Episode 18 : Brian & Melvyn

For the final episode of series two, we wanted to end with something light-hearted, funny and full of personality — and Brian and Melvyn were the perfect people to do that.

Otherwise known as “Hat and Suitcase”, these two brothers brought humour, heart and complete chaos to the race in equal measure. From Glastonbury flags and Elvis impressions to golf clubs from charity shops, smelly shoes in hotel fridges and arguments about whether Melvyn’s suitcase was really a suitcase, this episode is full of laughs from start to finish.

But underneath all the banter is something much more powerful.

Brian and Melvyn talk honestly about what BBC's Race Across the World taught them — about getting older, trying new things, losing control, coping when life feels uncomfortable and finding confidence in yourself again. They reflect on the experience of travelling together in their sixties, the moments when they wanted to give up, the kindness of strangers, and how the race brought them closer together.

There are also brilliant behind-the-scenes stories from the series itself, including:

• The now-famous Brian and Melvyn Appreciation Society flag at Glastonbury
• Why Melvin’s shoes had to be stored in hotel fridges
• What really happened when they met Caroline and Tom during the race
• The jobs that never made the edit, including bakery work, cleaning a spa and lobster fishing
• Their very different approaches to golf, spending money and life in general
• What it was really like filming 24/7 and living out of one suitcase

As always, this episode is about much more than a television show.

It is about what happens when we keep saying yes to life, even when we are older, even when it feels uncomfortable and even when we have no idea what we are doing.

Brian and Melvyn remind us that you do not have to be the fittest, the fastest or the most prepared person in the room to do something extraordinary.

You just have to be willing to have a go.

Brian and Melvyn’s NVNG Top 3

1. Never be afraid of failure because success always feels sweeter when you know what it is like to lose.
2. Keep trying new things, whatever your age.
3. Sometimes the best experiences come when you stop trying to control everything.

A huge thank you to Brian and Melvyn for helping us end series two in such a funny, honest and uplifting way. Follow them on Instagram 

And thank you to everyone who has listened, supported, shared and encouraged us throughout this series.

We will be back soon.

Please follow us on Instagram for lots of fun, adventures and behind the scenes antics.

NVNG is hosted by Rebecca Rees and Caroline Bridge. Rebecca is an ICF PCC Executive Coach and Co-Founder of Peak 15 Coaching, passionate about how our brains work and helping people unlock possibility. Caroline won BBC’s Race Across the World 2025 with her son Thomas — a series watched by over six million and shortlisted at the National Television Awards.

🎯 Our Mission: To help people pause, see beyond what holds them back, and discover new possibilities for greater happiness and wellbeing.

📩 Contact Us : We’d love to hear your questions, ideas, or stories of stepping outside your comfort zone: WhatsApp: https://wa.me/447375220027

Instagram @nothingventuredpodcast

👉 Please follow, share, and be part of the NVNG adventure — it all starts with daring to try.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Welcome back to Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained. This is episode 18. It's the final episode of series 2, and we're delighted to have Brian and Melvin from Race Across the World adding a jeunesse quoi some fun and entertainment for the next 40 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

And if you don't know who they are, they're actually referred to as hat and suitcase for obvious reasons. Hello, Mel, mate.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

How are you, darling? Why does this say Thomas?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Because I'm using his computer. Yeah, you'd rather Thomas, wouldn't you? Ah, Lord made it on that one. Well, where is the Tom anyway? He's got a full-time job in a paint factory, and I am very, very proud of him. Because he gets up early, he turns up, he puts in a full day's work, and he brings home a wage and he's saving up to go travelling.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Um race across the world wedding, I was hoping Charlotte and Finn had do it. Wouldn't that be good?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Do you think it yeah?

SPEAKER_03 1:08

It would it would really be a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

I think that that's that's give him give him a year, I reckon that'll probably be it. Or Sean Ed or kick him out.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

And if it was your son, you don't want them to rush into it, do you? I'd I'd time to get a job. Yeah. But he's got a job, he's probably earning more than all of us.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

I think I think the two of them as a youngsters are really shuffled to rocks for them, really. They're a good-looking couple and they can just go out there and do it. I think it's super while the rest of us have got like commitment someway, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Yeah, but he was saying that everybody else isn't a good-looking couple. Apart from you, that's exactly what he's saying, Caroline.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

That's exactly what he just said. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

