Mark and Margo faced a huge setback(Image: BBC)
The popular travel competition follows five adventurous pairs embarking on an epic journey covering over 12,000km through southern Europe and Central Asia. They must pass through seven checkpoints en route to Hatgal in isolated northern Mongolia.
On Wednesday (May 13), the final four teams – Jo and Kush, Mark and Margo, Andrew and Molly, and Katie and Harrison – arrived in Mongolia for the second-to-last stage.
Confronting sub-zero conditions and challenging off-road terrain, the pairs embarked on an expedition across the vast steppe and into uncharted territory, crossing landscapes rarely witnessed by travellers.
Nevertheless, the contestants swiftly faced difficulties when they discovered that numerous international maps of Mongolia were unreliable, forcing them to depend on local knowledge instead,
The team were 470km away from the checkpoint(Image: BBC)
Without dated maps and paved roads that dissolved into unmarked dirt paths, the teams had to proceed courageously as they journeyed into central Mongolia.
Frontrunners Jo and Kush departed first and started heading north to locate a homestay that would place them near the main road leading straight to the checkpoint.
Meanwhile, Mark and Margo, who began the leg in second position, experienced a more contemporary aspect of Mongolian culture, lodging with a family of teachers on the edge of Myangad and trying suutei tsai, Mongolia’s renowned salty tea.
The in-laws soon found themselves in dire straits as their funds continued to deplete.
“It is crushing. It does get you down,” Margo admitted, shortly before the pair resolved to prioritise their finances over the race itself.
“It’s coming down to the wire, isn’t it? It’s just so expensive, Mongolia, and our budget has been decimated,” Mark observed.
Margo became tearful(Image: BBC)
As the leg drew to a close, it was revealed that Jo and Kush had held onto their advantage, with Molly and Andrew, and Katie and Harrison following close behind. While those three teams settled in for a well-deserved break, Mark and Margo remained a staggering 470km from the finish.
A visibly upset Margo, who hails from Liverpool, said: “If we don’t get to the finish line and sign that book, it would be a real shame. We’re so close, we’re so close, and we’ve made so many sacrifices, and we’ve budgeted, and all the skanky accommodation we’ve done. I’ll be really gutted if we don’t get to the end.”
The episode’s cliffhanger ending left numerous viewers anxious, with one X (formerly Twitter) user posting: “Is it game over for Mark and Margo?”
Another wrote: “Is it the end of the road for Mark and Margo?” while a third simply commented: “Oh no, Mark and Margo.”
Can Mark and Margo make up lost ground, or will they be forced to withdraw from the race altogether?
