BBC One’s Celebrity Race Across the World reached its thrilling conclusion on Thursday 11 December with Broadcaster Roman Kemp and his sister Harleymoon, becoming the first to reach the final checkpoint and be crowned the winning team.
In one of the most edge-of-your-seat and suspenseful finals ever to be seen on Race Across the World, Roman and Harleymoon Kemp were the first to make it to the remote and breathtaking Península de La Guajira in Colombia, with Presenter and DJ Tyler West and actor and singer, Molly Rainford following just 2 minutes behind. Broadcaster and writer Anita Rani and her dad, Bal came in 6 hours behind, finishing third in the race.
After a nail-biting 4×4 journey, boat ride and a foot race up a cliffside, Roman and Harleymoon opened the guest book to discover they had reached the final checkpoint in first place. In complete disbelief, Roman said: “We did it” with Harleymoon saying: “I don’t understand that we’ve come first, let’s write our names before they get here to make sure it’s true.”
Reflecting on their victory, which saw them race 5,900 km across the undiscovered Caribbean and Pacific coast of Central America, Harleymoon said: “I’m so overwhelmed, I don’t know whether to be sick, to celebrate – I feel in shock.”
Roman added: “That was the most adrenaline, most emotion that I’ve had ever.”
Harley continued: “I could hear the rocks crumbling behind me where they were so close. I’ve never run like that in my whole life.”
Roman added, embracing Harleymoon: “You were saying were saving first for that last one, and you were right.”
Visibly emotional, Molly and Tyler can be seen waiting for Roman and Harleymoon to finish writing their names in the book with Tyler saying: “we did it, I’m proud of you, I’m proud of us.” and Molly adding: “I think they’re a mixture of happy tears, just absolute shock and pride.” Tyler continued: “the fact that we were here, 20m away and if it weren’t for a broken engine, we’d be first on that list, I’m not worried! That’s life innit.”
Over 5 hours later, Anita and Bal reached the checkpoint in third place with Anita saying: “Ah third, but still amazing. Dad, same day!” Bal added: “We were over 18 hours behind, so that’s 12 hours we’ve caught up.” Anita concluded: “We are very, very proud of ourselves, well done you dad, you are amazing dad, do you know that?”
Earlier on in the episode, Dylan and Jackie decided to leave the race due to limited budget. Reflecting on the journey, Jackie said: “The race has made me realise I should have more faith in myself and to embrace life. I feel like a new woman and it’s taken me nearly 60 years to feel like this, but I’m a better person for the whole experience.” Dylan added: “My mum has helped me grow, she’s got that best version of Dylan out of me, and hopefully I can continue to be a better Dylan. This journey has been amazing, it’s shown me that there’s a whole world out there and I’ll always keep this with me.”
The ultimate adventure has seen the pairs race through one of the most diverse and visually stunning routes yet, spanning the undiscovered Caribbean and Pacific coast of Central America. The journey began on the idyllic Caribbean island of Isla Mujeres, just off the easternmost point of Mexico and challenged teams to race 5,900km to reach the finish line in the remote and breathtaking Península de La Guajira in Colombia – the gateway to South America.
They have successfully reached the finish line without access to lavish transport, smartphones or bank cards, instead relying on limited budgets, local transport and their own resourcefulness, as well as the kindness of strangers.
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Interview with the winners
How does it feel to have won Celebrity Race Across the World?
Harleymoon: Honestly, surreal. We had dreamt about the final checkpoint for weeks and weeks on end, and we’d had sleepless, sweaty nights wondering if we’d ever get there. So to actually have done it and won it is just unbelievable.
Roman: Do you know what’s funny – when we were staying in Medellin, in the checkpoint hotel, the day we left the hotel, you could write on the mirror in the room and I wrote on it saying Harleymoon and Roman, winners of Race Across the World. I think about that quite a lot.
Harleymoon: We also screamed into the ocean, ‘we’re going to win’. I just kept saying the whole journey, ‘don’t worry. Ro, we’ll be first at the end’. And I kept saying it out loud.
It was a real nail-biting finish, was there a moment when you realised that you’d won it?
Harleymoon: Not until I saw Roman nearing the book and then him start to come back for me. My memory of that very, very end moment of touching the book was the whole way from jumping out the boat. Roman was so quick. He was like a daddy long legs, with his skinny long limbs, floating through the wind like a dandelion. I was feeling so sick because I really was struggling to want to keep running. But I could hear Molly and Tyler’s footsteps on the gravel behind me, and that was the only thing. And I remember Roman saying, when they chase you, don’t look behind you just keep going. And in my mind, I was like, don’t turn around. Don’t turn around. But they felt like they were two feet behind me, because I could hear all the rocks going. No one was talking, no one’s shouting, no one’s saying anything. It was so, so hot, we were just scrambling over this rocky terrain. I just thought, don’t stop. Don’t stop. And then it wasn’t until I heard the rocks all go quiet, and I thought they stopped running. And I looked up and I saw Roman had touched the book. My legs were like jelly, I couldn’t even run, the adrenaline, the nerves, the overwhelming sense of what has just happened. Its the fastest I’ve ever run in my life. I’ve never run before, let alone been chased by the fittest couple in the world.
What was the moment you’ll never forget?
Roman: I’ll never forget in that final chase, our boat going and hearing Molly and Tyler’s boat not starting… Harley went silent, she went into, rigor mortis. I think Harley, at that point, realised, oh shit.
Harleymoon: I didn’t think we would beat them. That’s the truth. I really didn’t. When we started running and I couldn’t run, my heart was racing, my legs went to jelly. At one point Molly overtook me, and she had these cute little sporty bum shorts on, and I thought she’s about 10 years younger than me, that bum was pert and it was running ahead.