I must pull you up on this, Brian. I know we haven't even said welcome yet, we've gone straight into arguing and debating. But if we have a marriage, I'm looking forward to seeing you in your new hat.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Roy in a hat.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Yes. Come on, you guys must have known your nicknames on race.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Yours no, no, instead of hat, yours was twap.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

I often heard that about you. Young Thomas said it a couple of times.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Should we start so we don't miss any of this? Because this is recording. Let's carry on. So I want to know about Glastonbury because what happened there?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

It was one of those funny things that when we'd finished race, and Brian and I had done a couple of shows, there was this one fella and his son, I think it was, who wanted to start an appreciation society, and he called it the Brian and Melvin Appreciation Society. And I actually met the fella in Manchester a few months ago, and all they did was start waving a flag from the back of Glastonbury. It was it was as much a surprise to us as it was to anybody else, and then it got on the BBC. We had over a million hits, and then we got a phone call from the BBC Breakfast, and they said, Are you aware of this? and they put us on the telly the next morning with the guy that had made this flag of Elvin Bryan appreciation sign, and he's waving it away. And we had a bit of a chat with him on live telly that morning. I saw it, and I did a bit of a cooking show with Andrew Dickens, and at the back of the at the back of the auditorium came this voice, tell me when you're gonna go to Glaston, and he stood up and waved the flag. And I met this fella, and it was absolutely fantastic, he was brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

It was no more than a joke. And I couldn't they couldn't bring two words together. And this was at nine o'clock in the morning. We haven't been invited to Glaston, bro. We're still waiting.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

I'll get up and do a turn anytime. So, what would you do, Melvin, if you were doing a turn? Oh, we'll do a couple of Melvis numbers. I used to run a karaoke thing. I've just started golf, I've had a few lessons, and I just joined the local club over the road. Yes, yesterday I joined it, and I've managed to get kitted out for less than 50 quid. That is amazing. I'm gonna put it on our edge, and he's shaking his head. Look, but look at this. Brian gave me a load of sticks. Yeah, I went past the charity shop in Gisborough the other day, and there was a trolley outside. I thought, oh, I'll have that. £4.99 for a trolley, right? You were robbed, and I went on either I went on eBay and got, I forgot to tell it was a shopping trolley, not a golfing trolley, but it'll do. And then on eBay, £13.20 for a bag. All fits together beautifully. I've got to put a pair of shoes, pair of shoes nine pounds.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Are you already better than Brian?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

I'll always be better than Brian and got it.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

I could talk him out of it, couldn't I? I'd admit today I couldn't couldn't get a plumbing ball in the hole. So my team took the money. So oh well done. That's okay. That's good. Do you not donate it to charity then? Bollocks, do I?

SPEAKER_02 5:06

You need it! You need it to pay for your first class air fairness. So, Brian, what is your car now?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I have an Aston Martin DB11. Okay. Don't start feeling sorry for him, Rebecca. I'll tell you.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Melvin's shaking his head at this point.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Citrus C3, and I'll use it to teach the drive as well.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

You're still doing that, Melvin.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Yeah, I'm loving it. Good for you. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

How's your horse riding, Caroline? You uh we did we did correspond the other day, and you're are you still top of the leaderboard?

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Yes, I am, thank you. I've had two wins out of two, so I am currently in the lead, which is very, very exciting. But it is only the first month of the season. If I win again, then I have won the spring league and I've won that. But the big competition for me now is Badminton grassroots in May. So it's all in preparation for that.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

So that is going to badminton, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

But but only the grassroots level, so it's baby level, amateur. But for me, it's still so so special. It's it's amazing. Because most people, when they meet me, they go, Oh, are you still riding, dear? Because they look at me and see an old woman. You're not competitive, are you? Does that come as a surprise?

SPEAKER_03 6:19

Actually, at this point, we should say so. What did you two think of Caroline throughout the series?

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Oh, she was awful, absolutely bloody awful. The first time we met her when she was in tears, I was prepared to leave her in tears. And Brian had to convince me to talk to her.

unknown 6:34

Really?

