Mum and son from Hargrave, near Bury St Edmunds, share their experience of travelling across Asia in the latest season of BBC One’s Race Across the World

A mum and son who raced across the world’s largest continent in a BBC One series said it was nice to relive the adventure once again after the first episode aired last night.

Caroline and Tom Bridge, aged 60 and 21, of Hargrave, near Bury St Edmunds, were pushed to their limits – both physically and mentally – as they, along with four other teams, competed for a chance to win £20,000 in Race Across the World.

Season five of the BAFTA-winning show returned to screens last night and saw five teams traverse from The Great Wall of China, in Huanghuacheng, north of Beijing, through eastern China.

Tom said the biggest difficulty in trying to reach the first checkpoint in Jiangxi, southeast China, was the language barrier.

“It’s nice to look back and see what we’ve achieved,” said both Tom and Caroline. “It was really enjoyable and we are so grateful for the opportunity.

“However, the biggest weakness for us was the language barrier, but we were very supportive of each other and the strength of our relationship is what kept us going.”

The programme sees the teams race 14,000km across three Asian countries, including China and Nepal, to reach the finish line in Kanniyakumari, the southernmost tip of India.

Each duo was given just over £1,000 - the cost of a flight - and the first team to cross the finish line without using mobile phones, bank cards or the internet will win £20,000.

The mum and son duo have been described as ‘unlikely travel companions’.

Tom, who backpacked around Europe and spent six months travelling through South America, said he wanted to show his mum Caroline the world through his eyes.

Meanwhile, Caroline never had the opportunity to travel and wanted to prove she’s more than just a ‘mum’.

Caroline said: “I’m a traditional housewife - I’m always cleaning, shopping, cooking and looking after the animals. I used to have a career but I gave that up.

“I wanted to do something to prove to myself that I could achieve something and I’m absolutely proud to have done it with my only son.

“Tom has an amazing childlike quality of being carefree, whereas I take things a little bit too seriously – so I think those two things combined worked really well for us.

“When one was tired, the other would automatically take over.”

The pair added it was a relief to finally be able to talk about the show, which Caroline described as life-changing.

The mum and son said they told their friends and relatives they were travelling around Australia for two months while filming for the series.

Tom added: “The hardest thing was when we came back – everyone was asking ‘how was Australia’ and obviously we hadn’t been, so it was hard to talk about it.

“It’s not something I would normally put myself forward for, but I was so tempted to do it because of the thought of being able to travel with Mum.

“I think the idea of the memories we could create was the thing that motivated me more than the idea of being in the public eye.”

The next episiode will broadcast at 9pm next Wednesday.