Why Celebrity Race Across The World's Jeff Brazier chose son Freddy over Bobby as travel partner
The TV star said picking his younger son as his partner on the BBC One show came down to 'natural selection'.
What did you miss?
Celebrity Race Across The World's Jeff Brazier has revealed how he made the tough choice between sons Freddy and Bobby as his travel partner – admitting it came down to 'natural selection'.
The TV star and his younger son Freddy are one of the pairs of famous contestants taking on the latest travel race in the BBC One series and Jeff praised Freddy for his natural adventuring skills.
But he told The One Show that elder son Bobby might be "offended" by the reasons he gave, as newlyweds Scott Mills and Sam Vaughan shared how the series had tested them.
What, how and why?
TV viewers might be more familiar with EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing star Bobby Brazier than his younger brother Freddy, but their dad Jeff told The One Show that there was no question in his mind over who to choose for his Celebrity Race Across The World partner.
Asked why he had chosen to travel with Freddy rather than Bobby, he said: "Natural selection. I took the boys to climb some mountains in Scotland, we wanted to go off the beaten path. We had a guide and he took us up a cliff face in torrential rain.
"Bobby was hating me after about two minutes and the guide was quite matter of fact, the only way off is seven hours that way. Freddy just got on with it, he was like a machine, so I'd seen what was really special about Freddy.
"He has that staying power, that stomach for challenges. I knew he'd be good, plus he's a quick thinker and he takes lots of risks."
But proud dad Jeff then reflected: "Poor Bob, he's going to be offended about that. Bob would have been a great team mate in lots of other respects, but Bob's had lots of experiences and I was also mindful that Freddy would benefit from having a big life experience under his belt."
He added: "I wanted Freddy to have an experience to look back on. When you're young, you're supposed to have an experience, that's why people backpack."
As well as starring in EastEnders, Bobby reached the final of last year's Strictly – but viewers are set to get to know Freddy better, as he joins his reality show veteran dad Jeff who took part in Shipwrecked in 2001 and Celebrity SAS in 2019.
But Jeff claimed Race Across The World was his toughest challenge yet, saying: "A lot of people laugh at me because how can this be harder than SAS. When you're travelling as a couple you can hold each other as you do in life generally when there's ups and downs. When you're father and son there's still that level of responsibility, that I'm responsible somehow for how he enjoys his experience."
What else happened on The One Show?
However, it didn't sound like completely plain sailing for fellow competitors Scott Mills and Sam Vaughan, who got married just a couple of months after filming the series.
Mills said: "There's no better test of your relationship because as you'll see, it was tough."
The Radio 2 DJ also shared that their celeb-packed list of wedding performers included Sam Ryder, Pixie Lott and Joel Corry - but said that Corry had been a little daunted after learning that Calvin Harris was one of the guests.
He said that Corry had complained: "You could have told me because now I've got to DJ in front of Calvin Harris."
The One Show airs on BBC One at 7pm on weekdays.
