Who Will Win Race Across The World 2025?

One of TV's most exciting races is back on our screens. 

Race Across The World returned on Wednesday night with five teams - former married couple Yin and Gaz, brothers Brian and Melvyn, sisters Elizabeth and Letitia, mother and son duo Caroline and Tom, and teenage couple Fin and Sioned. 

They set off on the first leg of an epic 14,000km trip, from the Great Wall of China to Kanniyakumari, a town in the southern tip of India, where the first team home will win a £20,000 cash prize.

During the race, the pairings aren't allowed to use phones or bank cards, or air travel, and they must pass through seven checkpoints.

The quintet will pass through China, Nepal and India, armed with the show's lowest budget ever - just £1,140 per person, which equates to around £22 each per day. 

Following the first episode, which saw the five teams embark on a 2,000km journey towards the first checkpoint, China's Huangling Village, there is a tight outright market on betting sites.

Sisters Take Early Lead 

Elizabeth and her younger sister Letitia are the early 13/8 favourites on betting apps to win this year's Race Across the World, after they reached Huangling Village in first place. 

The siblings are around three hours in front of Sioned and Fin, who are about four hours in front of Yin and Gaz. 

Before the race began, Elizabeth and Letitia thought they might have an "advantage" because they're "well travelled", but they haven't travelled together.

Race Across The World Odds:

Letitia lived in China for six months and started learning Mandarin, which was a huge help when they were trying to locate train and bus stations. 

Elizabeth and Letitia were the first pairing to get close to Huangling Village, which had to be accessed via cable car. 

However, they took the wrong cable car.

Despite this error, they reached the checkpoint first, four days into their epic race across the world.

Fin And Sioned's Strong Start 

Welsh pair Fin and Sioned, who described the challenge as a culture shock, weren't far behind. 

The teenage couple, who still live at home, took an early lead by quickly heading south to Beijing, and then became the first team to leave the megacity - on a 10-and-a-half-hour overnight train.

They reached Shanghai first, but the pair hit a stumbling block in Hangzhou, where they had to wait hours for their next train. 

Fin also revealed he will have to stop at times during the race, because he has type 1 diabetes and all the exercise will mean he must take breaks to boost his sugar levels. 

Sioned and Fin are 2/1 second favourites, followed by Gaz and Yin (3/1), who now describe themselves as "best mates" after their marriage split a few years ago. 

Yin is Chinese, but cannot speak Mandarin, and it left her deflated early on in China. 

She "lost a bit of a heart" during the first episode, because locals kept speaking to her and assuming she knew Mandarin. 

Despite this, the pair said they felt "amazing" to be third after reaching the first checkpoint. 

Caroline And Tom's Early Detour 

Mother and son duo Caroline and Tom didn't have the best start to the competition, after failing to reach the first checkpoint when the episode one credits rolled. 

They got stuck in Beijing for two nights early on, because all the trains they tried to get were sold out. 

Later in the episode, the pair had to make a 380km detour, and splashed out £75 on train tickets for the privilege.

They are propping up the outright market as 5/1 outsiders, just behind brothers Brian and Melvyn, who are 7/2 chances. 

Before the race, the siblings said they haven't been away together since the 1970s, and they didn't look too comfortable lugging a suitcase up the Great Wall of China to the start line. 

However, they arrived at the first checkpoint in fourth place, and admitted they picked the "wrong route" in leg one.

* Reminder: These are hypothetical odds provided by industry experts.