Series four of Celebrity Race Across the World has kicked off in Kuching, the laid-back capital of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo, with four famous pairings racing 4,660 miles to Melbourne using nothing but local transport, a paper map and a shoestring budget of £26 per person per day.
The line-up mixes music and telly: singer Ella Eyre travels with childhood friend Nana, former Soccer Saturday host Jeff Stelling is paired with his son Matt, Eurovision star Sam Ryder teams up with tour manager Kaz, and siblings Princess and Junior Andre, children of Katie Price and Peter Andre, race together. Episodes air Wednesdays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
The route crosses three countries and two continents, and the early legs stick to Borneo. From Kuching — nicknamed cat city for its feline statues and its Malay name — the teams covered roughly 1,000km to Pangkalan Bun in Indonesian Borneo. That city is really a launchpad for Tanjung Puting National Park, one of the world's best places to see wild orangutans, including by boat to Camp Leakey, the research centre founded in the 1970s. Route options ran from Borneo's western coast to the jungled interior, passing Indigenous Dayak longhouse communities and Pontianak, a port city sitting right on the equator.
Leg two stretched 1,200km northeast to Balikpapan, Kalimantan's oil-money port hub. It's not a classic tourist stop, but there are city beaches like Kemala and Manggar, plus the Wain River Protected Forest, home to sun bears and langurs. Along the way some teams hit Loksado in the Metatus foothills or wove through the Tangkiling waterways, leaning on the public buses of Palangka Raya to make connections.
The finish line is Melbourne, Australia's self-styled cultural capital — laneways plastered with street art, a serious coffee scene, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, plus a calendar stacked with the Australian Open, the F1 Grand Prix and AFL.
For travellers, the appeal is obvious: this season is a rare TV portrait of Borneo, an island split between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei that most visitors only know for its orangutans. Kuching alone rewards a few days — Sarawak Laksa and Kolo Mee noodles, a waterfront promenade, and day trips to Bako National Park for proboscis monkeys and weird rock formations. Pangkalan Bun and Tanjung Puting make a natural add-on, and the overland thread shown on screen proves the island can be crossed by public transport if you have time and patience.
Even if you'd rather fly than bus it, the show doubles as an itinerary: pair Borneo's wildlife with a few days eating and gallery-hopping in Melbourne, and you've essentially recreated the route with a bigger budget and a suitcase.
