McFlys Harry Judds tears as he breaks down on Celeb Race Across the World

For many, the idea of backpacking across 24 countries with a parent sounds like a recipe for disaster – but it’s exactly what Good Morning Britain’s Alex Beresford, McFly’s Harry Judd and All Saints singer Melanie Blatt signed up for on Celebrity Race Across the World.

Along with racing driver and pundit Billy Monger, 24, the BBC show spin-off sees them competing against each other as they race from Morocco to Norway over a month with a limited budget, no air travel and no electronics.

During their epic journey they are allowed to bring along a plus one. While Mel and Harry chose to travel with their mums, Helene and Emma, and Billy with his sister Bonny, Alex picked his dad Noel – and found that there were sometimes power struggles during their trip.

“I was completely out of my comfort zone,” says Alex, 42. “At points, I wanted to press on and my dad wanted to stay. Obviously I’ve got so much respect for my dad and I didn’t ever really want to go against any decisions that he wanted to make. But ultimately, I found myself in very difficult situations where I was like, ‘I might have to overrule him’, and I didn’t know how he was going to take it. But actually, he took it really well.”

For Harry, 37, the show was an opportunity to reconnect with his mum Emma after leaving home as a teenager to find fame with McFly. “I’m the youngest of three and was a mummy’s boy growing up,” he says.

“Then suddenly at 17, I was in this band and just so busy – the dynamic of our relationship shifted a lot. I didn’t consider the impact that my leaving had on mum and now having children myself, I can relate to what she went through. One of the things I enjoyed most was spending 10 hours on a train with her. We would talk for nine-and-a-half of those hours about life, her childhood. That was the most special thing.”

Spending time with her mum wasn’t a novelty for singer Mel, 48. “We’ve lived next door to each other for the past 10 years and we’ve always been in each other’s pockets,” she says.

The mother-daughter trip did boost the pop star’s self-esteem and marked “new territory” in their relationship. “I think I’ll always be plagued with self–doubt as far as my talents, but I’m definitely more confident at being alone in the world and dealing with whatever situation is in my way,” she says.

While presenter Alex says it was “a huge privilege” to travel with his father, it wasn’t an easy choice. “My wife Imogen really wanted to come, but we’d only been married for four or five weeks,” Alex says. “I thought that would be a lot of pressure to put our relationship under – we might snap at each other more, whereas with my dad, I knew there was going to be that level of respect.”

Harry was tempted to ask one of his McFly bandmates along and reckons Danny Jones would have been perfect. “He’s charming, very charismatic and a lot of fun,” the drummer says.

Harry’s mum Emma proved to be the best choice, however, when he found himself suffering from homesickness. “One morning, I had a 20-minute call with my family and I completely broke down,” he says. “I’ve never missed my wife so much. I went into mum’s room and had a bit of a cry.”

Luckily, Emma managed to combat her son’s blues with a bit of cross-stitch. “She got this tapestry out that she always does in the winter months and she’d brought me one. I was quite emotional and used it to focus my mind. But three weeks of obsessive stitching ensued and it was therapeutic. Mum called it, ‘Stitch and b***h.’”

Harry wasn’t the only one who struggled with being away from loved ones – Alex admits that not speaking to his wife or son Cruz, 13, “absolutely killed” him.

“It was tough, but my wife and family wrote us letters to read on each stop of the journey and I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed opening them. It’s the hardest show on television and it was gruelling. It takes a lot out of you but you get a lot out of it.”

And the biggest challenge for Mel? Cost-cutting! “I thought we were doing very well with budgeting but we actually weren’t at all,” she says. “My idea of budgeting was, ‘I get a pizza, you get a bowl of pasta, we’ll have half each.’ A lot of money was spent on food – and taxis.”

Celebrity Race Across the World airs from Wednesday 13th September at 9pm on BBC One.

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