As he takes a break from searching for walnuts in the ancient forest of Arslanbob, western Kyrgyzstan, 19-year-old Kush Burman reflects on his relationship with his travelling companion and best friend, Jo Diop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s only in the past couple of days that I\u2019ve realised how much I value having Jo here,\u201d he says, his eyes wet with tears. \u201cI just really appreciate the fact that Jo\u2019s always up for sort of looking after me, in a way. I don\u2019t think Jo will understand, like, the difference it makes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, yeah, he\u2019s my best mate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two lads from Liverpool, the breakout stars of the latest series of the BBC\u2019s Race Across the World<\/a>, which came to an end this week, initially described their voyage as a final \u201cside quest\u201d before heading into adult life.<\/p>\n Yet as they bussed, taxied and occasionally sprinted from Sicily to Mongolia, they unintentionally unlocked another achievement. Their openness and unshakeable mutual support has cast their friendship as an antidote to the debate around toxic masculinity.<\/p>\n The pair\u2019s kindness also underlined the show\u2019s brand of uplifting television, at odds with the friction and meanness that have become the hallmarks of many reality TV formats.<\/p>\n Capturing that feelgood factor, however, came at the end of an exhaustive process to cast the five pairs who embarked on the 7,500-mile (12,000km) journey \u2013 involving rounds of background checks, interviews and meetings.<\/p>\n Jo and Kush with the other four pairs competing in this year\u2019s Race Across the World. Photograph: BBC\/Studio Lambert<\/p>\n Producers cast their net across the generations and scoured for small details in the relationships of thousands of prospective travellers.<\/p>\n \u201cCasting producers are really looking for that little story that makes them different \u2013 and honestly, that is such hard work,\u201d said Fatima Salaria, an experienced executive producer who has worked on shows such as The Apprentice.<\/p>\n \u201cThe show is literally a race, but what you are seeing are these beautiful relationships, this personal growth and all these encounters with strangers. There is a real kindness there you don\u2019t really get on telly anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Another TV insider said that, in a world full of bleak news, distributors were demanding \u201cmore feelgood TV\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere just hasn\u2019t been enough joyous, funny television being commissioned for a while, and then when things come along that are, everyone loves them,\u201d said Ben Wicks, creative director at production company Expectation TV, which has recently commissioned feelgood reality shows such as The Dyers\u2019 Caravan Park.<\/p>\n Interviewer Adam quizzes David Tennant on The Assembly. Photograph: Rockerdale Studios\/ITV<\/p>\n \u201cThe joy of operating in the real world in this way is not only that you tell stories that really aren\u2019t told anywhere near enough on television \u2013 working class stories that just get ignored \u2013 you\u2019re also able to do it in a way that\u2019s really compelling. So it\u2019s real, and it goes to places that you would never expect it would go.\u201d<\/p>\n Race Across the World also finds pairs wanting to embrace the travel experience without the ambitions of fame that come with other formats. And once the cast is in place, the key to unlocking the show\u2019s humanity lies in letting the cameras roll.<\/p>\n