Celebrity Race Across The World (BBC1)
General rule – when anybody tells you they don’t feel their age, they’re obsessed with staying young. Every birthday is a misery to them.
Far better to admit the years fly by, that you’re knocking on, and just enjoy being the age you are. You’re only going to get older, after all.
Radio 2 DJ Scott Mills was protesting he’s still ‘nifty at 50’, on Celebrity Race Across The World. ‘I am in a bit of denial about my age, not gonna lie,’ he announced. ‘I don’t know what you’re suppose to feel like at 50 but everyone’s like, “Oh, aren’t your knees starting to creak?” No!’
His husband-to-be Sam is 34, but Scott insists, ‘I forget there’s an age difference between us. You just don’t think about it.’
Despite Jeff Brazier’s (left) evident dedication to being a good dad, he and his teenage son Freddy (right) are beginning to wish they’d been closer over years, and are trying to put that right
The most fun is to be had with former glamour model Kelly Brook (left) and her judo champion husband Jeremy (right)
The connection between Ted Lasso actor Kola Bokinni (left) and his cousin Mary Ellen (right) is harder to fathom
If he doesn’t think about it, how come he’s talking about it? And the louder he talked, the more desperate he sounded: ‘He’s a bit old for his years and I’m young for mine… so it meets in the middle.’
These protests sounded hollow as he baulked at Sam’s suggestion they should take an overrecent night bus to keep up with their rivals, on the second leg of their chase across Brazil. ‘We’re going nowhere except bed,’ he decreed. ‘I want to stay in a hotel.’
By the time Scott caved in and agreed to try spending the night on a coach, 24 hours later, it was too late. They were more than 200 miles behind the others.
This episode placed much more emphasis on the race itself than last week’s opener. As a result, it was more fragmented, cutting quickly between the four couples, and we saw less of the locals.
Few viewers really care who wins the race, of course, as long as the lead keeps changing hands and everyone gets a go at being out in front.
We’re learning more about what makes each relationship tick now. Despite Jeff Brazier’s evident dedication to being a good dad, he and his teenage son Freddy are beginning to wish they’d been closer over years, and are trying to put that right.
Radio 2 DJ Scott Mills (left) was protesting he’s still ‘nifty at 50’, on Celebrity Race Across The World
Scott Mills’ husband-to-be Sam (right) is 34, but Scott insists, ‘I forget there’s an age difference between us. You just don’t think about it.’
It’s touching to see how much Jeff wants to give his son encouragement, though perhaps he still regards him as a child rather than a young man.
The connection between Ted Lasso actor Kola Bokinni and his cousin Mary Ellen is harder to fathom. They grew up together in Peckham, but now he’s such a star that President Joe Biden invited him to the White House, where they posed together for a photo in the Oval Office.
How Mary Ellen copes when her childhood playmate is recognised by fans in the street, even on the other side of the world, is a conundrum the show hasn’t yet explored.
The most fun is to be had with former glamour model Kelly Brook and her judo champion husband Jeremy. He’s ultracompetitive, she wants to be a tourist.
‘Jeremy and I never argue, ever,’ she said. We’ll see how long that lasts.