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Caroline is one of the most ambitious ladies I've ever met. She is so strong-willed and has balls that some men bloody dream of. I don't know whether that's appropriate for that, but she's she's one hell of a woman.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yes. It doesn't matter how hard the challenge is either. When when I joke about that first time we met Caroline and Tom, she was down, she was on a downer. Yeah. But it's you can encourage comment, and I don't think you were never gonna give up, Caroline, were you? You would never ever made them give up. Yeah, we should some sabotage. She's all right. She's all right.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

You you were our biggest support, and we absolutely adored you guys and bonded from the first time we met, which is the first checkpoint.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Yeah, Hung Hung Hung Ling, was it? Huang Ling. Huang Ling, yeah. Sitting in in Hang Ling, having a cup of tea with Janice and the and the ground crew and what have you.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Um would both come in second to last and last.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

In like the equivalent of that tiny little villagey town that was so sweet, dried peppers or something.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

You wanted to stay and have a couple of nights there and have a good chat and a chimer, but no, you were just constantly moved on from one to another.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

And we weren't allowed out by ourselves. In fact, we met, Tom and I were running through the streets, and we got told off by Victoria because she said, What do you do doing out? And we said, Oh, we're filming, and we were actually doing some filming, it never made it to the edit. And she thought we'd escaped from our room because nobody knows you're actually not allowed to leave your room.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

We actually got toppled off, didn't we? We we saw the girls and we went over and gave them a hug and had a bit of a chat, and our producer said, You're in a race with them, don't you? And I thought, Well, that would be so bloody thing to say. I know. It's gonna be give them a cuddle and make sure they're all right, aren't we?

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Of course, of course, because we were very much I tried to explain it to people when they ask, and it's very much we were rivals, but we weren't enemies. Yeah, we absolutely adored each other, but we were just competing, and that was it.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

And the and the best team won ultimately. I'm saying that in inverted comments. Yeah, the but the best team, the best team won. And then when we arrived in Katy Yakimari, wasn't it? Katy Katiyari Kanamakiari. Kanimaki. Canyakimaki. You think it's a small village, but it wasn't, it was quite a big town, isn't it? It took us about two and a half hours, I think, to get to the checkpoint, didn't it?

SPEAKER_04 9:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Might have been longer than that, Matt.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

And I think Finn and Shawned were the same. I think they struggled to find the uh to find the route through to the checkpoint.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

I think Caroline and Tom did really well on that one.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

No, we you're right in saying we absolutely just went for it because we saw Finn and Shawned on the way in. Oh, right. And when Thomas saw them, that was the second time we'd seen them whilst we were on race, the first time being on the elimination round, and we were terrified because we thought if it sounds awful now, but we thought if we can at least beat one team, we know we're not out. We didn't have a clue about yin and gaz. So they were thinking the same thing. So that's the only other time we saw them, and then we saw them at Kananakiyari at 6 a.m. in the morning, and we just knew we had to be like possessed team, and we got out of our tuk-tuk and we just ran like hell to what we thought was the southernmost tip of India, which we thought naturally was downhill to the sea, and it was. We didn't even see the statue in the sea, we were just shouting at the crowd and running through, absolutely mad, because we we thought you may as well commit, because if you're wrong, it's no good anyway. So if you're right, you go as fast as possible. And on the way down, we happened to see a beautiful white church, and we just happened to clock it and think, oh, that might be because they'd often stopped us at churches, and that was a waypoint, and then that was the next clue, wasn't it? On the garment church, and we thought, let's go for that one.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

And then you have to try and work it out where it actually is.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

I think it was Our Lady of Ransom, and of course, even the locals don't call it that. Nobody knows what Our Lady of Ransom Church is. So we didn't have a clue.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

One of the most funny ones was Shangri-Lar, and it said, find the twin deer on the wheel. Do you remember that one? Yes, but of course it was two deer on top of a monastery thing, wasn't it? I think the room to find those, Rebecca. You have to look out for the the silly clues and try and identify it. But they don't help you on the ground, they just leave you running around.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

So they they're just filming you, they don't give you suggestions.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Yeah, you can run around and run around and you can you can be sitting on the wrong bus or the wrong train.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

I like the way that they had the map and they showed so you could see the line where you were all going, and how far apart they were sometimes in terms of the geography. So some people go the quick city to city route, and other people would want to go on a mountain path. And how you all ended up at the same place with so many different routes is really interesting. And what jobs did you do?

