severe storm on the Caspian Sea meant that the ferry from Baku, Azerbaijan to Kuryk, Kazakhstan had to drop its anchor. On board were all four remaining pairs and they had to brave out the storm in difficult conditions (the food looked terrible) for five days! The contestants all looked relieved to escape the prison that the ferry had become - the race was back on!

From Kuryk, a few options were available for our explorers, one of which would be to continue travelling through Kazakhstan before dropping down to the capital of Uzbekistan via Shymkent. Josh & Felix were the only pair to take this route, taking a trip to Aral to see the remains of the Aral Sea.

Three of the four pairs decided to tackle Baku to Tashkent by traveling through Uzbek cities such as Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand, the historically important settlement on the Silk Road. Natalie & Shameema managed to befriend a native Kazakh onboard the ferry across the Caspian and he drove the pair to Khiva, saving them money but costing them time (it was a very fragmented journey along poor roads). Tony & Elaine experienced nomadic life as they worked for cash in the Kyzylkum Desert.

Darron & Alex were the first to reach the checkpoint at the Hotel Uzbekistan but all four teams arrived within seven hours of each other.

The fourth leg of the race covered a huge distance; 'Race Across the World' had reached China! A significant portion of the race could not be broadcast as the BBC were not permitted to film in Xinjiang province. There was still plenty of action ahead however as the four couples decided which route to take in order to reach the next checkpoint at Huangyao, Guangxi. Three couples chose the waypoint of Xi'an (famous for the Terracotta Army) whilst the race leaders opted to travel via the megacity of Chengdu. Darron & Alex extended their lead to 22 hours but money started to become a concern for them with less than 20% of their budget remaining.

Elaine & Tony decided to save money during this leg but this resulted in them arriving at the hotel checkpoint in Huangyao nearly forty hours behind the leaders. Four legs down, just two to go!

The fifth leg saw the teams navigating their way through Southeast Asia in search of their penultimate checkpoint on the Cambodian island of Koh Rong. With this leg being toward the tail end of the race, every pound now mattered. In order to obtain some cash, Tony & Elaine worked in a Cambodian paddy field (Tony would later injure his back in the final leg - who knows if this played a part) and Darron & Alex laboured at an elephant sanctuary.

As there were limited ferries from Sihanoukville to Koh Rong, Darron & Alex and Elaine & Tony both reached the tropical island checkpoint at the same time as each other (the latter couple with a more healthy budget). Josh & Felix and Natalie & Shameema arrived together sixteen hours later after their progress was hindered by a typhoon.

With just one leg remaining, there were realistically only two duos likely to win the inaugural series of 'Race Across the World' and the somewhat modest prize fund of £20,000.

After six episodes capturing fifty days of action, the race came down to which pair - Tony & Elaine or Darron & Alex - could make best use of their remaining budget to reach the final checkpoint of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore the fastest. Tony injured his back as the Yorkshire couple dashed through Thailand but this didn't stop them from boarding their final major coach ride (Hat Yai to Singapore) to claim the victory with a three hour lead over Darron & Alex. Natalie & Shameema arrived almost a day later after travelling via the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Josh & Felix reached the entrance to Marina Bay Sands but had no budget remaining to pay the fee to reach the resort's observation deck (I personally didn't like this outcome and thankfully it hasn't happened since). They relied on the kindness of fellow competitors Natalie & Shameema to gift them the requisite money to complete their race. It must have been one heck of a disappointment for it to have ended in this fashion.