Best friends from Liverpool win BBC One’s Race Across The World

The winners of the latest series of BBC One’s Race Across The World have been revealed, after they became the first to travel 7,460 miles through Europe and Asia.

Best friends Jo and Kush from Liverpool were the first to reach the final checkpoint in Hatgal, Mongolia, and claim the £20,000 prize.

Speaking moments after they realised they had won, Kush told the programme:

“I hope we did Liverpool proud. Big up scousers.”

Father and daughter Andrew and Molly came in second, just three hours behind the winners.

They were followed by siblings Katie and Harrison, and in-laws Mark and Margo were fourth.

Each team had to race from Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily, to the remote village of Hatgal on the shores of Lake Hovsgol in northern Mongolia.

They had to backpack their way across countries including Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with no smartphones, no bank cards, only limited resources and just the cash equivalent it would cost to fly the route.

The eight-part series involved them having to navigate crowds, cultural barriers, and public transport disasters.

In Thursday’s episode Jo and Kush, who were the youngest duo in the race, sprinted through a snow-covered forest to be the first to sign their names in the book at the final checkpoint.

After turning the page to discover they were the first to arrive, they celebrated by piling on top of one another in the snow.

Speaking afterwards, Kush said:

“It feels like a fever dream.

“It’s such a bittersweet feeling, because it’s now finished and that’s the end of our travelling, but it shows that all our hard work, sacrifice, loss of sleep and hunger has all succeeded and it is so fulfilling to know that it hasn’t gone to waste.

“We just wanted to get to Mongolia, so winning was just an extra joy.”

Jo added:

“It was the best trip we’ve experienced so far in our life.”

A reunion show is being broadcast on BBC One after the final episode, where the teams discuss their highs and lows and previously unseen footage will be shown.

The first interview with Jo and Kush will be available on Race Across The World: The Detour exclusively on BBC Sounds from 10pm.

The Bafta award-winning series first launched in 2019, and led to a celebrity spin-off which first aired in 2023.

All episodes of Race Across The World can be seen on BBC iPlayer.

They weren’t the only Scousers to take part in the show this year either, read more here.

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