Episode 3

In the third leg, the five pairs are challenged to race from the island checkpoint of Sanya to the mysterious Shangri-La – a city sitting on the edge of the Tibetan plateau towards the foothills of the Himalayas. As teams begin this third leg in China, one thing is at the forefront of everyone’s mind – the team in last place will face elimination.

At the second checkpoint in Sanya, the consequences of Typhoon Trami, which wreaked havoc with transport in the second leg, are still being felt. In a leg where every decision counts, teams must choose between veering west or north towards the checkpoint. Heading west allows teams to travel via major transport hubs but with more crowds, whereas north sees teams travel through some of China’s less visited provinces. Both routes eventually meet at the transport hub of Kunming before starting an ascent of over 4,000 feet into the mountains to reach the city of Shangri-La.