Celebrity Race Across the World series 3

The third series of Celebrity Race Across the World was a race over 5,900 kilometres (3,700 mi) across Central America, starting in Isla Mujeres, Mexico and finishing in the Península de La Guajira, Colombia. It is the eighth overall series in the UK's Race Across the World franchise, and the third iteration of the celebrity edition.

It was announced by the BBC on 18 September 2025, and began airing on 6 November 2025 in the 8pm time slot on BBC One. The series consisted of six hour-long episodes and starred four pairs of competitors - broadcaster and writer Anita Rani and her dad, Bal; actor Dylan Llewellyn and his mum, Jackie; romantic partners, radio presenter Tyler West and actor and singer Molly Rainford; and broadcaster Roman Kemp and his sister, singer-songwriter Harleymoon.^[1][2]

Race Across the World debuted in 2019, with Race Across the World series 1 airing six episodes from 3 March to 7 April that year with the teams racing from London to Marina Bay, Singapore.^[3] The first celebrity series of the programme aired from 20 September to 25 October 2023, with the teams racing from Marrakesh to Tromsø, Norway.^[4] This series was won by weather presenter Alex Beresford and his father, Noel.

The third celebrity series was announced on 18 September 2025. Of this year's route, series producer Philip McCreery stated, “we’re trying to make an adventure that you could not buy, on a route that will take 32 days, as well as something that takes in different landscapes and cultures – a journey through deserts, to the sea, the jungle. A lot of areas in the world have just one road all the way through, but here, there are many ways you can choose to travel. We have to make sure it’s safe, while also feeling raw and authentic. And we have to make sure it’s a route that has diversity and, while every series has an arc, every episode also has its own identity.” During filming, each team has an embedded video director/producer to monitor their wellbeing and report back to the production teams both on location and in London on their movements. Each pair also has a driver, researcher, multiskilled agent (medic/security), and a "fixer" who speaks the local language to ensure the teams are safe at all times during the race. Producers are not permitted to give clues to the teams or to intervene in their decision-making.^[5]

The race had five checkpoints with enforced rest periods, with contestants only finding out the next destination on departure from a checkpoint. Teams were given a budget of £950 per person – the equivalent air fare for travelling the race route. Contestants were not permitted to subsidise their budgets, but short-term opportunities allowed them to work for money or bed and board. The contestants were not allowed access to telephones or the internet, but were provided with a map, travel guide, directory of local jobs, and GPS tracker.

The full line-up of contestants was announced throughout the day on 18 September 2025 across various BBC programmes: Llewellyn on series two winner Scott Mills' Radio 2 show, Rani on Radio 4's Woman's Hour, West and Rainford on West's Kiss FM show, and Kemp on The One Show, which he co-hosts.^[6]

Colour key:

  – Team withdrawn

  – Series winners

The checkpoints in the third celebrity series were:

The four teams arrive on the Isla Mujeres by boat to hand over their mobile phones, cash, and bank cards, and to collect their race essentials. The final destination of Guajira Peninsula, the northernmost point of the South American continent, was revealed, as was the first checkpoint, Flores, Petén in Guatemala, over 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) away. The race began at 3pm from Half Moon Beach on Isla Mujeres on the shoreline of the Great Maya Reef.

The teams manage to locate the only port to make it off the island and take the ferry to mainland Cancún. They must then decide which route to take to the checkpoint - the most direct route through Belize, which will mean going through two border crossings, or remaining in Mexico and taking a longer route to the Guatemalan border. Anita and Bal opt to go through Belize so that they can visit the Maya ruins. They find an overnight bus which takes them straight to Chetumal, the closest city to the Belizean border crossing. Also desiring to save on accommodation costs, Tyler and Molly get an overnight bus 490 kilometres (300 mi) to Campeche. Roman and Harley Moon, undecided on which route to take, travel 200km to Valladolid in order to get out of the expensive Cancún and keep their options open. Dylan and Jackie decide to remain in Cancún.

Two team elect to work for free bed and board, with Tyler and Molly harvest chilli peppers at the Hacienda San Diego Chavi, and Roman and Harley Moon mucking out horse stables at Charros de Rosarito Ranch. The latter team take local advice and decide to go through Belize to the checkpoint, following in Anita and Bal's footsteps by getting a bus to Chetumal and then cross the border to Santa Elena. Growing concerned about falling behind, Dylan and Jackie opt for a costly train from Cancún to Mérida and experience the local music scene there, and then take a second train to Escárcega. Entering Belize, Anita and Bal travel up the New River and visit the Jaguar Temple at the Lamanai archaeological site before hitchhiking to Belize City and taking a bus to the border town of San Ignacio.

