Race Across The World winners reveal how they're going to blow £20,000 prize (2024)

Race Across the World winners Alfie and Owen only received their £20,000 prize hours ago – but they have already begun to splash the cash.

The best friends, from Hertfordshire, pipped mother and daughter Eugenie and Isabel to the post by mere minutes after zapping through Asia to the finish line in Lombok.

The hit BBC show has given the 21-year-old pair a taste for the travelling lifestyle – as they revealed to Metro.co.uk plans to splurge their winnings on tropical getaways.

In fact, a chunk of the jackpot – which entered their bank accounts this morning – has already been used to pay off Alfie’s credit card bill for a trip to the Caribbean he could not resist snapping up.

He is taking his business partner to the exotic islands but, fear not, he and Owen are also going on holiday together to Majorca in a couple of weeks to soak up the sun.

Owen also said he would be using his share of the prize on travel – and would like to return to some of the places he visited on his Race Across The World Trip – but this time with the internet.

The pair have also been forced to keep their Race Across The World triumph secret bar from a select, small group of loved ones who signed NDAs. But did they nearly let it slip?

Alfie replied: ‘No, we’ve been quite good. To be fair, people have tried to catch us out but we haven’t really fallen for it.’

As for their fellow contestants, Alfie and Owen insisted there were no sore losers – and they all enjoyed a relaxing 48 hours in Lombok together once the race was over.

Alfie said: ‘After we won, we spent some time with the other contestants and to be honest we just chilled out and got some sleep. The night of the final, I ate three tuna steaks so I went all in.’

Owen added: ‘Nothing really exciting happens. You get about 48 hours there and then you just fly home.’

As for how they approached the race, the friends insisted they had no regrets although Alfie said he wished he’d been ‘calmer’ at points.

He explained: ‘I don’t really hold a great deal of regret from anything, to be honest. I wrote my heart on my sleeve for eight weeks – I couldn’t not because it’s such a surreal experience that you put yourself in.

‘Sure, there were times where I kind of wish watching it back on TV that I just calmed down a little bit. But I also knew that I knew that in the momentI was acting in the genuine best interest of the race.

‘It was all worth it in the end, so I don’t think I’ve got anything to apologise to myself for.’

Alfie also admitted he had made more of their first destination Japan – but said he found the first week ‘really tough.’

He explained: I wish I had enjoyed Japan a little bit more in leg one – but we were both just finding our feet and it was such a new experience at that point .

‘That first week was really, really tough but I kind of just wished that I’d taken in Japan a little bit more, especially considering was the first leg and your position in the race doesn’t really matter.’

However, with their newly minted bank accounts – we’re sure Alfie could splash out on a return trip.

On Race Across The World, Alfie and Owen endured a tense race to the finish line with Eugenie and Isabel, which at one point saw the pairs neck and neck in two boats racing across the water.

However, the winning pals were crowned after some brilliant navigation skills at the last moment, as they reflected on their friendship being ‘bigger’ than any race.

In third came brother and sister Betty and James 24 hours later, as couple Stephen and Viv admitted defeat a little before the final hours, but shared a tearful moment of mutual appreciation along the way as they finished in fourth.

The best friends were elated at their win as they screamed ‘we’ve done it’ and hugged each other.

Afterwards, an excited Owen said: ‘We came, and we saw, and we succeeded,’ while Alfie added: ‘Best moment of our lives. Undeniably. Can’t believe it.’

Football referee Alfie said: ‘It feels like we took home some incredible memories, unbelievable experiences.

‘We did this once-in-a-lifetime thing with each other, being the youngest two to ever do it. And then to win it as well, I mean, it’s incredible.’

Eugenie and Isabel made it just eight minutes after the youngsters.

‘We did it. We’ve come in a good second. If we were to lose to anybody, we always said that we would want to lose to Alfie and Owen,’ Eugenie said.

‘They’re deserving of it as well, they’ve worked hard.’

The finalists all previously agreed that it was best friends Alfie and Owen who were ‘the ones to beat’ during the final leg of the BBC show – and their worries proved justified.

Alfie also recently agreed that the competition taught them to ‘live in the moment a little bit more.’

‘Appreciate what’s in front of you rather than having to forward plan all the time or having to have an answer for everything,’ Betty said.

The 25-year-old recently opened up to Metro.co.uk about the most touching TV moment this year she shared with brother James, as she opened up to the world about a health condition which left her‘without a womb’.

‘I’ve had stories from girls who have been diagnosed with the same condition, and it has been incredible to hear them and that I’ve helped someone out there,’ she said ahead of the final.

Eugenie also recently discussed the life-changing TV show, and how it’s shifted her perspective.

‘It’s just about being more adventurous and not just continuing with the mundane. It’s about living your life, it’s about living your life every day,’ she said.

‘Things come at you, go for it and do it. Rather than planning in a year’s time, in two years’ time, in five years’ time. There might not be a five years’ time or a two years’ time. So, live your life now.’

Alfie and Owen both agreed their biggest challenge of the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ eight-week trip was the hunger, while Viv suggested she found the lack of comfort a problem.

‘We’ve never train-ed, let alone slept on a train. We’ve never travelled via bus, let alone slept on a bus. So curling up and trying to sleep on a stiflingly hot train, that was so noisy, and disorientating. That was quite tough, really,’ she said.

‘And then not only doing that but having to go straight to work afterwards. You’d get off a 12 or 16-hour train, and then had to go to work for six hours in the blistering heat. That’s quite challenging.’

The first two episodes of the BAFTA-award winning series reached 7.1million viewers, making Studio Lambert’s original format the biggest BBC factual title of the year to date.

Race Across The World is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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