The fifth series of Race Across the World began airing on 23 April 2025. Each two-person team was required to complete the route from China to India without using air travel with a budget equivalent to the cost of the air fare.
The five pairs of contestants are Brian & Melvyn, Gaz & Yin, Elizabeth & Letitia, Caroline & Tom, and Fin & Sioned.
Overview The fifth series of Race Across the World was a 14,000 km race starting from the Great Wall of China, passing through Nepal and finishing at Kanyakumari on the southern tip of India. Due to it not being possible to travel by land across the Himalayas from Shangri-La in China to Kathmandu in Nepal, the contestants were flown instead from China to India to continue the race. This series features the tightest budget yet for a non-celebrity version with the contestants receiving £1,140 per person, the equivalent of £22 a day.
Filming took place over eight weeks from October to December 2024. In this series, some racers found themselves stranded by a typhoon that hit southern China in October 2024. The winning team received £20,000.
Contestants Name Relationship Occupation Age From Ref. Gaz BrownFormer husband and wife 54 Kent Yin 54 ElizabethSisters Meditation facilitator 33 Worthing Letitia 26 Lancing Fin GoughPartners 18Nantgaredig Sioned Cray Receptionist 19 Brian MoleBrothers Retired financial advisor 62 Burton upon Trent Melvyn Mole Driving instructor 65 Middlesbrough Caroline BridgeMother and son Housewife 60 Hargrave Tom Bridge Labourer 21
Results summary Colour key:
– Team eliminated – Series winners
TeamsPosition (by leg)12345678 Caroline & Tom5th4th3rd2nd1st2nd1stWinnersElizabeth & Letitia 1st1st2nd4th3rd3rd2nd2nd Fin & Sioned2nd3rd4th3rd4th4th3rd3rd Brian & Melvyn4th2nd1st1st2nd1st4th4th Gaz & Yin3rd5th5th
Route The checkpoints in the fifth series were: +LegFromTo1Huanghuacheng Reservoir Dam,Huanghuacheng, Huairou, Beijing, ChinaHuangling Shaiqiu Hotel,Huangling, Wuyuan County, Jiangxi, China2Huangling Shaiqiu Hotel,Huangling, Wuyuan County, Jiangxi, ChinaPhoenix Island Resort,Sanya, Hainan, China3Phoenix Island Resort,Sanya, Hainan, ChinaSongtsam Linka Shangri-la,Shangri-La, Yunnan, China4Tribhuvan International Airport,Kathmandu, NepalAmritara Suryauday HaveliVaranasi, Uttar Pradesh, India5Amritara Suryauday HaveliVaranasi, Uttar Pradesh, IndiaAmirtara Surya McLeodganj DharamshalaMcLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India6Amirtara Surya McLeodganj DharamshalaMcLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, IndiaThe Fern Gir Forest ResortSasan Gir, Gujarat, India7The Fern Gir Forest ResortSasan Gir, Gujarat, IndiaGrand Hyatt GoaPanaji, Goa, India8Grand Hyatt GoaPanaji, Goa, IndiaVattakottai FortKanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India
Race summary Mode of transportation Rail Boat / Ship Bus/coach Taxi Private car Cable car Aeroplane BoatActivity Working for money and/or bed and board Excursion that cost time and money
Leg 1: Huanghuacheng, China → Huangling, China
The race started from a point along the Great Wall of China overlooking the village of Huanghuacheng, and the contestants head to the first checkpoint in the village of Huangling in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi. All the racers tried to reach the city of Beijing where they can get trains to other cities, although Gaz & Yin took the wrong bus and went on a detour to Huairou. Caroline & Tom, however, failed to find a connection to their destination and was stranded in Beijing for two nights. Three teams went down the eastern China via Shandong; Fin & Sioned went via Qingdao to Shanghai, Gaz & Yin also went to Shanghai but via Qufu, while Caroline & Tom went through Jinan to Suzhou. Brian & Melvyn and Elizabeth & Letitia chose the inland routes; Brian & Melvyn went to the ancient capital Luoyang where they visited the Longmen Grottoes, while Elizabeth & Letitia went to Shijiazhuang and Bengbu where they worked on a farm for bed and board.
