[3] Both seasons were hosted by Richard Fidler, a former member of the Doug Anthony All Stars comedy group.

The successful applicants undertook a brief course in documentary film-making, before deciding on an itinerary for their journey around the world.

This gave them ten days to travel to their next destination, film the video, and send it back to the ABC in Sydney with detailed editing instructions.

[12] Although receiving fairly high ratings for its timeslot, Race Around the World was a considerable logistical and financial drain on the publicly funded ABC.

In 2000, the series, now entitled Race Around Oz, was restricted to the Australian continent because it was the Olympic year and the producers wished to focus on Australia.