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and othersLies, lies and “secret” hotels. Oh, we’ve all been fooled. Race across the worldThe BBC’s wildly popular reality show – in which pairs of contestants drive, boat or crawl from one geographical point to another – has been rocked by new inside information about the show’s production. Past winners have shared tidbits on social media, revealing that they often stayed in hotels out of camera reach for safety, and that the supposedly unchaperoned contestants were in fact accompanied by members of the production team at all times. What’s next? Love Island Isn’t it for people to find true, pure romantic love? I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! No big celebrities making an appearance? Cube Is it actually closer to a rectangular prism?
Revelation Race across the world While he may have glossed over some of the details of the premise, it hardly amounts to an Edward Snowden-style whistleblower, nor was the information limited to former contestants. Race across the world On a recent episode of his Insider podcast The rest is entertainmentRichard Osman, author and presenter of The Races: The Races author, revealed some of the tricks used to film the BBC series, noting that a “chase van” was used behind each couple, carrying security and medical personnel, as well as technical equipment such as extra cameras and batteries. He explained that a second camera team also followed the racing pairs’ footsteps, capturing high-definition footage of the scenery and other scenes, which were then seamlessly woven into the finished product. But that doesn’t mean the show’s concept is entirely fake. “The couples [the follow car]”That’s why the show is so great. It feels so natural. Everything has been done to make this journey as authentic as possible,” Osman says. But this is largely irrelevant. The question of what is “authentic” is largely irrelevant.
The audience never believes they are being lied to. For example, Frozen Planet It turns out he was directing a scene that was filmed with a newborn polar bear cub at a zoo in the Netherlands. Britain’s Got Talent Winner Jules O’Dwyer discreetly switched out her performance-anxious dog for a look-alike in the tightrope finale of the ITV competition in 2015. The “reality” of reality TV is indeed a precarious pretense; once the fabrication starts to unravel, there’s nothing to be done but chip away at it. (If producers had tried the same ploy with Ant and Dec, smugly substituting two more affordable Sunderland-born guys, Archie and Dan, would we notice? Who knows!) But of course the intention isn’t just to deceive. Race across the worldThe invisible hotels are said to be set up to ensure the safety of participants and to prevent them from making dangerous journeys in the middle of the night. (The polar bears also had to be set up in the zoo for their own health.)
The question here is, “What other options are there?” After all, this is just television. The safety and well-being of those involved should come first. It would be better to survive allegations of faking than there being even the slightest chance of harm coming to the contestants. It’s not worth it.
But more than that, the urge to insist on the verisimilitude of a show like this is Race across the world Or rather, it misses the point. Described by reviewer Nick Hilton as “kind of like tourism, but more intense, condensed, concentrated and downright exhausting”, the series gained popularity not for the technical aspects of the races, but for its colour – both the alternative escapism of the documented journeys and the vivid personalities of the participants. In the series, brothers Betty and James spoke candidly about their personal problems, moving viewers to tears as Betty revealed her diagnosis of Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH syndrome), a rare congenital disorder that affects the reproductive system.
Race across the world TV isn’t reality TV, and the stakes are trivial. In the end, all that matters is what’s on the screen. Is it entertaining? Is it causing harm? Those are the two questions that really need to be answered. A show like this doesn’t ask for strict verisimilitude; it just wants you to have fun along with it. If you want to watch couples struggling over long distances with no camera crew in sight, pull up a deckchair to your local IKEA. If you want to watch something fun, Race across the world I’m sure they will.
Race Across the World is available to stream on BBC iPlayer