Elizabeth & Letitia took a train directly to Wuyuan from Bengbu, while Fin & Sioned went via Hangzhou. The teams had to take a cable car to reach the village of Huangling. Brian & Melvyn went on another trip to Nanjie, and did not reach Huangling until the following day. Caroline & Tom found that there was no direct train from Suzhou to Wuyuan and had to travel out of the way via Hefei, which meant they fell behind other teams.
OrderTeamsRouteTime behind leadersMoney left1Elizabeth & LetitiaHuanghuacheng → Beijing → Shijiazhuang → Bengbu → Wuyuan → → Huangling valign="top" 88%2Fin & SionedHuanghuacheng → Beijing → Qingdao → Shanghai → Hangzhou → → Wuyuan → → Huangling 2 hours 59 minutes 88%3Gaz & YinHuanghuacheng → Huairou → Beijing → Qufu → Shanghai → Wuyuan → → Huangling 6 hours 49 minutes83%4Brian & MelvynHuanghuacheng → Beijing → Louyang → Longmen Grottoes → Nanjie → Wuyuan → → Huangling 21 hours 16 minutes 84%5Caroline & TomHuanghuacheng → Beijing → Jinan → Suzhou → Hefei → → → Huangling 25 hours 38 minutes 87%
Leg 2: Huangling, China → Sanya, China
The race restarted on day 6 and the checkpoint was revealed to be the city of Sanya on Hainan Island. Teams had to backtrack to Wuyuan HSR Station, from there, all teams travelled onward to Shangrao Railway Station. Two teams, Elizabeth & Letitia and Gaz & Yin chose to travel inland into rural China on slow overnight trains in the cheapest seats available. Gaz & Yin headed towards the ancient town of Fenghuang in Hunan Province to work at a noodle bar, with Gaz as an usher for customers and Yin as a dishwasher; while Elizabeth & Letitia arrived in Hengyang on a K-series train transferred to a bullet train to Guilin before boarding a bus to Longji Rice Terraces, Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi to visit rice paddies.
Meanwhile, Fin & Sioned, Brian & Melvyn and Caroline and Tom chose the coastal route via Fujian Province, with Fin & Sioned setting their sights on the coastal metropolis of Xiamen, and Brian & Melvyn choosing to travel to the sightseeing spot of Chuxi Tulou cluster in Xiayang, Yongding County, Longyan for work. Caroline and Tom, trying to catch up, also went to the city of Xiamen before finding their way to Guangzhou. Upon arrival in Guangzhou, they booked train tickets to Zhanjiang departing the afternoon of the day after. The morning of the day after, they worked as a cleaner and learn Kung Fu at a gym in Foshan, the birthplace of Bruce Lee's master Ip Man, before catching their train to Zhanjiang in the afternoon. Fin & Sioned spent some time on the beach of Zhuhai. Brian & Melvyn worked in Chuxi by helping to harvest bamboo shoots and Chinese herbal medicine.
Upon leaving Fenghuang, Gaz and Yin travelled to work on a family farm in Jiangtou ancient village in Jiuwu, Lingchuan County, Guangxi. Yin and Gaz paid for their food and board by working on a paddy field digging up lotus roots. All the other four teams also closed in on the checkpoint, making a final push to the checkpoint Sanya by making their way towards Zhanjiang and Xuwen.
An unforeseen circumstance of this episode was Typhoon Trami that was approaching the island of Hainan. With long-distance coach services being preemptively cancelled before the typhoon arrived, Brian and Melvyn had to pay for high speed rail services which were the only form of transportation they can still use. Elizabeth & Letitia were the first to arrive on Hainan Island by ferry amid torrential downpours due to the typhoon. They chose to take a bus from the ferry port in Haikou to Sanya, while Brian & Melvyn and Fin & Sioned took the train from Haikou to Sanya. From Sanya, the teams were given an instruction on their GPS to make their way to Sanya Qiche Zhan by any available means, either on foot or by taxi, before heading west on foot to find the beach and across the bridge to find the checkpoint hotel located at Phoenix Island Resort. Three pairs managed to make it to the checkpoint hotel by the end of this episode, with Elizabeth & Letitia finishing first and arriving at the hotel first at 19:57 on day 12, followed by Brian & Melvyn, and Fin & Sioned.
