Race Across the World just aired a spectacular twist ahead of this season's finale airing next week.
The hectic BBC travel series has seen a fan-favourite couple losing terrain after leading the race and ending up at the bottom of the leaderboard.
Brothers Brian and Melvyn have won the hearts of the public by opening up on their difficult childhood and rekindling their relationship across China, Nepal and India.
After a rocky start to the race, the duo managed to beat their co-stars to a few checkpoints, including the previous one to Sasan Gir, in the state of Gujarat.
On their way to the seventh checkpoint of Panaji, in the state of Goa, Brian and Melvyn made a decision that cost them the top spot in the race, and surprised viewers.
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In the penultimate leg of the journey across, the siblings were the only team who skipped Mumbai and went inland to reach Goa.
While their stay in Nashik, also known as the Wine Capital of India, seemed idyllic, it meant they couldn't make the most of Mumbai's transport network and had to rely on local, slower transfers.
Race Across the World, however, played a trick on viewers, showing Brian and Melvyn as if they were the first to get to the checkpoint hotel.
Signing the guestbook, the reveal that all other three teams had already arrived caused some jaws to drop — Melvyn and Brian's first, of course.
"We didn't expect to be fourth, I've got to be honest," Melvyn said.
Fans were equally shocked to see them 17 hours behind new leaders, mum-son duo Caroline and Tom.
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"That twist in race across the world was phenomenal," one person commented on Twitter/X, with another viewer calling it "epic TV".
"About twenty minutes behind with Race Across The World, big LOL at the #geniusgame editing of the ending," someone else wrote.
"Those last 5 minutes of Race Across The World were perfection - well done," was another comment.
Reflecting on the tables turning so drastically, Brian said he and Melvyn were the only ones to "blame".
"The only people that we can blame is us," Brian said. "Mumbai would have had an infrastructure of transport links, and what we did is that we avoided that."
Yet, the duo kept an optimistic outlook as the finale approached, with Melvin saying: "It's all in the last leg, isn't it?"
"We've moved from fourth to first before, and we'll do it again," Brian agreed.
Race Across the World airs on BBC One and is available on iPlayer.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
