Race Across the World has crowned its 2026 champions – with best friends Jo Diop and Kush Burman being the first pair to reach the final checkpoint.
Series six began airing in April, following five pairs as they travelled from Palermo in Sicily to Hatgal in Mongolia over 51 days.
The final, which aired on Thursday (21 May), saw four remaining pairings literally race to the finish line, with each of them sprinting through a snowy forest to the last check point.
However, it was Liverpudlian friends Jo, 19, and Kush, 20, who arrived there first, celebrating their £20,000 win by jumping into the snow. “I can’t put it into words bro!” Kush said as Jo added: “That’s how I feel bro.”
“The dream from the start was opening the final book and seeing it empty, so that actually happening… it’s hard to get my head around it,” Jo added.
Meanwhile, Kush hoped that they did Liverpool proud: “Big up scousers!”
Father-daughter duo Andrew and Molly placed second in the race, followed by siblings Katie and Harrison and in-laws Mark and Margo. Viewers were particularly taken by Mark and Margo’s story, with the pair having clashed for 40 years before the death of Julia, Margo’s sister and Mark’s wife, brought them together.
Julia, who died in 2022 from a rare form of cancer, wanted the pair to be friends, according to Mark. “She wanted us to build on what we’d actually got in caring for her, and taking it further,” he told Good Morning Britain on Thursday.
Jo and Kush, who entered the show as “a bit of a joke” after finishing their A-levels but quickly became fan favourites, told BBC News that they plan to spend their prize money on another round of travelling.
“We’d have to spend a little bit on ourselves,” Jo said. “I’d probably get a nice pair of Jordan 4s for a new outfit and a nice little holiday, and stash the rest.” However, he added that he would also “contribute to a future house for my mum at some point”.
The show faced a schedule shake-up last week when the semi-final aired a day earlier to avoid clashing with the Eurovision Song Contest. While Race Across the World typically airs on Thursday night at 8pm, it was moved to make room for the second Eurovision semi-final.
Over the course of the series, the finalists travelled over 7,400 miles across Europe and Asia, racing through Italy, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.
Narrated by The Mummy’s John Hannah, the BBC show first aired in 2019 on BBC Two before moving to BBC One for its third series in 2023.
Race Across the World launched its first companion podcast this year, which was originally set to be hosted by Scott Mills. However, after he was fired by the BBC over “personal conduct”, he was replaced by Tyler West, who competed on the celebrity version with fiancée Molly Rainford.
A reunion with the 2026 contestants will air after the final at 9pm on BBC One.