Two teams, Caroline & Tom and Gaz & Yin had not managed to reach Sanya, the checkpoint of this leg by the end of the episode. The torrential downpour stranded Caroline & Tom at Xinhai Harbour in Haikou. Gaz & Yin meanwhile were still on the mainland as the ferry service they were on could not depart for safety reasons. Gaz & Yin eventually arrived at the hotel almost two days behind the first team, and over a day behind the fourth team Caroline & Tom. OrderTeamsRouteTime behind leadersMoney left1Elizabeth & LetitiaHuangling → Wuyuan → Shangrao → Hengyang, Hunan → Guilin, Guangxi → Longji Rice Terraces, Guangxi →Guilin, Guangxi → Zhanjiang, Guangdong → Xuwen Port, Zhanjiang → Haikou, Hainan →Phoenix Island Resort, Sanya, Hainan valign="top" 2Brian & MelvynHuangling →Wuyuan → Shangrao → Chuxi Tulou cluster, Yongding, Longyan, Fujian → Guangzhou → Zhanjiang, Guangdong → Xuwen Port, Zhanjiang → Haikou, Hainan →Phoenix Island Resort, Sanya, Hainan3 hours and 54 minutes3Fin & SionedHuangling →Wuyuan → Shangrao → Xiamen, Fujian → Zhuhai, Guangdong → Zhanjiang, Guangdong → Xuwen Port, Zhanjiang → Haikou, Hainan → Phoenix Island Resort, Sanya, Hainan5 hours and 29 minutes4Caroline & TomHuangling →Wuyuan → Shangrao →Xiamen, Fujian → Guangzhou, Guangdong → Zhanjiang, Guangdong → Xuwen Port, Zhanjiang → Haikou Port New Seaport → Phoenix Island Resort, Sanya, Hainan18 hours and 40 minutes73%5Gaz & YinHuangling →Wuyuan → Shangrao → Fenghuang, Hunan → Hengyang, Hunan → Jiangtou, Lingchuan County, Guangxi → Zhanjiang, Guangdong → Xuwen Port, Zhanjiang → Haikou, Hainan → Phoenix Island Resort, Sanya, Hainan44 hours and 4 minutes67%
Leg 3: Sanya, China → Shangri-La, China
Teams race from Sanya in Hainan island to Shangri-La, Yunnan, China. On day 15, Elizabeth & Letitia were the first duo to leave and they chose to go north through the Guizhou province. Brian & Melvyn were the second to leave and they chose the direct route to the west to Yunnan by taking an overnight bus to Nanning, Guangxi.
Brian & Melvyn went from Nanning to Puzhehei in Qiubei County, Yunnan where they worked for accommodation removing dead lotus leaves in a lake. Caroline & Tom hopped from bus to bus to Nanning. Fin & Sioned caught up with Elizabeth & Letitia in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, and both took the same train o Liuzhou in Guanxi. Fin & Sioned worked as cleaners in a hair salon in Liuzhou, while Elizabeth & Letitia →went on a sightseeing trip. Elizabeth & Letitia, however, had problems finding their hotel, and missed the connecting train to Anshun, Guizhou where they planned a homestay in Xueyuan village. Caroline & Tom went from Nanning to Funing County, Yunnan, but Tom left his moneybag at the hotel, fortunately the cleaner managed to find it among the rubbish cleaned out from the room. They worked in a restaurant while waiting for a train to Kunming, Yunnan. Elizabeth & Letitia also had money trouble as they were running out of local currency, but managed to find someone who exchanged the money on the train for them.
All teams had to travel to Kunming in Yunnan to catch a train to Shangri-La, Yunnan. Fin & Sioned went to Guiyang, Guizhou for some sightseeing, before taking a train to Kunming. In Shangri-La, Yunnan, the teams were directed to Ganden Sumtseling Monastery and from there they went to the checkpoint hotel, Songtsam Linka. Brian & Melvyn were the first team to arrive at the hotel on the 18th day, while the other three teams reached their destination on day 19.
Gaz & Yin, leaving a long way behind the other teams, attempted to catch a train to Nanning but failed, and had to go to Maoming, Guangdong to try to go to Kunming. The other teams however, had reached their destination and they were eliminated.