Celebrity Race Across The World’s Dylan Llewellyn in tears as he reveals his brother James’ tragic death

“He was everything I want to be – he was my hero”

Nov 13 2025

Dylan Llewellyn has broken down in tears on Celebrity Race Across The World while speaking about the death of his brother James.

In tonight’s show, The Derry Girls actor and his mum Jackie are both left crying during an ancient ceremony in South America.

Dylan, 33, finds himself opening up about how his brother died while sitting around a fire with their fellow competitors.

Dylan Llewellyn and his mum Jackie have revealed the death of his brother in Celebrity Race Across The World (Credit: BBC)

By the end of the emotionally charged session, everyone is in floods of tears after hearing what happened to James.

Celebrity Race Across The World: What happened to Dylan’s brother

Dylan tells their heartbreaking story during a ceremony to honour the goddess of the cacao tree to Guatemala. This involves drinking a cup of cacao, which tastes like raw hot chocolate. They are told it has spiritual and healing properties.

The female spiritual guide says: “This is a special moment for you to let go today anything you no longer need to be carrying in your heart, your life and your mind to find peace and love.”

As the ceremony gets underway, Jackie begins to cry. She tells the group – Roman and Harleymoon Kemp, and Mollie Rainford and Tyler West: “I feel a sense of peace and connection to people I have lost in my life. It brings me closer…”

Dylan starts crying too, as he explains through his tears: “Me and my mum lost someone close to us. I lost my brother and my mum lost her son. His name is James.

“I just wish he could take my place and do this, do all this and travel the world. But he never got to.”

Dylan goes on to reveal how James died to Celebrity Race Across The World viewers in a piece to the camera. He says: “My eldest brother James, he um.. he took his life when he was 20. I was 16. It just hit us all hard, so hard.

“Doing this race is like doing it for my brother and my mum. He would have loved to do something like this. I think she’d like to have that kind of journey with a son.”

Dylan’s mum Jackie also cries as she speaks about James’ tragic death (Credit: BBC)

Roman Kemp comforts Dylan

The camera returns to the campfire, with fellow competitor Roman visibly upset. He tells Dylan: “He’s with you the whole time. He’d be sat right here, he’d be laughing at everything you’re going through.”

Managing a smile through her tears, Jackie replies: “We’ve certainly had a lot of laughs so far!”

In scenes that will also leave viewers crying, Dylan tells the group: “He lived life to the full. He was so popular, he had so many friends. He was my hero.”

Dylan goes on to tell the camera: “James was everything I wanted to be with his confidence. I really want to get out of my comfort zone and support my mum, because I want to look after her on this trip because she deserves it. He would be proud of me I think.”

Back at the campfire, Dylan says: “I know he’s with us.” Jackie tells her son: “He’s your guardian angel. He’s racing with us.”

The pair later conclude they feel a “sense of relief and release” following the ceremony.

Dylan and Jackie are one of four teams in this year’s Celebrity Race Across the World (Credit: BBC)

Celebrity Race Across the World: Safety warning

The heartbreaking scenes play out in episode 2 of Celebrity Race Across The World. The competitors have already made it to their first checkpoint and need to head to the second.

As broadcaster Anita Rani and her dad Bal made it first, they are given a head start. This means they missed the cacao tree ceremony.

The teams are challenged with travelling to El Zonte in El Salvador. They start the episode in Guatemala, having arrived from Mexico via Belize. But it is very risky business.

They are warned in a letter: “For safety reasons, travel after dark is not allowed on this leg.” Narrator John Hanna explains: “Across this region of Central America, increased trafficking and crime at night means it’s only safe for all teams to travel in daylight.”

After reading the warning, Anita says to Bal: “We are going into some spicy territory.” Eek!

Read more: Celebrity Race Across the World: Why Roman Kemp’s sister Harleymoon refuses to be a nepo-baby

Celebrity Race Across The World continues at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Thursday November 13, 2025.