Race Across The World fans fuming over ‘injustice’ of first couple eliminated

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Race Across The World viewers now know ‘what heartbreak feels like’ after the first couple was eliminated from the BBC travel competition.

This year, five couples are travelling 14,000km on a shoestring budget with no access to modern luxuries from China to India to win £20,000.

They’ll be hoping to follow in the footsteps of season four winners Alfie and Owen, who were the first to reach the finish line in Lombok.

Contestants are formerly married couple Gaz and Yin, sisters Elizabeth and Letitia, young couple Fin and Sioned, mother-son duo Caroline and Tom, and brothers Brian and Melvyn.

However, after lagging nearly two days behind the other couples at the last leg, Gaz and Yin failed to make up the time and were the last pair to reach Shangri-La, a city sitting on the edge of the Tibetan plateau towards the foothills of the Himalaya.

On X, fans were inconsolable that Gaz and Yin were booted out from Race Across The World, including @O123Izzy, who said: ‘Losing the champions league and Yin and Gaz in the same night. This must be what heartbreak feels like #PSGASV #raceacrosstheworld.’

Echoing their sentiment, @patvtweets said: ‘YET ANOTHER INJUSTICE. #raceacrosstheworld.’

Yin and Gaz were the first pair to be eliminated (Picture: BBC) This year, the couples are travelling from China to India (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)

@Cheekysausage commented: ‘I can’t NOT think about how saddened I am that Gaz and Yin are out. I genuinely wish them all the best and I’m glad they have such a support system in each other #raceacrosstheworld.’

@The_cakebank added: ‘Gutted for Yin & Gaz. Still don’t understand why anyone had to be eliminated. #raceacrosstheworld.’

Ahead of tonight’s third episode, Yin and Gaz appeared on Lorraine to discuss their ‘wild’ journey and marriage breakdown.

Speaking about their divorce, Gaz said: ‘Like all break-ups, it was hard, and because I’m of that age generation, I try to blank it out, have a few beers.

Former married couple Gaz and Yin tackled the show as best friends (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)

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But Yin is an amazing person. I don’t think I’d be here if it wasn’t for you. It wasn’t that bad, but it got to the point where I didn’t like myself. I didn’t like what I was doing.

‘I didn’t want to be around anybody, I was very insular and Yin was the one who kept pushing me and pushing me.’

In response, Yin placed her hand on Gaz’s knee and said, ‘Gaz put in so much hard work.’

However, as she went to finish her sentence to say ‘I’m so proud of him’, she clearly became choked up and very emotional before Ranvir changed the topic of conversation.

Preview clips revealed that Gaz and Yin were to be eliminated (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)

Some viewers, though, were prepared for the departure of Gaz and Yin from Race Across The World after working out a spoiler.

Last week on Reddit, user Otsootsla said they re-watched the end of episode one, which contained preview clips for the rest of the series.

They claimed Caroline and Tom, Brian and Melvyn, Fin and Sioned and Elizabeth and Letitia all appeared to have been filmed in the final country, India, but Gaz and Yin did not.

While clips aired of Brian and Melvyn playing cricket, and Caroline having a bindi applied, Gaz and Yin were shown running across a ‘modern bridge in daylight’ that did not seem to be a location in India.

Viewers have called on the BBC to scrap elimination from Race Across The World (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert) They want to see all the couples reach the final checkpoint (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)

They added: ‘Seems pretty certain that we’ll lose Gaz and Yin – given that they were last, with at least a twelve-hour delay on the ferry, and they are shown near the checkpoint in daylight.

‘It’s quite possible that they’re nearly 36 hours behind. Seems such a waste to include an elimination when the casting is so strong.’

Other Reddit users weighed in and called on the BBC to scrap eliminations in Race Across The World.

Tappers1975 said: ‘The whole elimination thing is pretty pointless, especially so early in the race. Not sure it adds much to what’s a great show. If you have to do it, maybe leave it to when there’s two legs left.’

Echoing their sentiment, SomeMaterial shared: ‘The eliminations in this show are so unnecessary, unless they have no money or are so far behind they would never be able to catch up.’

Past_Wallaby_9435 commented: ‘I’m going to be heartbroken to lose any of these teams, they’re all likeable.’

A version of this article was published on May 1.

Race Across The World airs Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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