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Mel and I were quite we early on decided we would work for board and food rather than for money. Right, yeah. Did do us well during certainly through China. We realized that the amount of money that you were going to get by doing a job wasn't sufficient to pay for your accommodation in China. So Melvin and I we did lots of jobs as on the TV that I think the the ones that were shown, and I think Canon and Tom probably had this as well, and certainly Joe Ed and Find it. We worked in a bakery for a day. Melvin did some cooking. I had a bit of uh stomach upset. So I had to keep running back to find a toilet. And a toilet in India is not the cleanest places in the world.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

The spa bright side, didn't we? We went to the spa day.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Oh, yeah, we had two. Yeah, so we so we did. We cleaned a spa, a health spa for a day. We cleaned we worked in a bakery for a day, and none of that was shown on the TV. What did you lose anything, Caroline, on the edit?

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Yes. Our first leg, all they showed us was us being absolutely way behind and not having a clue and standing in in cues. But we actually did lobster fishing, did you? Yes. And I stayed in my very first tent ever. And it was absolutely magical, and it got flooded, but we were woken up by these amazing Chinese ladies outside singing this some sort of anthem, and it was surreal, it was like part of a dream, and it was the most beautiful thing, and it didn't make the edit.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

Oh, what a shame.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

But the lobster fishing, yeah, it was incredible. It's on this huge, huge lake, and all the lobster hats were on stilts.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Yes. The one I saw of you, Caroline, was where you were trying trying to throw the sugar beet. Was it sugar beet or what was it? Oh no, no.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

That that was Minute, and that wasn't till the fourth leg in the pool.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

So I think we were so badly behind, they didn't really show much of our jobs, but we all did jobs or experiences on the way.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

We've done it, and and a lot of people realize it, although they probably do realize it, that you filmed all but 24-7, aren't you? There would have been some really funny outtakes, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

Yeah, especially well. I saw one. I saw one where you fell off your chair, Melvin, and uh Brian was just in hysterics laughing. Well, the chair broke on it before it broke, you know, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

It was literally too heavy. He sat in this, it was a lovely place in China, wasn't it? I can't remember that. Beautiful, it really was.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah, it was it was it was hilarious. But who was the one that helped me? The old lady, the old lady who ran and helped me. Everybody else was just rolling on the floor left.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

I would have been as well. We had some we we had some funny time, we had some sad times as well. I can remember certainly in China early on, feeling quite low and thinking, what the hell am I doing here? Yeah. Sitting in a corridor. And we had to do the if the video diaries every night zoom, every night the video diaries, you're knacked, aren't you? And I thought myself, what the hell am I doing here? And and it's times like that where you you think, God, this is this is hard work, and and you've got no connection, no contact for for home or whatever. It's just you're just you're on your own, really.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

But one of the funniest things that just that just happened was on one of the first when I took my boots off, and that wasn't shown either, was it? And various other ones ever since, because I had because of the slight foot odor problem.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Melbourne suffers from really, really smelly feet. So I don't suffer from it. Everybody else suffers from. Either. So you've got a crew in your room, Melbourne takes his feet off, and the words go round, no Melvin, do not take your feet off. We're still filming it. And then we found a I think second or third hotel, we actually found a fridge, and I put Melvin's shoes in the fridge. Because that was the only place that was sealed up. Mel could not come out. And from then on in, everywhere when we were looking for rooms, it ran into three or four different hotels in the in a village to see whether one they had a room, and two, whether they had a cup of whether whether they had a kettle, and three, whether they had a fridge. We weren't bothered about it, you know, or a sit-down toilet, wouldn't it? We had to have a sit-down toilet.

unknown 16:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

You guys had luxury. Did did you not get used to it, Brian, after all that time?

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah, I got I got used to it, Brian. That's remember when we were in China and they actually took my foot powder and spray off me. The security going through the train station took my foot powder off me. And you should have seen the faces of the people around us through when that lot disappeared because there was no masking it then. You can I can wash them as much as I want. And I can but when they took the foot powder, the foot spray off me, security, that was it. That was it. And I think John, our our first aider, he went once we cleared it. I didn't think it took him long to get to buy me or get one of the fixers to buy me some more foot powder. That was quite important.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

And how did it work pulling a suitcase, Melvin?

SPEAKER_01 17:45

It's a rock sap so I don't know all the foot over that.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

Because that's your nickname, isn't it? Now is your nickname suitcase?

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah, apparently, but it's it I mean I've still got it, it's in the other room, it's fine, it goes everywhere with us. When me and Brian go and do a do, it comes with us. And it probably gets more photographs than we do. Well, why am I gonna carry 20 kilo on my back if I can pull it behind me? So that's what I did. And it just and it worked. Well it did work, Brian, didn't it?

