Race Across The World fans in tears after star reveals he survived heart attack

Race Across The World viewers have been left in floods of tears after a star’s terrifying health setback was revealed.

The penultimate leg of the BBC series has seen team travel from Ugll to Kharkhorin in Mongolia, the final country of the race.

Battling freezing conditions and brutal off-road travel on the 1,550km journey, the latest leg certainly pushed the contestants to their limits as they relied on paying strangers for car shares to get to their seventh checkpoint.

However, during one point in the episode junior doctor Molly, 23, shared a terrifying story about her father Andrew, 54.

As one of the four remaining teams in the competition, the duo stayed at a family’s house in Mongolia while Andrew collected cow dung for fuel in an old wheelbarrow.

But speaking to the camera, Molly said: ‘It’s really important for daddy to seize this.

‘This is his opportunity to prove to himself that he can do it. Because three years ago my daddy had a heart attack, and it was probably the worst day of my life. That really shook me and I think it raelly shock him. Daddy realised he wasn’t invincible.’

Discussing his health battle, Andrew then said: ‘The heart attack knocked my confidence. Over the years it has just caused me a huge amount of stress and a huge amount of anxiety that I’ve never been able to kind of fully get rid of.

‘That was one of the things I said to Molly: “We need to get through the elimination because I need to get finish this”.’

As he finished his sentence, Andrew then began to fight back tears on camera, before continuing: ‘Mongolia has been a pinch-me moment that I’m here, I’m standing here. It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do.

‘This is my way of putting a full stop on heart attack, and the ability to say: “No, it’s not going to affect me anymore, but it’s going to give me positives as I make the way, journey through life.”

‘I cannot thank this whole journey enough for flicking that switch and allowing me to move on.’

Responding to the moment online, several viewers described how emotional the reveal was, as Ryan said it made him ‘tearful’.

Matthew also wrote: ‘Andrew talking about his heart attack,’ while sharing an emotional moving image of someone crying.

Also commenting, Niamh said: ‘Feel so maternal towards every pair this year 😭 they’re all so wholesome I can’t #raceacrosstheworld #RATW’

Race Across the World is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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