Kush Swaps Race For Music

Race Across the World winner Kush has revealed he plans to focus on music after winning the BBC travel competition with his best friend Jo.

The Liverpool pair were crowned winners of the 2006 series after becoming the first team to reach Lake Khövsgöl in northern Mongolia. Their victory ended a route of more than 11,000km from Palermo, Sicily, across Europe and Asia.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Kush and Jo told Sally Nugent and Jon Kay about their plans after the show. Kush said music had always been his main goal before television came along.

“Music was always sort of plan A for me before the whole TV thing. And so going back to that, I'm really going to give it a go.”

Jo said he still has the travel bug and is preparing to spend three months in South America. He hopes to try vlogging and may also use his platform to discuss mental health, particularly men’s mental health.

The series, produced by Studio Lambert and devised by Tim Harcourt, saw five teams travel without phones or bank cards, using only a limited cash budget equivalent to the airfare from Italy to Mongolia. John Hannah’s narration has also become part of the show’s familiar identity.

Jon Kay noted that Kush and Jo showed “steeliness” from the start. Jo said their goal was clear once they knew they were competing in series six: they wanted to win.

The duo beat siblings Katie and Harrison, in-laws Mark and Margo, cousins Puja and Roshni, and father-and-daughter team Andrew and Molly. Kush said the result made the lack of sleep, hunger and pressure worthwhile, while Jo admitted that watching the finale back made him realise how intense his reaction had been.

For Kush and Jo, the win now appears to be a launchpad for creative work rather than a one-off TV moment: music for Kush, and travel-led content for Jo.