SPEAKER_00 18:14

It it worked because I had to carry it, didn't I? Because Caroline knows, you're up and downstairs all the time. So I had to carry one half of Melvin, that's carrying my own rucksack, and then lifting Melvin's up. And there was an interesting clip, I think it might be on Instagram or YouTube or something like that, with Finn and Sean had sitting on the top and absolutely peed up. And I think Finn is going, How did they beat us with Melvin pulling that bloody rucksack?

SPEAKER_01 18:45

That's right, it's just he's pulling a bloody suitcase. How are they doing what they're doing? He's pulling a bloody suitcase.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

And did you get much fitter by the end of it than you were at the beginning?

SPEAKER_01 18:57

No, I didn't, mate. I was just having a wonder. I don't run, I don't do that nonsense. This is why, if we were gonna win a leg, we had to make sure we were there an hour before everybody else. Because we ain't gonna beat anybody in a foot race. I think I lost a bit of weight because the food wasn't there and the quality of the beer wasn't up to it.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

An awful lot of weight. When I walked into my local pub on the first week I was back, people people looked at me and they thought I'd been ill. I was really suffering from from some dreadful illness. And I had no idea obviously where I was or where I'd been. They just missed me for the last nine weeks. And I said, Where have you been? And I thought when I got back, I'll keep going. I need to keep going. So walking, playing golf, going to the gym, I I'm still reasonably fit. As you can see with Mel, this wasn't a podcast, it was a film, you'll see how he's bloomed.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Did either of you seriously consider giving up?

SPEAKER_01 19:59

No, I never. I never.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

Did you in that corridor in China, Brian?

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yeah, I think I did. I thought about it. We didn't because yeah, we we we wanted to because we we would never give in. But yeah, I think I thought about it, and I I think I think Mel thought about it on the second to last leg, Mel. We were in that bar, pissed off where it was dark and it was just gone midnight. We were so lucky that we had all of these experiences of it. Yeah, and that's that which makes race, isn't it? You're going from A to B, from checkpoint to checkpoint, in the quickest way possible.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Within the rules, though.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

You've got to have a bit of a break, the crew has got to have a break.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

But what you have got is is the opportunity to experience things that other people, other tourists would never ever experience in their life.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

You think of the poor that family we stayed with on that open ice day, the the poo on board ones, they were absolutely fantastic, and they made us feel so welcome. And in and we engaged in it in everything. We we became one of the family for 24 hours. It was absolutely brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

They didn't have a sit-down toilet though, did they? No, they didn't.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

But as someone who watched it, I think the experiences made it much deeper in terms of a a television series and the relationships and thinking of Tom doing his weaving and now he's importing the rugs and you guys with the buffalo. That that makes it much more interesting, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 21:34

What I also liked was seeing what all the other teams did. Yeah. Because we knew what we'd done, but we didn't have a clue, even when you explained to us when we were allowed to get together at checkpoint, you still can't envisage it. So seeing it on screen for the first time was fascinating for all of us.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Carolyn, Tom, oh, I'd be interested to know this. When you've only got one bed, are you top entering or are you sleeping in the same bed?

SPEAKER_02 21:56

And we would just crash out quite happily in a bed together. We even Slept on a sofa together. Almost like it sounds weird now. We just were so tired, you just crash out. We were fully clothed with our rugs that it was at the border, and we had to wait so long that when the crew went into a hotel, we actually slept on a sofa downstairs because we couldn't afford a room.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

And they obviously have to have a room if they come in before 5 a.m. or something. So, how would you describe your relationship when you first came in and then at the end?

SPEAKER_00 22:27

It was difficult, really, for us both, I think, because Mel and I hadn't spent a great deal of time together when we're together. We'd probably get on better without outside influences, but occasionally we get peed off with each other. Melvin's very loud and they can talk and talk and talk. And sometimes I just want to switch up. And then Mel would know when I was an in and needing to be left alone, and he left me alone. And likewise, when Mel was feeling a bit down or a bit whatever, then I left him alone. It did bring us back memories of when we were a lot younger, maybe on our fishing trips. We used to spend a couple of weeks together on our own in a tent, but now we're in our 60s. Now I'm in my 40s. Times have gone, haven't they?