Roman and Harley Moon manage to find a bus direct from Santa Elena to Flores, covering a total of 360 kilometres (220 mi), but it breaks down in Belize City, hampering their progress. They eventually get back on the road, making it to Melchor de Mencos in the Petén Department and then hitchhiking to Flores. Tyler and Molly cross the border into Guatemala and choose to have an extra three hours of sleep in El Naranjo before catching a bus to Flores. Dylan and Jackie travel by high speed train to Tenosique.

Once in Flores, the team are tasked with using local landmarks (Parque Concordia and Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios) to navigate to the checkpoint at the Las Luciernagas Hotel, which is only accessible by boat. Anita and Bal reach the checkpoint first at around midday of day 4. Roman and Harley Moon arrive 23hrs later, followed by Tyler and Molly who, hampered by their lie-in, arrive around an hour and a half later. Dylan and Jackie finish in last place.

The race recommenced on day 6 (for Anita and Bal) and day 7 (for the other teams), with the second checkpoint being revealed as El Zonte, a town in the La Libertad Department of El Salvador that is 940 kilometres (580 mi) to the south of Flores. For safety reasons, the teams were instructed that they were not allowed to travel after dark during this leg due to an increase in trafficking and crime during the night. Each pair must decide whether to travel through the mountainous heartland of Guatemala, explore the Caribbean coasts of southern Belize, or navigate through Honduras.

Two teams, Anita and Bal, and Roman and Harley Moon) choose to remain in Guatemala, aiming to reach Cobán by bus, but their progress is halted by protests over the government's plan to implement compulsory car insurance laws, causing the blockage of all roads. Roman and Harley Moon travel through the Punta de Chimino, working at the island's nature lodge for bed and board before staying in Sayaxché, while Anita and Bal are forced to stay in San Agustín Lanquín until the protests end. Dylan and Jackie manage to unknowingly avoid the blockades by for Honduras, passing through the border town of Morales and working as cacao farmers to replenish their cash reserves. Tyler and Molly, hoping to connect to their Caribbean heritage, opt to travel along the coast to Hopkins in Belize and work at Ella's Coolspot, a local restaurant, before getting ferry across the Caribbean Sea to Honduras.

When the protests subside, Roman and Harley Moon continue to head to Cobán, while Anita and Bal travel 290 kilometres (180 mi) west to Quetzaltenango in order to avoid the still-congested Guatemala City, spending big on a taxi to try and make up for lost time, then working at a bar to compensate. Running into more road issues, Roman and Harley Moon are forced to continue on foot. Molly and Tyler take the boat from Placencia to Puerto Cortés and then eventually make it to the village of Quezailica in Honduras, while Dylan and Jackie also arrive in Quezailica, and work for a local family of tobacco farmers in exchange for bed and board at their home.

Tyler and Molly take the bus to Ocotepeque and cross the border into El Salvador, while Anita and Bal cross the border from the west via Guatemala City once the road are all clear of the protests. In Antigua, Roman and Harley Moon are forced to pay for a costly hostel, having arrived during busy their tourism season. Having overspent on food during the leg, Tyler and Molly make their way to the border on foot. Once in El Zonte, the teams are given directions in order to locate the second checkpoint, a hotel just off the Playa El Zonte. Once again, Anita and Bal arrive first, reaching the checkpoint just before 2pm on day 11, with the other three teams all arriving within four hours. Roman and Harley Moon came second, followed by Tyler and Molly, with Dylan and Jackie in fourth place only four minutes behind them.

Three teams chose to travel via the land border between El Salvador and Honduras at El Amatillo, in fact they all arrived at the border at the same time and got the same bus eastwards, whilst only one team (Roman and Harley Moon) used the water crossing via La Unión.

As permission to film in Nicaragua was denied, the teams were flown to Guanacaste Airport in Liberia, Costa Rica, where the race resumed. From there, Molly & Tyler opted to travel along the Pacific coast, picking up work in Puerto Jiménez and crossing the Panamanian border in the south, whilst all other teams travelled via Limón and the Sixaola border crossing: Anita & Bal travelled through the highlands, working at an eco-resort in El Castillo; Roman & Harley Moon travelled through Tamarindo and San José, picking up work in each of these locations so that they could spend on taxis; and Dylan & Jackie opted to head through San José and Tortuguero, getting an expensive but fast boat option from Tortuguero to Limón to place themselves ahead of the other teams.

All teams had to travel to Panama City, then get a 4×4 transfer to the port at Puerto Tupile Dibin, Cartí, Panama and travel by sea through Guna Yala to Capurganá, Colombia and thence take a boat to Turbo. Upon arrival in Turbo, all teams received a notification on their GPS trackers that due to reports of armed attacks in the Antioquia Department, they would be driven to Betancur Airport and flown thence to Medellín.

In the final leg, Dylan and Jackie decided to leave the race "on their own terms" after finding that they had too little money left to complete the race.^[13] Roman and Harleymoon arrived at the island just seconds before Molly and Tyler, and narrowly beat Molly and Tyler in a foot race.^[14]

• Celebrity Race Across the World series 3 at BBC Online