Race Across The World viewers have been left in tears after a contestant's terrifying health setback was revealed. The penultimate leg of the BBC series saw teams travel from Ugll to Kharkhorin in Mongolia, the final country of the race.
Battling freezing conditions and brutal off-road travel on the 1,550km journey, the latest leg pushed contestants to their limits as they relied on paying strangers for car shares to reach the seventh checkpoint. However, during one moment in the episode, junior doctor Molly, 23, shared a terrifying story about her father Andrew, 54.
As one of the four remaining teams, the duo stayed at a family's house in Mongolia while Andrew collected cow dung for fuel in an old wheelbarrow. Speaking to the camera, Molly said: 'It's really important for daddy to seize this. This is his opportunity to prove to himself that he can do it. Because three years ago my daddy had a heart attack, and it was probably the worst day of my life. That really shook me and I think it really shook him. Daddy realised he wasn't invincible.'
Discussing his health battle, Andrew said: 'The heart attack knocked my confidence. Over the years it has just caused me a huge amount of stress and a huge amount of anxiety that I've never been able to fully get rid of. That was one of the things I said to Molly: "We need to get through the elimination because I need to finish this."'
As he finished speaking, Andrew began to fight back tears on camera before continuing: 'Mongolia has been a pinch-me moment that I'm here, I'm standing here. It's just something that I've always wanted to do. This is my way of putting a full stop on the heart attack, and the ability to say: "No, it's not going to affect me anymore, but it's going to give me positives as I make my way through life." I cannot thank this whole journey enough for flicking that switch and allowing me to move on.'
Responding to the moment online, several viewers described how emotional the reveal was. Ryan said it made him 'tearful', while Matthew wrote: 'Andrew talking about his heart attack,' sharing an emotional moving image. Niamh commented: 'Feel so maternal towards every pair this year – they're all so wholesome I can't #raceacrosstheworld #RATW'
Race Across The World is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
