Retired PE teachers Tony and Elaine Teasdale, both now 68, were the first to cross the finish line in 2019, bagging £20,000.
The pair travelled across 21 countries on a shoestring budget of £1,329 and beat eight competitors to be the first to reach the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore.
They spent their winnings on a “gap decade” – and have so far travelled to Antarctica, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Patagonia, and New Zealand.
The new series of Race Across The World airs on BBC1 on Wednesday, April 23 at 9pm, and will see the couples race to be the first to travel from The Great Wall of China. to Kanniyakumari, in the southernmost tip of India.
Tony, from Beadlam, North Yorkshire, said he still gets recognised on the street.
“I’m really looking forward to this season,” he said. “It seems we have been waiting for a long time for this season but I can’t wait and the course looks great.
“We always religiously watch it.
“We are five to six years down the line and people still approach us. We live in a remote part of North Yorkshire and get people saying ‘where do I know you from?'”
Tony says the key to winning the show was a combination of trust and luck.
Speaking of advice he would give this year’s competitors, he said: “I would just not be afraid to take risks and rely on the people you meet. The best thing about the show is that everyone is willing to help others despite what is happening in the world.
“After a few episodes, you can see who may or may not win and which teams are willing to gamble and roll the dice.
“One of the toughest challenges for us was the language barrier, the course, and the different currency because every penny you spent was relayed back to London.
“The languages are one thing, but people were always willing to help us and offer directions, lifts, and accommodation.
Tony and Elaine raced from the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich to the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore, ticking off checkpoints in Greece, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, China and Cambodia along the way.
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The 50-day race spanned 12,000 miles and was the couple’s first retirement adventure – having left their jobs five years before.
All competitors race to a remote corner of the world – but can only travel by land or sea, using a sum of money equivalent to the cost of a one-way flight to their final destination.
Tony said: “We had to let our family members know that we would be living off grid for three months. We were told that there was a film crew in Germany. We didn’t know what to pack or where we were going, but they wished us all the luck.”
“People are also more into the storylines [compared to 2019], which I think is brilliant,” Tony said.
“We didn’t have a back story, but it is good that people are now following their stories.”
