Who Will Win Race Across The World 2024?
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Race Across The World's fourth episode of the series that was shown on Wednesday night was the most exciting yet, after the bottom-placed couple finally clicked into gear.
The tables have turned on betting sites following the dramatic ep, in which Stephen and Viv managed to claw back a 17-and-a-half hour deficit to become the surprising new leaders.
The married couple quite literally raced into the lead, as they made it to the fourth checkpoint, Mae Sariang, a quiet mountain town in Thailand, just two minutes ahead of Eugenie and Isabel, as the two pairings were involved in a run to the finish in episode four.
Owen and Alfie had started the episode at the third checkpoint, Cambodian capital city Phnom Penh, as the leaders, one hour and 32 minutes ahead of Eugenie and Isabel, and a huge 17 hours and 34 minutes in front of Stephen and Viv, while sibling duo Betty and James were in third place, eight hours and 43 minutes behind Owen and Alfie.
Stephen And Viv's Dirty Work Pays Off
Stephen and Viv were completely stunned to discover they had reached the checkpoint in first place after chasing home the huge deficit.
Viv declared: "Oh my giddy aunt. I can hardly write I'm so excited."
The couple - the oldest pairing in the competition - admitted it was "just unreal" to lead the competition and have a two-minute gap on mother-and-daughter pair Eugenie and Isabel, who admitted they needed the "morale boost" of not being too far behind after clashing during the episode.
As the two leading pairings were reaching the fourth checkpoint, former frontmen Owen and Alfie were 489km away rafting on some Thai river rapids and faced with an expensive taxi journey to get them to the checkpoint.
In the episode, Viv spent her 66th birthday on a 10-hour bus journey, which turned into a 12-hour bus journey, and she and Stephen worked at a stables in Lampang, Thailand, picking up horse poo.
However, getting down and dirty clearly paid off for them and they are now 3/1 second favourites on specials betting sites
'Tense' Eugenie And Isabel Faves Again
But Eugenie and Isabel have retaken the lead on betting apps as the Evens favourites to win the competition.
The former leaders have been in the top two throughout the competition, while Stephen and Viv struggled early on, and Alfie and Owen also had issues in episode four.
However, despite topping the market again and being just two minutes off first place in the race, it was an uneasy episode at times for mother and daughter.
At one stage, they lost one of their bus tickets, but fortunately the driver recognised them, although they did clash several times throughout the episode.
Isabel admitted she felt like things between them were becoming "more tense, rather than less tense", and during a heart-to-heart, Eugenie questioned why Isabel wanted her on the race.
The pair admitted afterwards they were "a long way" off relations being completely mended, but at the end of the episode Isabel concluded: "It's not been too negative, we're second. Two minutes between us.
"So, it seems to be working. It's almost like we need that morale boost. I think that's our strategy going forwards."
Owen And Alfie 'Absolutely Stuffed'
Owen/Alfie and Betty/James are now 5/1 joint-third favourites on new betting sites.
It's not known quite how far behind Betty and James are from leaders Stephen and Viv, but they bounced back well to avoid being in fourth place at the latest checkpoint following a "rocky" start.
At the beginning of the episode, James lost his money belt when the pair were still in Cambodia.
While he was fortunate to find it again, their only Cambodian money had been stolen from the belt, so they lost £26 worth of local currency.
Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down
Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down
Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down
Betty and James had the smallest remaining budget, with barely a third left with more than half of the race to go.
Along the way, the brother and sister duo stopped off to do some work on a farm, and they were pleased to be third again.
Meanwhile, Owen and Alfie initially had some bus issues at the start of leg four but bounced back, only to run into further transport issues when they couldn't get a train, leaving them majorly delayed.
Alfie fumed: "This is the worst on the race that I've felt. I don't know how we bounce back from this. We are absolutely stuffed. We're going to have to try to gun it to checkpoint."
The best mates ended up having to reluctantly splash out £136 on a taxi for a 480km journey to get to the checkpoint, but the episode ended before it was revealed whether they made it, and how far they are behind new leaders Stephen and Viv.
* Reminder: These are hypothetical odds provided by industry experts.
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