The stars of Race Across The World 2025 at the beginning of the competition

Race Across The World might not have the Bushtucker Trials of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! or the physical demands of SAS: Who Dares Wins, but there is no doubt it is one of the toughest shows on TV – both for the contestants and the production team.

Now five seasons down and with a batch of famous faces getting ready for the third celebrity series, most viewers are now familiar with the rules of the BBC show.

As the title suggests, five pairs are tasked with racing across the globe, from a designated start point to a finish line in another country over the other side of the world.

On their journey, the teams cross various checkpoints, and are not allowed to use a smartphone or credit card, with only the cash equivalent of a one-way economy air ticket to their destination to pay for all travel, food and accommodation.

But what about all the rules that we don’t know about, and the planning that goes into making the show? Well, allow us to lift the lid…

1. The routes are tested out before the show

The route for Race Across The World's third season saw the teams traversing Canada

If you thought bosses just came up with a route for the contestants and hoped for the best, you’d be wrong. In fact, a whole team of people test it out beforehand.

Line producer Maria Kennedy told Radio Times: “You get some really brave people out on the road for a couple of months [from the production team]. [They tell us], ‘Here are going to be the sticking points. This is quite tricky. This bit is amazing’.”

She added: “They do it all on a budget as well so they’re not like going out and spending loads of money and having a great jolly. They’re literally looking at the budget and seeing if it’s possible to get by on less than 50 quid a day.”

2. For the producers, the trip is perhaps even harder than for the contestants

According to the Guardian, only two producers go on the dry run, only one of whom actually knows the route and which way they are going.

“The other person has no idea and that person is in charge of making the decisions,” series producer Lucy Curtis said.

3. A number of other unseen people travel with each team

The teams who took part in the third series at the starting point

Each time travels with two members of the production crew, a local fixer and a security adviser, but they apparently keep enough distance to “make the trip feel authentic”, the

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