Race Around the World

For each series, a group of "racers" were selected from video auditions from the Australian general public. The only stipulation for the video auditions was a lead-in of ten seconds of black. John Safran submitted his audition with ten seconds of yellow. The successful applicants undertook a brief course in documentary film-making, before deciding on an itinerary for their journey around the world. They were then given a digital video camera, and sent to their first destination.^[3]

Over the next 100 days, the racers were required to devise, arrange and film a series of ten four-minute documentary films.^[3] In the original series, the racers had to also produce a stand-by documentary and five "postcards". This gave them ten days to travel to their next destination, film the video, and send it back to the ABC in Sydney with detailed editing instructions.^[4]

In the rebooted series, the racers were required to edit the films themselves during their travels and had their locations assigned each week, with the exception of the final week.

The series was brought to the ABC by filmmaker Michael Rubbo,^[5] and was based on the Canadian television series La Course destination monde (1988–1999).^[6]

It was broadcast as a weekly half-hour program, with four films shown per episode. Each film was then judged by a panel of three media and film experts, including David Caesar,^[7] Sarah Macdonald,^[8] Tony Squires^[9] and Sigrid Thornton, as well as being put to a popular viewer vote. Points were deducted for late submissions.^[10]

Two seasons were broadcast, both hosted by Richard Fidler, a former member of the Doug Anthony All Stars comedy group.^[11] The series was directed by John Lander.^{[citation needed]}

In late 2025, it was announced that a new season of Race Around the World would be broadcast in 2026.^[12]

Although receiving fairly high ratings for its timeslot, Race Around the World was a considerable logistical and financial drain on the publicly funded ABC. In 2000, the series, now entitled Race Around Oz, was restricted to the Australian continent because it was the Olympic year and the producers wished to focus on Australia.^[19]

A youth-oriented program titled Race Around the Corner was produced by ABC Children's Unit with students (14–16 years of age) making low-budget local productions in the same style as Race Around the World.^[20][21]

Host Richard Fidler later became a radio presenter and host of the Conversations radio show and podcast.^[11]

Most of the racers from the series went on to pursue careers in media and film-making:

• John Safran came last on the first series (won by Olivia Rousset), despite winning the popular vote, because he was disqualified after the first round, in which he submitted a film in which he had covertly filmed priests giving confession in Rio de Janeiro.^[22] Safran went on to produce and present several television programs, including John Safran's Music Jamboree and John Safran vs God for SBS, and John Safran's Race Relations for the ABC.^[23] He would return to the race for the 2026 reboot, as one of the judges.
• Olivia Rousset, Bentley Dean, and Kim Traill have worked as reporters for the SBS program Dateline.^[3][6]
• Olivia Rousset has won a Walkley Award for her video journalism.^[13][12]
• Bentley Dean was nominated for an Academy Award for Tanna.^[24]
• Kim Traill's book Red Square Blues: A Beginner's Guide to the Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union was published by HarperCollins in September 2009.^[25]
• Catherine Turner was a reporter with Al Jazeera, and later Seven News.^[26]
• Scott Herford has a film production company,^[27] and has produced several films.^[28]
• Tony Wilson went on to host the breakfast show on Melbourne radio station 3RRR,^[29] and has written a novel called Players (ISBN 1-920885-58-7).
• Ben Davies is the creator and producer of the Network Ten observational documentary series Bondi Rescue.^[30]

In March 2025, a reunion and retrospective special was produced on Australian Story, titled "The Shoot Out".^[31]

• The Amazing Race (American TV series)
  • The Amazing Race Australia
• Le Grand Raid Le Cap Terre de Feu
• Race Across the World