The premise was similar to The Amazing Race, except the three two-member teams knew only the final destination and were given only a backpack full of clothes and other essentials. In addition, team members were not acquainted with one another prior to the show, and were assigned to teams. Contestants were blindfolded and dropped off with a single camera person in a remote location of an unknown country to find their way back to their home country.
U.S. version
The U.S. version of the show was produced by Conaco, a production company owned by Conan O'Brien. Sports broadcaster Al Trautwig was the narrator.
Format
Teams were given no money until they managed to figure out what country they were in. During the first set, the teams were abandoned in Mongolia. In the second set, the teams were abandoned in Bolivia. It was revealed in the second set that there was more to the show than just getting to the destination. The contestants had to go back via a particular island, making the quest more arbitrary. The first team to reach the U.S. finish line at the Statue of Liberty in New York City would split U.S. $200,000.
Broadcast
With the show premiering to dismal ratings, only two of the three sets of three episodes were produced; NBC blamed the lackluster numbers on the show debuting just before the September 11, 2001, attacks. The first set debuted on September 4, 2001. The winners from the first set were announced on the final episode, airing a week later than scheduled. While the second set was set to debut the next week, NBC put the show on hiatus. On December 23, 2001, the second set of episodes began airing on NBC in a new 7:00 p.m. ET Sunday timeslot. Although the final two episodes of the second set were initially scheduled to air in a two-hour block the following week, NBC decided to skip the second episode of the set, and only aired the final episode in a one-hour timeslot, due to the previous episode having one of the lowest ratings in the network's history. The series debuted the night before The Amazing Race on rival CBS.
Five sets of three episodes were broadcast in which teams were abandoned in the Solovetsky Islands in Northwest Russia, Mali in West Africa near Timbuktu, near Mount Roraima in Venezuela, the province of Quebec in Canada, and the formerSoviet republic of Azerbaijan. The UK teams had to race back to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, except in the final race from Azerbaijan, where the destination was the Angel of the North statue in Gateshead. The first team to arrive at the destination in each race won a prize of £5,000. The winning team from each race was brought back to compete again the following week, against two new teams. A 320-paged book detailing the series, written by Nikki Arend, accompanied the series. Each team member and camera person was provided at the start with three days' food and water and a small amount of money. In the first two races the participants were given U.S. $200 cash each. For the third race from Venezuela the funds were in the form of an amount of gold and uncut diamonds roughly equivalent to £150. In the fourth race the cash was reduced to U.S. $150. For the final race from Azerbaijan the funds were reduced again, to only $80. DROP 1: Anzer, one of the Solovetsky islands in Russia, making up the Solovki archipelago in the White Sea, 150km from the Arctic Circle. Their final destination was Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London. This, the series pilot, was filmed between 26th August and 2nd September 2000.
1st place: Melissa Moore and Ruth Wagstaff with cameraman Alastair Cook. They won the race by reaching Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, on day 7.
2nd place: Camron John and Tom Lawton with cameraman Neil Harvey.
3rd place: Charlie McFall and Sarah Hemming with cameraman Matt Broad.
DROP 2: Sahara desert, north of Timbuktu, Mali, West Africa. Once the teams determined which country they had been dropped off in, they were instructed to make their way to Dakar, Senegal, where they would be given onward flights to an undisclosed destination. Their final destination was Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London.
1st place: James Maby and Harriet Bulwer-Long with cameraman Will Dawes. They won the race by reaching Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, on day 9.
2nd place: Nana Amoatemaa-Appiah and Stuart Lewington with cameraman Luke Menges.
Abandoned race: Melissa Moore and Ruth Wagstaff, the winners of Drop 1, with cameraman Iain MacDonald. They abandoned the race in Casablanca, Morocco, on day 12, on being told by British Airways staff in Casablanca that the other two teams had begged for and received free flights to London some days earlier. Mel and Ruth had the most authentic journey, travelling the entire route as far as Dakar over land, unlike both other teams who undertook most of the journey on free flights.
DROP 3: La Gran Sabana, Venezuela. Once the teams determined which country they had been dropped off in, they were instructed to make their way to the Caribbean island of Martinique, West Indies, where they would be given partial funds for flights back to the United Kingdom. Their final destination was Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London.
1st place: James Maby and Harriet Bulwer-Long, the winners of Drop 2, with cameraman Simon Egan. They won the race by reaching Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, on day 14.
2nd place: Kate Andrews and Elizabeth Hoselitz, with cameraman Phil Stebbing.
Abandoned race: Clay Pegus and Andrew Boon, with cameraman Ben Anthony. They abandoned the race on the Caribbean island of Margarita, on day 11, at the prospect of facing a long boat journey in a confined unhygienic space.
DROP 4: Near St Augustin, Cote-Nord, Eastern Quebec, Canada. Once the teams determined which country they had been dropped off in, they were instructed to make their way to Venice Beach, Los Angeles, USA, to collect partial funds for tickets to return to the United Kingdom. Their final destination was Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London.
1st place: Katherine Allen and Paul Riley, with cameraman Dimitri Doganis. They won the race by reaching Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, on day 12.
2nd place: James Maby, the winner of Drops 2 & 3, and Sarah Laing, with cameraman Misha Manson-Smith. Harriet Bulwer-Long, who, with James Maby, won Drops 2 & 3, declined to participate in Drop 4 due to work commitments and was replaced by Sarah Laing.
3rd place: Suo San Tsang and Rehan Ali, with cameraman Tim Knight.
DROP 5: Near Siazan in northern Azerbaijan. Once the teams determined which country they had been dropped off in, they were instructed to make their way to Baku. On reaching Baku, they were then instructed to travel via Iran into Turkey. From Turkey the teams could choose their own route back to the United Kingdom. Use of international flights was not permitted, and neither was obtaining assistance from family and friends. In a change from all previous drops, their final destination in Drop 5 was The Angel of the North, in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England.
1st place: Katherine Allen and Paul Riley, the winners of Drop 4, with cameraman Finn McGough. They won the race by reaching The Angel of the North, in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, on day 10.
2nd place: Sharon Singh and Henrietta Tatham, with cameraman Barnaby Snow.
Abandoned race: Paul Robertson and Bruce Fraser, with cameraman Ben Anthony. They abandoned the race in Istanbul, Turkey, on day 8, because Paul-Stuart decided he did not wish to continue.
Broadcast
Scheduling of the program in a late night slot meant it reached only a limited audience. The UK version was repeated on a cable channel a few months after the first showing.
