Race Across the World series 2

The second series of Race Across the World began airing on 8 March 2020 with five teams setting off from Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City in a race to the most southerly city in the world, Ushuaia in Argentina, covering a distance of 25,000 km in 2 months, passing through 7 checkpoints in Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Argentina.

[2] The no-fly rule was abandoned this series due to civil unrest in Ecuador which made land travel through the country unsafe, and all the teams were flown from Colombia to Peru to continue the race.

Jo & Sam also initially intended to go to Belize, but a stranger in San Cristóbal de las Casas advised them the ideal route was via Guatemala.

This proved fortunate as it allowed them to reach Copán Ruinas first on day 6 of the race, despite stopping along the way to work for money at an organic farm in Antigua Guatemala.

After stopping in Limón, Costa Rica to work in a farm with the Bribri tribe, they arrived at the checkpoint in Panama City first on Day 14 of the race.

They overtook Jen & Rob, who took a break in León and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and were the last team to arrive at Panama City.

In Honduras, after buying food at a stop, Michael found that he had lost his money belt containing £1,155, more than half of the team's remaining funds.

The original destination was to be Quito, Ecuador; however, due to civil unrest, the checkpoint was moved to the Bethel Hotel near Villavieja in the Tatacoa Desert of Colombia.

The teams were instructed to avoid the Darién Gap, so they travelled by sea over the northern coast of Panama from Puerto Tupile in Cartí to the Colombian town Capurganá.

Jen & Rob managed to catch the next boat 5 minutes later, but Emon & Jamiul wrongly believed they had missed their chance, and decided to stay for a day at Capurganá and worked at a local scuba-diving school.

Emon & Jamiul went to Trujillo and they worked with fishermen for bed and board at Huanchaco, while Jen & Rob went via Chiclayo to a sanctuary for the spectacled bear.

Jo & Sam chose a more expensive bus ride for greater comfort, as well as taking a break to go sandboarding in the desert oasis of Huacachina near Ica before travelling to their destination in Puno, which depleted their funds.

However, as they did not stop to work along the way, Jo & Sam reached the checkpoint first, a hotel on an island connected to the shore of Lake Titicaca at Puno.

The three teams travelled via La Paz but needed to pass through Bolivia within three days due to a pending election which would close the border.

Dom suffered a seizure while trying to leave Puno, and was forced to stay an extra day back at the checkpoint hotel, before he and Lizzie left 35 hours after the leaders.

Jen & Rob, despite missing their boat and bus and working in a hostel in Porto Alegre, travelled the quickest and reached the destination in Mendoza, Argentina first on Day 47.

Dom & Lizzie also had to find ways to save on money, and decided to hitch-hike from the border of Argentina to Posadas, where they worked cleaning boats, before travelling to Mendoza.

Jo & Sam no longer had enough money to finish the leg, so were forced to travel in the opposite direction for work in Rio de Janeiro.

[21] Anita Singh of The Telegraph thought "the casting is one of the strengths of the series" and she "can't help but warm to these wacky racers".

[22] However, Chris Moss of the same paper was more negative; he found that the obstacles the contestants faced were "largely fictive" and the tension "fabricated", and thought the show used the "old idiot abroad trope", and the viewers were "asked not to marvel at faraway places but to engage with the participants".

[23] Equally negative was Barry Didcock of The Herald who considered the show's premise of travelling without flying "a frivolous exercise" and of questionable taste as the budget of racers would exceed that of a refugee at the Mexico-Guatemala border.

[24] In contrast, Shaun Kitchener wrote in Metro that the show "is the heartfelt light we all need in these dark times" as it was aired during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hotel in Puno
A vineyard in Cafayate
Checkpoint in Mendoza, Argentina
Final checkpoint near hotel (bottom centre) in Ushuaia