Back in 1997, the ABC embarked on a bold experiment: send eight unknown young filmmakers off around the world.
Armed with state-of-the-art digital cameras (which look positively prehistoric by today’s standards), a backpack, and not much else, their task was to make a short documentary every 10 days for 100 days, to be shown on Aussie TV via a series called Race Around The World.
It ended up being a groundbreaking program, equal parts travelogue, filmmaking masterclass, and unscripted reality endurance test.
Sign up to The Nightly’s newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Audiences connected with it immediately.
Now, more than 25 years later, the national broadcaster is reviving the series, this time with Take Five’s Zan Rowe as host.
Joining her will be a revolving panel of guest judges who will appraise the participants’ films each week, alongside John Safran, the original series’ most successful graduate, who steps in as a regular judge.
This year’s new crop of Race Around The World contestants. Credit: Supplied
“When I heard the show was coming back I screamed expletives,” Rowe says from her home on the east coast.
“When the next sentence was ‘They want you to host it’, I was like, ‘What?!’
“It was crazy, because I absolutely loved Race Around The World.
“At the time it first came out, I was studying cinema and was obsessed with filmmaking, cinema critique, and going to the movies.
“I was at the start of my own adventures travelling the world, (and the show) felt like this incredible door opening into a whole bunch of stories and ideas I had never imagined.
“And, of course, at the time, it was so cutting-edge.”
From the archives: Perth’s own Olivia Rousset, pictured in 1997. Rousset now works as a producer for Australian Story. Credit: Dione Davidson
Back in the 90s, the show’s contestants sent their footage back to ABC’s headquarters in Sydney by mail. Editors would follow written instructions to piece together their films to be shown to the judges each week.
Needless to say, this time around, the six racers will be doing things a little differently.
“When you put Race Around The World on TV in 2026, it feels like the perfect show for the time, because you have people who have learnt how to tell short-form stories from a very young age,” Rowe says.
“You have people who are completely across all the technology and how to shoot it, edit it, and do it all themselves, but there is one big difference: they don’t know where they are heading to next…”
In the original series, contestants could plot their path and plan their stories ahead of time — but not anymore.
“They are finding out at the end of every episode where they are going to next,” Rowe explains.
The benefits of this approach are two-fold.
“There’s that element of surprise — we are really throwing the filmmakers in the deep end,” Rowe says.
“But we are also making sure all the racers are safe … and obviously, technology allows us to check in with them and watch over them.”
Which is probably a good thing, given the world right now — and they are being launched far and wide into it.
In the first episode, we learn that Mikaela, who hails from Perth, is off to Alaska; Lucinda is on her way to Nevada; Elliot is off to Moldova; William’s landed in Egypt; Kate’s in India; and Jayden is touching down in the Philippines.
Guest judges Claudia Karvan and movie critic Margaret Pomeranz are alongside Safran weighing in — and Pomeranz is NOT holding back.
“Margaret has had a lifetime of taking no prisoners,” Rowe laughs. “Hearing her takes on all these films, and some of them are quite spicy takes, it was incredible to be on set that day!”
John Safran, Claudia Karvan and Margaret Pomeranz are judging in the first episode. Credit: Supplied.
Early episodes were filmed ahead of time (the racers have been on the road for several weeks now), but the series will essentially catch up with itself, with the finale seeing all the contestants back in the country — hopefully still in one piece — and waiting to find out who’ll be crowned the winner.
Their prize is a chance to have a film project funded and produced for the ABC.
The stakes are high, and when you consider how the original series changed the lives of all its participants, it’s a big deal for all the new participants.
“Everyone who did that original show went on to do great things,” Rowe points out.
“Ben (Davies) went on to start Bondi Rescue; John, of course, started a life of satire and documentary making; and Olivia Rousset is now a producer on Australian Story.
“Everyone went on to work in the industry, so it was a game changing show for the people in it, and for everyone watching it.”
