‘I woke up with a sense of anxiety every morning’: Inside Race Across the World’s Anita Rani’s life & divorce
Celebrity Race Across the World continues this evening, with television and radio presenter Anita Rani and her dad Bal still in the running.
The series kicked off on Thursday 6th November, and saw the four celebrity pairs arrive in Caribbean Island of Isla Mujeres. They were each given the same amount of money and told to set off for their first check point on the 5,900km race which will end at Península de La Guajira in Colombia.
And while some of the others struggled, Anita and Bal got off to a flying start, reaching the first check point almost 24 hours before the others.
On why she decided to sign up for the BBC One show, Anita said: “Me and dad have just thought we’ve got a similar sort of adventurous spirit and dad is always so excited to hear about anything and just naturally curious. So I was like, ‘Right, this opportunity has come our way. Are you up for it, dad?'”
As the race continues, read on for everything you need to know about Anita, including her 2023 divorce, new relationship, career background and what else she’s said about the show.
Who is Anita Rani?
Anita Rani is a radio and television presenter.
She currently presents Countryfile and Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4. As well as this, she frequently appears on The One Show and hosted The Answer Trap.
Fans guessed correctly that she’d be taking part in the new series of Celebrity Race Across the World, after the BBC shared images of a series of clues that pointed towards her.
Dave Benett//Getty Images
Speaking about the show, Anita admitted that it was “tough” adding that she felt “a sense of anxiety” every morning while on the race.
“It’s genuinely so difficult because every morning you wake up, well I did anyway, with this sense of anxiety, because you have no idea what you’re going to be up for the next day and how you’re going to get from A to B. It’s just like, ‘Right, let’s step into the unknown once again and figure out how we’re going to get from this place to this place that we have no idea about, no language and just hope that we won’t get into a sticky situation.'”
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How old is Anita Rani?
Anita Rani is 48-years-old.
She celebrated her birthday last month on 25th October.
Who is Anita’s dad Bal?
BBC
Bal (full name Balvinder Singh Nazran) is TV presenter Anita Rani’s dad. He was born in India but came to the UK when he four-years-old, with Anita describing him as a “Yorkshireman through and through.”
On joining the show, he said: “When she said, ‘Dad, are you up for adventure?’ I thought, maybe a weekend away, she’s going to take me somewhere, she’s been all over the world, so she’ll probably take me somewhere. Then sh mentioned, ‘Oh it’s going to be about six weeks.’ I didn’t realise how tough it’d be. It’s quite hard.”
Their stint on Race Across the World comes five years after they appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox together in 2020.
How old is Anita Rani’s dad Bal?
Bal is 69-years-old and is a semi-retired businessman.
In the new series, he mentioned that he wanted to go on the adventure while he’s still fit.
Is Anita Rani married?
No. Anita Rani got divorced from her husband of 14 years, Bhupi Rehal, in 2023.
The pair met at a rave in East London and married in a Sikh ceremony back in 2009, before going their separate ways in September 2023, thought to be as a result of their hectic schedules.
In a candid 2024 with the The Sunday Times, Anita opened up about being single in her 40s.
She said: “Becoming single in my mid-forties has made me re-evaluate everything. It has made me see how much I have been conditioned to be a dutiful woman, rather than a free woman.”
Instagram/@itsanitarani
She continued: “I was raised to be a high achiever, to make my parents and family proud, but I was also raised never to bring shame. This is where it gets kind of problematic, especially if you are born with a vagina. So I guess I’ve lived in extreme conflict.”
The TV presenter is now in a new relationship with Alex Lavery, and the pair were spotted looking pretty loved up as they attended the Burberry London Fashion Week Show in September.
Alex runs an immersive sonic experience company called Frqncy Ldn which “explores the effects of sound and mind on the body.”
Is Anita Rani on Instagram?
She is and can be followed @itsanitarani where she currently has 173k followers.
Celebrity Race Across the World airs on BBC One on Wednesdays at 8pm.
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