Roman: I think the moments that I will always look back on are those nights where the cameras are off and it’s just me and Harley in the room together. We went back to being the kids again – those moments were really, really nice.
Harleymoon: As a reflection as a whole, me and Roman were on buses for 24 hours together, and we were just cool and I think, wow, spending that much time together and getting on as best mates and then winning it. That’s so cool, so special.
What was the first thing you did when you got home?
Harleymoon: Went to an Italian restaurant and got seafood pasta and a massive glass of wine. Also Roman doesn’t really drink, so even if we did have a couple of dollars free on the race and I was like, shall we buy a beer, he was always like, no, I’m good! I went with my best friend, and it was the tastiest thing I’ve ever eaten.
Was there a particular moment or decision, do you think that helped lead you to victory?
Harleymoon: No, I think it was consistent teamwork. I think we both looked after each other so much. I think, obviously, emotionally, I looked after Roman, but physically, he organised that race for us and made sure that we had enough money and triple checked we were going in the right direction. And I think, you know, a massive chance of luck on that run route.
What’s the experience done for your relationship?
Harleymoon: Absolutely changed our relationship. What’s funny is that me and Roman have quite sensitive conversations on the show, which we’ve never had anywhere else, and I think it’s been the biggest learning and understanding of each other and how to treat each other, because maybe before, we wouldn’t have made the time to have those conversations, or it wouldn’t have been that deep, because we’d just have it in a coffee shop. I think being able to really understand how funny Roman is, how caring Roman is, how loving Roman is, what type of environments he’s happy in and going to thrive in… and I think that has changed our relationship moving forwards.
We’ve seen each other a lot more and he’s even invited me out for dinner!
Has the experience changed the way you’ll travel in future?
Harleymoon: It’s made me really want to get to know the places that you travel, rather than just go to a hotel and see the tourist trap. Doing those home stays was just amazing. You literally go into their bedrooms, go into their kitchens, eat their food, try their way of life, and I loved it. Having a wide perspective on the world is really important so that we don’t get caught up in our own problems and our own issues. Being able to dive into all these different worlds has inspired me so much. And I think if there’s a way that I can do more travel where you really get to experience the country, I would like to do that more.
What advice would you give to future contestants taking part?
Harleymoon: The main thing for me is that I was shocked at how much the competition drives you. I thought I was just going to go and be free and travel, and it looks so fun, but you are waking up five times a night, sweating, wondering where you are in the race, and you can’t help it. It’s bizarre. I’d be prepared to fall in love with competitions.
Will you keep in touch with the other teams?
Harleymoon: Definitely. When you experience what we experience, it’s not just travel. It’s the race element, being logged off from the rest of the world. There’s so many parts to that journey which are really hard to hard to understand that they’re all happening at the same time. You don’t have a phone, that you’re in a race, that you’ve got no budget, that you’re boiling hot and you’re stinking and you’re still trying to move to the next country, and only those people that were on the race with us understand what that feels like. And I think we’ll always have that connection. We have a WhatsApp group and we talk about stuff that happened on the trip – it’s a nice friendship we’ve made with them.
What do you hope viewers will take away from watching your journey.
Harleymoon: For me personally, I get lots of messages from people, particularly women, who have said that they were really happy about me saying that I was single and I don’t have kids and I’m still finding life really happy. It made me feel really good, because I do genuinely feel that way that we don’t have to look around and worry about what other people are doing. Life is a momentary thing that you just enjoy it. So it’s not to worry about what you don’t have, like I said in one of the episodes, what if this moment is the best we’ll ever have? You don’t want to waste time worrying.
Roman: I think when Harley said what if this moment is the best we’ll ever have is the best line of the series.
Harleymoon: Roman has had loads of messages from people saying that they love how he’s been so openly vulnerable. Because, you know, Roman is incredible. He hosts TV shows, he hosts radio shows. You’ve got this incredibly talented guy with a successful career, but you can still have a really vulnerable side to you, and that’s okay. And I think people really resonate with that and that just because you live one way you’ve got the perfect life. I feel really proud of him and how he’s opened up like that.
Could you describe your journey in three words?
Roman: What the hell? You’re like what is going on the whole time and then all of a sudden you’ve won it and you’re like what??!
Harleymoon: I kind of want to say something like rejuvenating, because it was rejuvenating for your mind to go through that kind of spiritual detox. Kindness was important and fun.
What will you miss most now the race is over?
Harleymoon: The time with Roman.
Roman: Spending time with Harley.
What’s the reaction been like from you’re The One Show colleagues, your podcast, just to you being on the race?
Roman: I think they’ve really enjoyed it. The one thing for me that stands out is everyone talking about how they love Harley, and they love seeing my sister. I think that’s what’s been so refreshing for me. I don’t really like it when people are just talking about me – that’s why it’s a nice thing when people talk to me about my dad and my mum, but no one ever really spoke to me about Harley because they didn’t know her. So that’s been definitely the number one nicest thing.
Harleymoon: The amount of people that have messaged me on social media saying how brave Roman is speaking about mental health and how much they appreciate people talking about it and being honest, and how inspiring and refreshing it is to have a young, successful boy who you think has it all, but open to sharing that he’s been on antidepressants.
Roman – you seemed to pick up Spanish really well?
Roman: It was a bit weird to be honest. I don’t really know how. In school, my whole thing was mimicking, I could do a really good impression of people. So I think that impressions actually helped me because it made me realise, oh, I can pronounce that word. Also, the best thing about having no phone and being around people that genuinely don’t speak English, is that your brain goes, you’ve got to do this. You’ve got to learn, because if you don’t, they’re not going to understand you.
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