Who are Jo and Kush? Meet Race Across the World 2026 contestants

It’s Thursday and that can only mean one thing: Race Across the World is back!

Tonight (23 April), the race steps up a gear as the remaining teams discover that the fourth checkpoint lies in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi.

Leaving Halfeti behind, the teams face a pivotal decision – either head north towards the Black Sea coast or strike east through Türkiye’s arid heartland.

With a budget of just £26 a day, the teams must navigate their travels without smartphones, internet access or bank cards, and best friends Jo and Kush are up for the challenge.

“I feel like being a Scouser, it’s quite easy to fit in around that kind of environment [of talking to strangers],” Jo told Radio Times ahead of the series launch.

But just who are they? Scroll on to learn more about the Race Across the World 2026 contestants.

Who are Jo and Kush?

Relationship: Best friends

Jo and Kush are childhood best friends from Liverpool, who are heading into the race hoping their “Scouse charm” will help them throughout their adventure.

The 19-year-olds have been best friends for over 15 years, with their parents having met at a play group when they were toddlers.

Having been friends for so long, the pair weren’t worried the race would affect them, with Kush telling Radio Times: “We were very confident that it wouldn’t get high pressure. Our friendship was strong enough to overcome any sort of challenges that it faced.”

During the race, the pair agreed to compromise between sightseeing and focusing on the race.

“I think at the back of our heads we wanted to win but, for me, the experiences were far more appealing,” Jo said.

Why did Jo and Kush want to take part in Race Across the World?

It was Kush’s idea to sign up for the series, and Jo didn’t need any convincing as they had planned to go travelling whether they were accepted for the show or not.

“I was just on Instagram [and] I’d seen the advert for it,” Kush told Radio Times.”I never watched it, but my mum and my brothers have [and] they loved it. I was like, ‘It’ll be really funny to apply just to show them, and be like, look what I’ve done.’ I literally called Jo and I was like, ‘Do you want to sign up for this? And he was like yeah sound.'”

“We didn’t have anything to lose, like, we apply and we get denied and we’ll still go travelling anyway or we apply, we get accepted and we go travelling anyway,” Jo added.

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Race Across the World continues on Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Seasons 1-5 are available to watch on iPlayer.

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