As early favourites, the Countryfile presenter and her dad Bal reminisce about UK day trips and their epic journey through Central America
It’s the second week, and they are already the pair to beat. One has spent a decade trekking around Britain for Countryfile, is a veteran presenter of live TV and radio and won another highly competitive franchise – Celebrity Bake Off (she took part in the Sport Relief version in 2012). The other left school at 15 and spent much of his adult life running a garment business.
Anita Rani and her father, Bal, are among four pairs of contestants in this year’s Celebrity Race Across The World. Starting on Mexico’s Isla Mujeres, they are travelling 5,900km across Central America to the Península de La Guajira in Colombia on a budget of £950pp – £30 each per day.
The race finishes in La Guajira, Colombia, a gateway to South America (Photo: Franck Camhi/Getty)
Some of the countries that they can visit, depending on their route – such as Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Colombia – may seem intrepid to all but seasoned travellers. But Bal was up for an adventure.
Anita had an inkling that they would be travelling in East Africa for the show. She had even started tutoring her dad in Swahili, which she had picked up while backpacking in the region. They decided that their Kenyan taxi driver en route to the airport was a sign.
They were both excited by Central America, however, which they discovered was their destination just before catching their flight out of the UK.
“When you watch [the show], you’re going to drool [at the backdrops],” says Anita. Indeed, the white-sand beaches of Isla Mujeres, wildlife such as anteaters and ocelots in Guatemala and the Caribbean cuisine of Belize might all tempt viewers on a Central America holiday.
Anita and Bal visit Lamanai archaeological reserve in Belize (Photo: GummyBone/Getty)
The region is certainly gaining popularity among travellers. El Salvador is the world’s third-fastest-growing tourist destination, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation. Guatemala claims its visitor numbers are up 8 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. And, from 8 December, a new Air Canada flight route will allow UK passengers to reach the English-speaking country of Belize within a day – previously, it has required an overnight connection in the US or Mexico.
The father-and-daughter team swiftly adapts to each destination. Anita picked her 69-year-old father as a partner partly because of his curiosity, and partly because they are so alike. “We have a very similar sense of humour. Sometimes dad and I can look at each other and crack up laughing,” she says.
She and Bal joke about his picky eating being one of the biggest challenges. “I took some brown sauce with me,” says Bal. “It was tacos with brown sauce, beans with brown sauce…”
Anita and Bal set the pace in episode one, but will that last until the final leg? (Photo: Studio Lambert/BBC)
Bal didn’t have time for long family holidays when Anita – who left home at 18 – was a child, but this opportunity came at the “perfect time”, she says. “Life is about timing. He’s umming and ahhing about retirement – he’s still got energy.”
She talks on the show about wanting to bring some magic to her father’s life.
Anita and Bal have more combined life experience than any other of this year’s partnerships, namely: actor, podcaster and former Capital FM breakfast show presenter Roman Kemp and his singer-songwriter sister Harleymoon; Derry Girls actor Dylan Llewellyn and his mother Jackie; and DJ Tyler West and his partner, singer and EastEnders actress Molly Rainford.
In the first leg, Anita and Bal were the first to board a ferry – the only transport off Isla Mujeres. “Dad taught me to navigate when I was a kid. I’m still a bit of a map nerd,” says Anita.
Those skills were honed while travelling around the UK during Anita’s childhood. Bal and his wife (Anita’s mum) were running the garment factory.
“We couldn’t close the business down and go on a two-week holiday, so we travelled [on day trips] in Yorkshire: to Whitby, Scarborough, York,” says Bal.
“If someone wanted to visit Edinburgh, we’d get up early and drive there and back in a day,” adds Anita.
Stamina for a long journey was fitting preparation for the show. The pair’s 23-hour lead to start the second leg was evidence of that.
Anita and Bal used Anita’s GCSE Spanish to ask a local to find their next stop: El Zonte in south-west El Salvador, but the contestants were told by the show that, “for safety reasons, travel after dark is not allowed”.
The surf town of El Zonte is a check point in El Salvador (Photo: Eduardo Fuentes/Getty)
And that’s not the only thing that will stand in their way through the series. The pair won’t yet share any hairy moments from future episodes for fear of spoilers – but, by the second episode, they already faced being stranded in Guatemala due to civil unrest.
Yet they loved the tough parts of the journey, which was filmed earlier this year. Anita is keen to return to Central America to learn Spanish “properly”, while Bal wants to take Lucky to Mexico after a Christmas cruise. He and Anita wonder if he’ll be recognised on board. “They’re calling him Bal Clooney at work”.
As for their relationship, they agree that the weeks of travel helped them to learn more about one another, “We’re both as driven and impatient as each other, and we’re quite fiery,” says Anita.
Anita and Bal’s navigation skills and curiosity could power a travelogue (Photo: Studio Lambert/BBC)
Even if they don’t take first place, it is a winning combination – they would definitely travel together more, says Anita. How about a new father-daughter travelogue? Hopefully someone at the BBC is listening…
Your next read
Celebrity Race Across The World airs at 8pm on Thursdays on BBC One and is available from the same time on iPlayer
