Betty and James are taking part in the fourth series of Race Across The World
By Rachel Russell
BBC News
A brother and sister who took part in this year’s Race Across The World say it was tougher than they expected.
James, 21, and Betty, 25, from North Yorkshire, took on the gruelling challenge of travelling from Japan to Indonesia for the BBC show.
Contestants must complete the journey with a limited budget and no smart phones or credit cards.
Betty joked that after the 9,320 miles (15,000km) trip they were “just about” still speaking to each other.
Speaking to BBC Radio York, the social media and events manager said she had wanted to show her younger brother there was more out there than just “lads trips to Magaluf”.
“That was definitely one of the main things I wanted him to get out of it, to see the world,” she said.
“And, since we’ve come home, he has talked about going away again travelling with his friends – although probably still drinking, let’s be honest.”
James added the journey was a lot more mentally and physically challenging than they thought, but ultimately it was worth it to show a different way of travelling.
“For me, one of the main reasons for doing it was prove to people and myself that you don’t need a lot of money, you don’t need a plan or a lot of contacts to go and see the world, so hopefully I’ve proved that to those watching the show,” he said.
‘It was tough’
Since they returned from the competition, they said they have not seen a lot of each other as they had gone back to their day jobs, but they are still on speaking terms after the experience.
Betty said: “I think it wasn’t until we were stood on the start line that we thought, ‘what have we got ourselves into?’
“You can never quite prepare yourself for spending 24 hours with one other person, eating together, sleeping together and making all the decisions.
“It was tough but we’re still here.”
Meanwhile, James added that the pair were making the most of their friends and family seeing them on television.
“It’s been an exciting time for us both so we’re just lapping it up while we can,” he said.
