Race Across the World

Five teams attempt to race 16,000 km across the second-largest country in the world, Canada. Without smartphones, internet access or credit cards, and armed only with the cash equivalent of the airfare to fly the route, their ingenuity and determination will be tested to the extreme as they race through some of the world's most remote regions. Along the way they must visit seven checkpoints and rely on the kindness of strangers to help them reach their final destination, St John's on the island of Newfoundland, the most easterly town in North America.

The teams set off from Vancouver on the Pacific coast and must first navigate their way north to Tlell in the Haida Gwaii archipelago.

Best friends Tricia and Cathie struggle to get out of the starting point of Stanley Park. It's straight into the deep end for brothers Marc and Michael, who barely know one another. Husband and wife Zainib and Mobeen get stranded at Whistler ski resort. Ladi tries to use the race to educate daughter Monique about the world at large, and Kevin and daughter Claudia make a decision that could impact their race dramatically.

The race to St John's continues as the five pairs leave the indigenous island of Haida Gwaii and head into the wild, navigating their way into the heart of the Yukon to the second checkpoint, Dawson City, a former boom town established during the Klondike gold rush of 1898.

Getting to Dawson means completing a journey of over 2,000km north up one of the most isolated highways in the world, the vast wilderness only occasionally broken by the odd small settlement or truck stop. The racers have to negotiate dense forests and vast ice fields, all with next to no public transport.

Claudia and her dad Kevin are the first to leave. After a budget-busting taxi ride in the previous leg, they opt for a no-frills strategy of camping and car-sharing. Best friends Tricia and Cathie set off again with self-confessed control freak Cathie anxious about venturing into the unknown and being reliant on others. To get them to Dawson City, married couple Zainib and Mobeen continue to rely on the kindness of strangers and hope to save money by ride-sharing their way to the checkpoint.

Having never owned a backpack prior to setting off from Vancouver, Monique's education continues, and the leg gets off to a difficult start when she has to camp for the first time. Estranged brothers Marc and Michael leave the checkpoint in last place, and things go from bad to worse when Marc's fear of bears causes a spat between the pair. After a slow start, they try out an alternative approach to the race and focus on getting to know each other as brothers.

The race to St John's continues as the five pairs leave the gold rush boom town of Dawson City and head south to the third checkpoint, 2,700 km away in the province of Alberta - the picturesque resort town of Banff. Perched in the Rocky Mountains, 4,500 feet above sea level, Banff is the highest town in Canada, and in this leg, there is a need for speed as the team who reach the checkpoint last will be eliminated from the race.

Trisha and Cathie are in the lead, but spent big to hire a car in the last leg, so need a cheaper strategy this time. Disaster strikes for 25-year-old Monique, who injures herself at the checkpoint, causing a three-hour delay. Her father, Ladi, makes a vital decision that could catapult them back into the race, but there is a catch. The threat of elimination brings out the competitive sides of married couple Zainib and Mobeen, who have differing ideas about who is boss. Marc realises he has to face up to his fears if he and brother Michael are to claw back some time and avoid elimination. Stragglers Claudia and Kevin start the leg with different priorities: Claudia wants experiences, whereas Kevin only has the race on his mind. Their situation takes an unexpected turn when they meet a Catholic missionary called Miriam, who could be the answer to their prayers.

Five teams have been set the challenge to race across the breadth of Canada, passing through seven checkpoints, taking them from the Pacific coastline to the edge of the Arctic and the shores of the Great Lakes, ending up at their final destination on the Atlantic Ocean, St. John's on the island of Newfoundland, the most easterly town in North America. A £20,000 cash prize is at stake.

The remaining pairs must now navigate to the fourth checkpoint, the remote outpost of Churchill, where polar bears can outnumber people. On Hudson Bay, at the edge of the Arctic, Churchill is not connected to the rest of Canada by road but by a twice-weekly train, and the teams have just three days to catch it. It's a journey that will take them from Alberta's major cities of Calgary and Edmonton, before the Rockies make way for Saskatchewan's great prairies and badlands.

As the train makes its way from Winnipeg to Churchill, the teams need to work out where they can catch it. With the clock ticking, every decision counts for the racers, as they work together once again to reach that all-important checkpoint to be one step closer to the finish line and the £20,000 cash prize.

It's the halfway point in the race across Canada. As the teams take to the ice flows of Hudson Bay, they cross from the province of Manitoba to the territory of Nunavut, an area the size of western Europe, inhabited by the Inuit. The ice is a hunting ground for seals and the polar bears who like to feed on them, It is also a favourite summer holiday spot for beluga whales.

The next leg will take them from the edge of the Arctic to the shore of the Great Lakes – the fifth checkpoint over 3,000 kilometres away on Manitoulin Island. Situated in Lake Huron, it is the largest freshwater island on the planet, vast enough to contain over a hundred inland lakes itself.

The race is on, but the pairs only have one way out of Churchill – a noisy overnight train south. Then, it's another sleepless night in two buses from hell as they join the road network towards the checkpoint. This single, gruelling stretch of highway – taking them into Ontario and skirting the Great Lakes – has limited transport options, and the teams will need ingenuity as well as stamina to gain the advantage in what could be the tightest leg so far.

Much to Claudia's annoyance, Kevin splashed out on an expensive taxi in the last leg, so now the current leaders have just a quarter of their budget remaining. They decide that they must prioritise earning cash, or risk leaving the race. But can father and daughter negotiate the relentless travel network without falling out once more?

