Christopher Stevens reviews Celebrity Race Across The World: This is the perfect antidote to the skulduggery and betrayal of Traitors
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Celebrity Race Across The World (BBC1)
Rating:
Celebrity Traitors is having a corrosive effect on my morals. After three weeks agog at events in Claudia's castle, I'm expecting skulduggery and criminal behaviour everywhere.
As Eurovision singer Sam Ryder and best mate Kaz Coles collected the map, instructions and wad of cash needed for their Celebrity Race Across The World trek, they had an opportunity to wreck their rivals' chances.
The boys were the first to find the stash on a rooftop in the Malaysian city of Kuching. In a twist, no one else was at the starting point yet.
Sam and Kaz could have pocketed everybody's money and taken their maps too. Why not? Nothing in the rules forbids sabotage. I don't think I'd have disapproved. What kind of monster have I become?
But this is the opposite of Traitors. Everyone plays fair. And instead of scarecrows and hooded monks, many of the people they encounter are a delight; friendly and kind enough to restore even Ms Winkleman's faith in human nature.
Most obviously out of their depths are Princess and Junior Andre, the children of Peter Andre and Katie Price
Not that it's easy. Scrambling for the finish in Melbourne, Australia, almost 5,000 miles away, they faced gruelling overnight buses, bug-infested accommodation and fried food that didn't always look quite dead, on a budget of £840.
Most obviously out of their depths are Princess and Junior Andre, the children of Peter Andre and Katie Price. They were floundering from the start: 18-year-old Princess muddled Malaysia and Mauritius, and decided they must be in a country called 'Melissa'.
Her 21-year-old brother, who has worked for the London Underground, seems a decent and
sensible lad. But he was worried to discover that his sis didn't know how to press the 'stop' button on a bus. This wasn't the first time she'd used public transport, she reassured him. She'd taken a bus once before.
It's slightly alarming to realise they're adults, because I remember the 2004 series of I'm A Celebrity that flung their parents together.
Jeff Stelling, former host of Sky's Soccer Saturday, was joined by son Matt. Their dynamic was similar to the siblings: Matt was practical and slightly anxious, Jeff, 71, was a walking disaster zone but full of confidence. By the end of the first day, they'd blown a chunk of the budget on a taxi to the station, missed the last bus, and gone back to the start, where they booked a hotel.
But they managed to reach the first checkpoint, thanks largely to Jeff's unshakeable certainty that every door would open for him.
The early frontrunners were Brit-winning singer Ella Eyre, who had a No1 with Waiting All Night in 2013, and her best pal from school, Nana Pepera
The early frontrunners were Brit-winning singer Ella Eyre, who had a No1 with Waiting All Night in 2013, and her best pal from school, Nana Pepera. You can be forgiven for not knowing much about Ella's music: she releases an album once every ten years.
But the producers missed a trick as they hung around on the roadside till the small hours for a coach. Surely that was begging for a Waiting All Night soundtrack.
Who wins, though, is really beside the point. More than any other adventure series on telly, this life‑affirming show takes us to places most people never dream of visiting.
We saw speedboat taxis on a river, the harvesting of dwarf coconuts, heard rice-planting songs and witnessed shamanistic rituals.
And there's the promise of orangutans. This is the perfect antidote to Celebrity Traitors.
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