British radio presenter Anita Rani and her father Bal Singh Nazran have revealed they were ‘mistaken for refugees’ while filming Celebrity Race Across The World.
The BBC series sees four celebrity duos quite literally Race Across The World from the Caribbean island of Isla Mujeres for 5,900km to reach Península de La Guajira in Colombia, crossing various checkpoints as they go, all without phones and internet access for help.
Anita and Bal, from Bradford, will appear on the new series, dropping on Thursday November 6, alongside other celebrities and their chosen fighters including actor Dylan Llewellyn and his mum, Jackie; partners, presenter and DJ Tyler West and actor and singer, Molly Rainford, and broadcaster Roman Kemp and his sister, singer-songwriter, Harleymoon Kemp.
Now broadcaster Anita has revealed in an interview with the Daily Mail that she and Bal were mistaken for refugees as they rushed to country borders, asking for help along the way.
‘We were filming in a hotel in Mexico and the owners thought we were refugees,’ Anita told the publication.
‘It is because we kept asking where the border was, as we were obviously trying to get to the next location point.
‘We were asking this hotel at night and we were asking where the border was.
‘And because they did not speak any English they translated on their mobile phone and kept asking if we needed sanctuary.’
The Woman’s Hour host added: ‘We were asking how to get to the border and there we are, these cultural ambiguous looking brown people in Central America.’
Another memorable moment was when Bal stayed in his first ever backpackers hostel, where lots of young people were tattooing each other, and Anita worried about him seeing people smoking weed.
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‘They were like 16 or 17-year-olds from all over the world and I was like “Now dad. You are going to see people smoking weed.” He was like “as long as I don’t get high!”‘ she recalled.
Meanwhile Derry Girls star Dylan and his mum Jackie will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Caroline and Tom, who were the first mother-son duo to win the series in the civilian competition earlier this year.
Of their experience on the show, Llewellyn said: ‘It’s like a whole whirlwind of emotions, and so many struggles and challenges.
‘But also, I feel like you grow a lot as a person. I feel like I’m a better person after it.
‘We were a great team, we helped each other a lot. We had each other’s backs.’
While recently engaged DJ Tyler and Molly promised the series is ‘going to be good’, radio star Roman called the experience the ‘scariest thing’ he’s ever done.
‘It was high-octane, the scariest thing I have ever had to do in my life. Genuinely the most incredible thing I’ve ever done,’ he said.
‘Me and Harley live very separate lives. We live close but never really get to hang it. We realised we haven’t been on holiday together since we were 13.
‘And also, we’re sharing a bed together for six, seven weeks and I start to remember her snoring and start going, how here we go.’
Meanwhile, Harleymoon called it the ‘biggest adventure I could ever have imagined and the hardest challenge’ as she nodded to some ‘massive lows’ on the journey.
Last year’s series came to a nail-biting end, shortly before Scott Mills and his husband Sam clinched the 2024 win.
The first episode of Race Across The World airs on Thursday November 6 at 8pm on BBC One.
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