Zainib is feeling homesick, so she and husband Mobeen must decide whether to take a gamble to take a break from the race so that Zainib can indulge her love of animals. However, she'll need to camp out for the first time to do so, and the pressure of hauling themselves back into contention takes its toll.

Once off the Churchill train, Monique and Ladi try to make a quick break from the other teams, Although Ladi is impressed by his daughter continuing to take the lead, he is finding it hard to take a step back. And after receiving some bad news from home, Tricia fears she may have to cut her race short.

It's the final push to reach that all important checkpoint to be one step closer to the finish line and the £20,000 cash prize.

In the sixth leg of the race, the pairs must brush up on their language skills, as the next stop is in Quebec, the heart of French-speaking Canada and the capital of its largest province.

To get there, the teams must navigate Canada's most densely inhabited region. Here, the big cities make up a third of the nation's entire population. For the first time in the race, transport and accommodation choices will be plentiful but potentially damaging for dwindling budgets.

Either way, they'll be challenged even further when they join the tourist trail from Montreal to the checkpoint where they will soon discover that with the Formula One Grand Prix in town, prices and demand for accommodation have been driven even higher and undoubtedly will take a toll on all the pairs' finances.

Retaining the race lead, Claudia and Kevin take to the waters of Lake Huron to head south to Niagara Falls, but with the fewest remaining funds and different perspectives on the race, this stretch could be their most challenging yet.

Eager to close the gap, Monique and her dad Ladi are wrong-footed straight away when some friendly advice backfires.

Tricia and Cathie have their sights set on Ottawa, focused on boosting their funds. A troublesome job opportunity sends them into a spin, and they will need quick thinking to get back on track.

Currently in last place and in need of healing their rift, Zainib and Mobeen head to a cheese factory, unaware that an encounter with a family there will throw new light on their future as a couple.

The final push to Quebec City is too close to call, as the teams come eye-wateringly close to the finish, but only one can be first to reach the checkpoint and be one step closer to the all-important £20,000 cash prize. The thrilling unpredictability of the race is sure to change the teams' lives forever.

Just two more legs remain. After starting the race 41 days ago on Canada's Pacific coast, the teams now have the Atlantic within their reach - lapping the shores of the seventh checkpoint at the seaside town of Liverpool, Nova Scotia. To reach it, they head through the Maritimes, Canada's three smallest provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

To keep their lead, Zainib and Mobeen aim to test the local hospitality to the limit, but a trip to catch a naturally occurring phenomenon - on a sinking raft on the highest tide in the world - may derail all their hard work.

Claudia and her dad Kevin are running on fumes and, with costly taxis out of the question, need emergency surgery to mend their ailing budget. But a bad start, where they end up spending money to go backwards, makes their challenge even more difficult.

After faltering in the last leg and dropping into last place, the stress of the race is beginning to get to best friends Tricia and Cathie. Can they mend their differences and get themselves back into a strong position in time for the final push to the finish line?

A string of failed attempts to hitchhike shines a light on the obstacles Monique and Ladi face. The only team remaining to have not won a leg, it's now or never if they are going to turn themselves into genuine contenders.

As the finish line draws ever closer, the teams have to battle fog, torrential rain and the spotty Canadian transport system to gain an advantage. But only one can be first and one step closer to the all-important £20,000 cash prize.

The Bafta-winning third series of Race Across the World reaches its epic climax tonight as one lucky team crosses the finish line in first place, claiming the £20,000 cash prize and the title of Race Across the World champions.

Forty-six days ago, five teams embarked on a monumental journey across the second-largest country in the world – Canada. Without smartphones, internet access and credit cards, the teams' skill, ingenuity and determination have been tested to the extreme as they attempted to conquer the 16,000-kilometre route.

The teams navigated their way through seven check points, across challenging terrains and alongside unpredictable wildlife with ever-dwindling budgets.

Across prairies and the Canadian Badlands to the edge of the Arctic, from the shores of the Great Lakes to the picturesque fishing towns of Nova Scotia, from the Rockies to the densely inhabited region of Quebec's cities, this has undoubtedly been an adventure to remember.

This gruelling and punishing race pushed the teams to their limits, both physically and emotionally. Alongside the astonishing scenery, it has given them the opportunity to immerse themselves in different cultures, make lasting connections and appreciate surprising and inspiring acts of kindness from total strangers along the way.

The journey has not just been physical – relationships have been tested and bonds strengthened. At times unpredictable and always dramatic, the pairs complete the experience as very different people from the ones who started the race eight weeks ago.

In an incredibly tight, gripping and pulsating finale set against the backdrop of the most easterly point of the North American continent, which team will triumph, be crowned winners and welcomed into the Race Across the World hall of fame?

After a thrilling third series of the Bafta-winning adventure, our five pairs return to reflect on their epic, once-in-a-lifetime race across Canada.

Tonight, they reunite for the first time since the race ended to reveal fascinating insights into their different strategies and individual experiences, from their highest highs to their lowest lows, from money woes to emotional breakdowns, from the hardships of travel to the kindness of strangers, and perhaps most importantly their moments of self-discovery.

The confessions continue as they reveal their first impressions of each other and how these changed as the competition between them grew fiercer. Has the unbreakable bond they formed as a group held strong after the race? Or have old rivalries re-emerged? And what has happened since they returned to the UK? One thing is certain – the lives of all who took part have been changed for good.

This one-off special will offer a truly unique, captivating, behind-the-scenes look into how these intrepid travellers coped with the trials and tribulations of an incredible, life-affirming race and the impact it has had on both them individually and their relationships.