SPEAKER_01 23:19

But we'd still try and recreate that kind of thing in a way, but in an adult way. I think Brian's right. Our relationship before was we've always gotten on and we've always spoken. And now I suppose we are close. I would have a problem in asking Brian anything. What's your handicap, Brian?

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Yeah. My world handicap is eight.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

Right, that's pretty pretty good. Very good.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

So for my age bracket, I'm I'm probably top 20%, I would think.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

When did you last get a hole in one?

SPEAKER_00 24:01

I got a hole in one. Why did you have to ask him that? Last summer, actually, I got one in September at Tad Martin Golf Club. There's 80 of us there. IT, it was a third and fourth hole, and I got a hole in one, and it cost me quite a lot of money.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

So your different characters are really coming across in terms of using golf as a way of explaining in terms of your approach, Melvin, to going to the charity shop and having and I love it. And then Brian, you've got all the kit and you're it's it's just great. Two brothers, but with uh a different approach.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Yeah, I spend honestly, I spend quite a lot of money on. I don't spend that much, but a pair of shoes will be 200 quid for a pair of pair of golf shoes, and I'll get through at least two in a in a season.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

There's something wrong with that.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

When I can go Melvin, we'll have this conversation in a year's time, and it'll be quite an interesting one.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

There is no way I'll spend 200 quid on a pair of golf shoes. I'll go to old aged shop at the corner of Mass Mother City and pair up there.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

And it doesn't matter what they look like. But you wouldn't sell your shoes, Melvin, once you've used them because it might cause a bit of an incident. Health and safety problem. Don't come with a health warning, one of those yellow signs saying hazardous.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

I actually bought something from a charity shop. My laser hood broke. So it tells me the distance between A to B. And then my laser hood broke. And the laser laser are quite expensive at three, four hundred quid. And I thought, I'm not paying that. So I went on to an eBay, and there was a charity shop up in Doncaster, this is laser for 280 quid. That's a hundred pounds off. Um so I actually purchased that from a charity shop.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Amazing. Sorry, it was amazing, really. I know, bright Melvin's looking absolutely of joy. Surprised, shocked. But what are the three things that you kind of hold on to that symbolize that?

SPEAKER_00 26:12

You go first, Melvin.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Never be afraid of failure because success always takes sweet. You know what it's like to fail or to lose. So I still live by that now. I would still do that. I'm never afraid to fail, I'm never afraid to finish second or third. I might not like it. And on race, there was no better feeling when my little brother and myself rolled up in first place on length rate. That was absolutely fantastic. In fact, I nearly it was emotional. I never thought that we would be like that together, feel that way together. It was absolutely fantastic. And to do it twice more after that as well was amazing. So if you even if you do, I mean Carol, you must have felt awful after that first leg. But look at look look at where it worked out. It isn't failure, is it? It's it's getting on, it's getting up again, it's adjusting yourself down and getting on with it. And I've always lived life like that. It doesn't matter what you do, there's always something else. There's always something around the corner. And I think from a relationship point of view with Brian as well, I think from my point of view, I I'm now in my working life, I've always been quite humanity.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

And if my staff let me down, they'd know about it, and I want things done now, not in half an hour. If I asked for something to be done, I want it done. Because things weren't done in you could not go where you wanted to, you could not find your way out of you didn't have a credit card to say, right, I want to stay here.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Well, I could see that with you as well. I think you have mellowed a little bit. You've definitely mellowed.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

It's quite odd when you're no longer in control. Race means that you aren't in control of your your destiny to a to a certain end. And on a couple of occasions, probably Caroline's crew did this, that they went first class at the front of the train because there was spaces there. And we sit at the back of the train with and they take it in turns, babysitting us because they won't let us sit there alone. So they'll walk five or six carriages back, and then I I used to go for a walk up and down the train, and they're sitting in these wonderful armchairs drinking Coca-Cola or whatever it is, cup of tea. And I'm thinking, I'm sitting on the hard chair at the back. I can't afford a Coca-Cola or a cup of tea. Yeah, you just can't afford it, so you so you don't buy it. But you got used to it, and and you become resilient to it. Carolyn, how have you changed?

