[TV] Race across the world

[Mellotron]

To me she came across as a downtrodden, almost bullied woman.

We never met or saw her husband, but he sounded like a right ****

Yeah, I've got an image of him in my head, something like this fella;

 

[hans kraay fan club]

To me she came across as a downtrodden, almost bullied woman.

We never met or saw her husband, but he sounded like a right ****

This is the conclusion that my wife drew, too.

Personally I think that is a massively unfair assumption. Her lack of purpose, blah, blah, doesn't have to mean that she was in any way downtrodden or bullied. The guy could just as well be an absolutely fantastic husband and father, who worked tirelessly to give them everything, with their best interests at the heart of his choices. Whether leaving her wanting for nothing, ultimately made her happy is another matter (quite possibly at the time she also felt that it did) but that is very different to casting him as an oppressive bully.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

There is some very interesting stuff on The Rest is Entertainment podcast (Richard Osman's brilliant showbiz insights pod) about how the show is put together. It was some time in March or April maybe?

 

[Arthur]

Agree, with nearly all of this.
Also, largely avoided this thread. We were actually routing for the sisters, also found the Welsh kids a bit irritating….

Really enjoy this series….

Well there you go. I found the sisters the most unlikeable of the four remaining teams.

The last episode was really gushy throughout but it was believable for all of the teams apart from them. Even the high five at the finish line seemed strained.

 

[Arthur]

I said about three weeks ago, that the producers were editing her harshly, and that she seemed far more capable than we were led to believe. All to reinforce the backstory that they were basically Welsh bumpkin children who had never left their valley before.

Last week's episode, where she absolutely BOSSED the char wallah 'job' - working the room effortlessly, sealed it for me that this was the case.

Anyway, now it is finished, and there was no risk of spoilers, I looked at their instagram pages.

Gong only by those posts, since October 2022 she (mostly with Fin) has travelled to (a minimum of):

Washington DC
New York
Edinburgh
Tenerife
Rome
Venice
Milan
Gran Canaria
Geneva
Dubai
Sydney
Gold Coast
Brisbane
Fraser Island
Whitsunday Islands
Cairns
Uluru

She's a remarkably seasoned traveller, for her age - and whilst the scale and chaos of the Chinese and Indian cities was undoubtably a little overwhelming at times, she was far more capable than the story we were fed.

She certainly went up in my estimations since my original post. She seemed to have a word with herself and it did the trick. But as you say I did wonder if that was just how it had been edited to look.

Given your findings here then I suspect that was the case. Which is slightly disappointing.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

This is the conclusion that my wife drew, too.

Personally I think that is a massively unfair assumption. Her lack of purpose, blah, blah, doesn't have to mean that she was in any way downtrodden or bullied. The guy could just as well be an absolutely fantastic husband and father, who worked tirelessly to give them everything, with their best interests at the heart of his choices. Whether leaving her wanting for nothing, ultimately made her happy is another matter (quite possibly at the time she also felt that it did) but that is very different to casting him as an oppressive bully.

You could be right.

Your wife could be right.

It just came across (to me) that she had regrets, and wished many things in her life had been different.

Just my opinion

 

[PeterT]

You could be right.

Your wife could be right.

It just came across (to me) that she had regrets, and wished many things in her life had been different.

Just my opinion

They are from Bury St Edmunds - a mate of mine has just moved there and has seen her around the town in the last few weeks, he didn’t say whether she was en route to work or heading out for coffee and cake!

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I mentioned to the missus that she might be getting a divorce when she gets home!

We (Mrs Bobkin and I) had exactly the same conversation...

 

[PeterT]

We (Mrs Bobkin and I) had exactly the same conversation...

Oh no, I hope you can sort your differences out

 

[trueblue]

Bizarrely, I'm the same. I watched the first series when it was on, but it went off my radar until this one. I now need to catch up all the ones in between.

Great television.

I wouldn't rush to watch the Canada one - or certainly leave it until last. It lacked the interesting travel in the wake of COVID, although some of the relationships just about held the show together. Thought this series was possibly the best yet.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Well there you go. I found the sisters the most unlikeable of the four remaining teams.

The last episode was really gushy throughout but it was believable for all of the teams apart from them. Even the high five at the finish line seemed strained.

Not sure about that….
I thought they were the least fake (probably the wrong description), as there was a degree of it in each team.

I like the concept of the series, the scenery and route made the show.

 

[Gazwag]

I lost interest a bit in this series when the sisters were suddenly magically helped by a random Chinese man on a train who took their (wrong currency) money disappeared up the train and returned with the exact amount of correct currency they needed to fulfil that leg.

Next series no work opportunities and give the camera to them to operate

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I wouldn't rush to watch the Canada one - or certainly leave it until last. It lacked the interesting travel in the wake of COVID, although some of the relationships just about held the show together. Thought this series was possibly the best yet.

100% - enjoyed the first one and South America one more than this one though.

 

[Gazwag]

There is a very similar show, though more competitive (the last placed couple get booted at the end of most legs), and with much bigger prizes, called 'The Amazing Race' - of which we have watched multiple series of American, Canadian and Australian versions.

the American contestants are so annoying that we've found them literally unwatchable. The Australian ones are always really good though.

I can remember watching the Amazing Race- in fact I have just looked it up and it was the 5 series which was 20 years ago. It was 72,000 miles from start to finish over 12 counties, but most memorable was these cousins, one of which was a "little person" and in one episode she had to control a horse in one of the tasks, maybe it was different times, but, that was the highlight of the series.

 

[Arthur]

Not sure about that….
I thought they were the least fake (probably the wrong description), as there was a degree of it in each team.

We'll have to agree to disagree there. To me they came across as they really didn't like each other a great deal and the show was edited to show how once they'd had a heart to heart on the 5th or 6th leg that they were now really close. However I failed to buy it.

I like the concept of the series, the scenery and route made the show.

Agree 100% with you there though. If you can put aside the fact that parts of it are obviously staged like the routes they take then it's a very watchable series and even if you can't do that it's still worth watching to see parts of the world that you wouldn't normally see on other travel programs.

 

[Pavilionaire]

A really enjoyable series, and an exciting finish. I get why some people are irritated by the human interest back story getting repeated and, perhaps, over-played but I think this helps viewers empathise and identify, and I also think it helps maintain interest in the series as viewers will listen to the stories and then take sides.

I think the sisters blagged it with producers, as their 'back story' was paper-thin, they definitely bigged up the consequences of the family split and there didn't seem to be any lifetime baggage lifted, disability overcome or emotional heartache melted away as with the other 3 couples.

 

[Boroseagull]

As others have said this was one of the best of the series as good as the South American one, I wold certainly watch that one again. The Canada one just did not work and I didn't care too much for the celebrity versions.

 

[Mellotron]

Yeah Canada series comfortably the least interesting, as the only real options were buses or hitchhiking, and they were all basically taking the same route, little variety of scenery as well. Canada looks beautiful but you want some differences throughout a series.

 

[LU7 RED]

Was going to watch it tonight - and caught the report in the Metro on the train about the winners!

My fault - but glad either them or the older guys won it -although the other two couples were fine. It's easier when you can tolerate all the teams

 

[Mellotron]

Was going to watch it tonight - and caught the report in the Metro on the train about the winners!

My fault - but glad either them or the older guys won it -although the other two couples were fine. It's easier when you can tolerate all the teams

I dunno - I couldn't stand the woman with the deaf husband that she basically bullied - yet I found it compulsive watching (especially when she lost in a photo finish........)