Series 5 Episode 6 recap

Leg 6 is really into the back half of the race, although with the exception of the far behind Finn & Sioned, the teams appeared surprisingly relaxed.

Last week's winners Caroline & Tom set off first, but we keen to both race and experience India in almost equal measure.  They headed to Jodhpur where they stayed with a large family and had a go at making rugs - where Tom made a breakthrough in talking more openly about his cerebral palsy. I’m not sure how much their relationship has changed over the course of their journey, but individually both mother and son seem to have relaxed a lot, and found more confidence as the legs progressed.

They were the first team to get to Gujarat, but they stopped in the desert to have a go at… well something with their feet and salt? I’m still not clear what, just pretty sure I don’t want it on my chips. But they both had a great time doing it, and seemed to be enjoying the experience more than in the early stages. They did get more on edge as they realised they may have gotten too relaxed and fallen behind, but their more casual style actually seems to produce better results, putting them in a good spot for the last two checkpoints.

Equally masters of the casual were Brian & Melvyn, who also spent time in the desert on the way - although they were milking camels rather than stamping salt.

The brothers seemed to have really bonded well on their travels, with talk of future adventures together, even if it’s just a nursing home! They were even shown having a talk with Elizabeth & Leticia at the start, to give sibling-style advice to help the girls open up more on their journey. I think if you’d have told them at the start they’d be helping others with advice on a good family dynamic, they’d have been laughing all the way across China.

The girls however were still struggling, but having taken the bus south via Amritsar they finally opened up with each other at Pushkar Lake, discussing the issues of Elizebeth leaving for Italy when their family hit financial trouble.

Their talk did them the world of good - with lots of scenes of them singing as they continued on to Sasan Gir. It’s nice to see them both finally happy with each other, although if the singing was as common as shown the others on their 15 hour bus might not be so happy with their progress.

For Finn & Sioned a 15 hour bus would have been nothing by that point, the young couple having focused on speed as much as they could this leg. Starting 30 hours behind, they opted for bus after bus without stopping, with two 10 hour journeys back to back!

They did have some highlights though, Finn buying Sioned a cake and them stopping to work at the farm in Rajkot let them spend more time with the animals which seems to be key to both of their happiness.

But starting over a day behind they weren't confident they could catch up, and as the teams entered Sasan Gir, it looked like they had little chance. Ignoring the traditional footrace all the teams got on a chakadu to the checkpoint, some with a little trepidation, others with yet more singing!

But the end result was actually way closer than it looked, with Finn & Sioned having recovered nearly 27 hours in this leg, leaving all the teams only six and a half hours apart. 

But time is not the only separator, the budgets feature a far bigger gap.

1st	Brian & Melvyn	-	31%
2nd	Caroline & Tom	+2h	35%
3rd	Elizabeth & Letitia	+4h 48m	31%
4th	Fin & Sioned	+6h 26m	21%

Caroline & Tom still have 35% remaining, 4 percent more than Brian & Melvyn and Letitia & Elizabeth who are both on 31%. But young Finn & Sioned are far further down with only 21% left, an issue that could see them struggle on the last two legs.

But will their speedy catchup this leg push them on to a leg 7 win? Or will they stop to work to build up money for the final stretch? If you think you can predict who’ll make it first this week get your prediction in before the show airs!