Race Across The World contestant Tricia has admitted her best friend Cathie had to give her a ‘verbal slap’ when nerves over her sight loss would take over.
After due to the pandemic, five teams of two will be embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, zooming 16,000 kilometres across Canada from Vancouver to St John’s Newfoundland as quickly as possible without phones or the internet on a tight budget to win the £20,000 cash jackpot.
The race throws some unique challenges as the contestants have to manage their budget with Canada’s extortionate prices, navigate around a country with infrequent public transport. Oh, and . Lots of them.
Tricia, 48, and Cathie, 49, were desperate to take on a challenge like no other and do something ‘completely bonkers’.
Tricia, 48, lives with chromoretenopothy uveitis, a rare conidiation which brings on sight loss and often overwhelming anxiety. One day her eye sight can be better than the day before, but there’s always the uncertainty going to sleep that she’ll wake up with terrible vision in the morning.
Regardless, Trish was determined to prove that her disability wasn’t going to stand in her way.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Tricia revealed how she battled nerves throughout the experience but thankfully hand best friend on hand to give her a ‘verbal slap’ whenever anxiety was trying to get the better of her.
‘When I first applied I thought it would be fine, it would be great but as we got on more I got more nervous about how much I’d be reliant on Cathie and also what spectators would think, especially because I don’t look like I have sight loss,’ she explained.
‘When I’m walking around I’m normally holding on to Cathie and she’ll just point. We’ve known each other so long that we can just look at each other and I know what she’s going to say.’
During filming, Trish had the added worry that she wouldn’t be able to take in the breath-taking landscape of Canada.
‘I was getting more nervous, not knowing what were going to see ad all these potential views that we were going to get I didn’t think I’d be able to see – but the air was so crisp and clear I got to see more than I thought I would.’
Since returning from the trip, Tricia’s life has changed ‘dramatically’.
‘I was in a job in a bank I wasn’t happy I but I was stuck,’ she said. ‘I didn’t have the belief in myself I could do anything else. I applied for another job and got it.
‘My self confidence is back! My self-doubt is a lot less too. Well, Cathie will be able to tell you if it has or not.’
‘It’s definitely getting there. You’ve certainly got a lot more belief in yourself,’ agreed Cathie. ‘You’ve also shown you’re far more capable than you think you are.’
Cathie found she returned with a sharpened view on how important family is.
‘I missed them so much while I was away, it made me want to make more of an effort to do things together, particularly with my parents who live far away from where we live,’ she said.
While Cathie and Tricia arguably returned with a prize greater than money (well, depending who you talk to), let’s be real – £20,000 was up for grabs and there was four other teams standing in their way of it.
During the opening episode on Wednesday night, Cathie and Tricia come face to face with their competition – father and daughter Kevin and Claudia, another father and daughter Ladi and Monique, brothers Marc and Michael and couple Mobeen and Zainib.
‘When we met them we were just trying to size them up,’ recalled Cathie. ‘It’s human nature when you know you’re going to be competing with someone. “Do you think they’re going to be clever?”
‘We didn’t meet them properly until the day so we were trying to second guess who they were, what their relationship to each other was and who was going to be the biggest threat. We were making up our own theories as we went along!’
‘I thought Mobeen and Zainib were going to be our strongest competition,’ added Tricia. ‘Zainib was the little Scottish pocket rocket. When we met everyone else they were full of beans but they seemed to have a bit of an edge. But I also had a thing about Claudia and Kevin as well.’
‘I thought all of them would be strong,’ said Cathie. ‘Mark and Michael are young lads, they’re fit and will be up for anything.
‘Zainib, I felt the same way as Trish, I was quite scared of Zainib at first until I got to know her and she was absolutely lovely. And then the same with Monique and Ladi and Claudia and Kevin, those two days with their daughters I thought would be a force to be reckoned with.
‘I was anxious about going up with all of them!’
Find out how Tricia and Cathie begin their adventure when Race Across The World airs tonight at 9pm on BBC One.
