Alright, but what about those sweeping drone shots of the Himalayas? Or the dramatic shot of a train speeding through a canyon? Are contestants flying drones now? Nope. That would be a disaster waiting to happen. Imagine losing a drone in a jungle while trying to catch a bus. Hard pass.
Prime Video: Race Across the World Sweden, Season 1
Those cinematic shots are a separate, silent crew. A very small camera team (like two people) goes ahead of the contestants. They set up at key locations—train stations, scenic viewpoints—and wait. When the contestants walk by, they get a few seconds of golden, cinematic footage. Then the crew vanishes again.
Think of them as ninja cinematographers. They don’t interact. They don’t help. They just stand there, filming your glorious, sweaty journey. It’s a bizarre dance of “don’t look at us, just look dramatic.”
The Insane Rule That Changes Everything
Here’s the part that makes you go “wait, what?”: Contestants can’t use phones or the internet. At all. Not for maps. Not for translation apps. Not even to Google “how to haggle in a Moroccan market.”
They get a paper map and a guidebook. That’s it. So while you’re googling “best pizza near me,” they’re desperately trying to find a bus station using a map that might be from 1998. This rule is why they look so bewildered half the time. They’re not acting. They’re genuinely lost.
And how do they contact the producer in an emergency? They get a burner phone. It has one contact: the producer. No Instagram. No TikTok. Just a direct line to the person holding their memory cards. Talk about high-stakes speed dial.
