Race Across the World was 'exhausting' say winners

The winners of the latest series of Celebrity Race Across the World have described the experience as "exhilarating, inspiring and exhausting".

BBC Radio 2 host Scott Mills and his husband Sam were the first to reach the final checkpoint at Osorno Volcano in Frutillar, Chile.

The episode was watched by an average audience of 3.7 million, according to overnight viewing figures.

Actor Kola Bokinni and his cousin Mary Ellen Moriarty finished in second place, reaching the checkpoint 2hrs 20min later.

The remaining two pairs - TV presenter Jeff Brazier and his son Freddy, and model Kelly Brook and her husband Jeremy Parisi - made it to Osorno Volcano the following day and finished third and fourth respectively.

Reaching the checkpoint, Book said it meant "everything to finish".

"Jeremy wanted to win, I just wanted to finish. To be honest we came last so I feel like we should have had a jolly from day one, it wouldn’t have made any difference!”

Speaking on Radio 2 on Thursday morning, Mills said he felt "a bit sad it's all done now".

He added that it "really felt like anyone could have won" as there were just 39 minutes between all the teams when they started the final leg.

Despite starting the last leg in third place, the couple tossed a coin to determine which route they would take from Tilcara to Frutillar.

They decided to travel through Argentina to San Salvador and onwards to Mendoza.

After opening the guest book to discover they were the winners, the pair jumped up and down shouting "oh my God, we did it", before embracing each other, overcome with emotion.

In an interview reflecting on the journey that took him 12,500km across south America, Mills said: "When we were on the top of the volcano, we had a hug and a little cry.

"People were telling us repeatedly that we had won, but I still could not compute it. I could not get it in my head."

The DJ said he had assumed they were the last to reach the checkpoint.

"I do actually remember saying to him, ‘There's no point in running, Sam, we’ve lost."

The 51-year-old who has presented the afternoon show on Radio 2 since September 2022, said the experience had changed the way he now travels.

"There have already been weekends since we filmed the show where I have left my phone and I'll just put it away in a drawer.

"We’re going away in October for our belated honeymoon and I've already told people like my agent, my mum, and people that I speak to regularly that I will not be on the phone all week.

"I did it for five weeks, and it was brilliant - we didn't even want our phones back when we were allowed to."

Over the past few weeks he has received "so many messages from listeners saying it’s inspired them to go on a road trip of their own".

"This show has opened up the world of travel to people."

The couple, who married in June, said the experience made their "relationship even stronger".

"I knew that Sam was the one but this whole experience made me absolutely realise without a shadow of a doubt that he was the one.

"We might never have this amount of time again when we are absolutely disconnected from the world."

Reflecting on the experience as a whole, Mills said: "I thought I knew a lot about the world, but I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. It was exhilarating, inspiring and exhausting."

Filling in for Zoe Ball on the Radio 2, Mills told listeners on Thursday that his favourite locations were Uruguay and Chile.

"I loved Uruguay and the end point in Chile which looked like an Austrian ski resort which was just so different to where we started in the Amazon."