SPEAKER_02 29:12

I've realized that age mustn't hold you back if there's things you want to achieve. I think the limitations are ourselves, and I don't think we should look at it that way.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

That's fantastic. I think I mean I'm 66 now, and until the day I die, if I can walk, think and breathe, I will try new things all the time. I will keep doing it until I until I fall over.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

Yeah.

unknown 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Really, really has helped.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

And that's really what the podcast's about. It's about encouraging people to keep going and doing things that take them out of their comfort zone because that's how you maintain an interest in life. And as you get older, rather than the world it kind of contracting, if you're healthy and you can do it, why not do all these things? And we find that really inspiring to meet people who are similar in that respect.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

And your your your title, Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained, is so appropriate.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

Yes. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

But worked out of all of the people you've had that they've proven something, they've got somewhere, they've achieved something. And that that is so why you've got us two on, I'm not actually sure. Because we're nowhere near as good as the other.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

It's about the people. It's absolutely about the people. This is our last episode of series two. And we wanted to actually have a final episode in a fun way with some people who we thought would be brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

I can speak on behalf of Tom, but he would be the first to say it's not just the destination, it's what you enjoy on the journey. And yeah, the journey to the destination is as important as just getting to the destination.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

And we have been very lucky and privileged. And Ian and Shaw, we've been so lucky and privileged to have achieved what we've achieved. Then do race, get through race, and then Tom Caroline with it. That is from the bottom right the way to the top. So isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Guys, do you realise there are a hundred thousand people applied to go on our series?

SPEAKER_00 31:40

I was told slightly more than that. Really? I think now there's over over a quarter of a million people applying on.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

I do think I do think that we have actually encouraged more people to apply.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

I can imagine that. I can imagine that. And to answer your question, why did we invite you? Because actually, I certainly admire people who put themselves out there and are willing to be natural and do the things that you've done. And you're right, you are inspiring because we're all a little bit older, and it shows that anyone can do anything. And you chose a TV show, and it's it's paid off.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Yeah, I I think the TV show chose us to a certain extent, because I think they were they were looking for a couple of grumpy old 60-year-old brothers.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Maybe not then a mum and a a mum and a way would when we were on the Great Wall of China, and we were only an hour to introduce ourselves. Who did you think was your biggest competition?

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Yin and Dan. He says, This is Yinamor Names, Gaza, we're eating a win.

SPEAKER_03 32:41

Well, he denied that. He said I didn't say that. He did, it didn't.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

It did. We walked away with our heads down and saying, Oh my god. We shrunk a few inches.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Who do you think is gonna get eliminated? I'd have said Finn and Shawnead. I know that sounds a bit rotten. Yeah, because I would have thought that was there was an immaturity about them.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

And then the girls who had done masses of travelling and could speak Mandarin and all sorts of things. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

So who did you think after leg one? Who did you think was the competition management? Or would win it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Elizabeth Letitia, I thought we're gonna we're gonna win it.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Yeah, Letitia and Elizabeth.

unknown 33:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

But Melbourne, I knew that we weren't gonna be eliminated because we were so determined not to be eliminated.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

We finished with the most money. We had 200.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Yeah, we had about 50 quid left, I think. 40, 50 quid.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

But I'm extremely mean.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Well, yeah, you can you can frugal. Well you didn't eat, did you? You were you were yeah, you you gave all your food to uh to Tom.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

You didn't eat or anything. Did he get told off for that?

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

I thought you were, yeah, because we we got told off for not eating properly.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

You get asked from time to time when Brian and I go into these trouble shows or whatever. We say, would you do things differently if you had the time over again? Well, the answer's got to be no, because you don't know what to expect. You don't know what's gonna happen, how it's gonna turn out.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

We would do it exactly the same way. It's been wonderful having you on the podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. How's it been for you?

SPEAKER_00 34:24

Thank you very much for inviting us. That's the first thing. So we we we appreciate it. And and it's nice. Podcast is is is is wonderful. So thank you very much for inviting us, Caroline, Rebecca.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Thank you guys. I hope you manage to get Stephen Fry Stephen Bartlett and Stephen Bartlett. Come on, give Tom a big sloppy kiss from me.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

I will, I will. He'll be sorry not to have seen you and had a chat.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Tell him good luck, everybody getting up and working very a good one there, Caroline.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Thank you both for your encouragement and support. As from day one, because do you know what? Without you on leg one, when we came in last and I was distraught, your help and support meant the world to us.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

You could have won. You were lovely. You've always been loving me. Thanks very much, guys. Thank you for the next week, too.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

Thank you, Caroline. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

Bye guys, bye.