They raced across Central America, missed victory by seconds, slept among spiders, and endured a storm violent enough to overturn a boat. But now, with the cameras finally switched off, Roman and Harleymoon Kemp are opening up about the moments viewers never saw on Celebrity Race Across the World — the fear, the illness, the arguments, and the near-disasters that never made it to air.
Crowned surprise champions of the 2025 series, the siblings insist that what aired on BBC One barely hinted at how chaotic and dangerous the journey truly was.
According to Harleymoon, some of the most frightening moments were left on the cutting-room floor.
A win they never believed was theirs
The Kemps only won one leg of the entire race — the final one — and even that came down to a matter of seconds. Harleymoon admits she never thought victory was possible, particularly after the opening night.
She believed Roman might not even make it through the first few days.
Roman, meanwhile, recognised the feeling all too well, likening it to his early days on I’m A Celebrity. For him, the first nights were simply about survival.
In a revealing twist, Roman also confessed that had the final sprint been against Dylan Llewellyn and his mother Jackie, he might have stepped aside. He described it as a moral dilemma he is still unsure he could have lived with — simply because of how close they had all become.
Nights filled with fear, not comfort
One of the most unsettling experiences came early in Guatemala, when the pair stayed at what appeared on screen to be a peaceful ecolodge.
In reality, it was anything but.
Harleymoon described it as little more than a makeshift shed deep in the jungle, with beds crawling with insects and spiders everywhere. A tarantula was spotted just outside their door.
Roman said the experience surpassed even the horrors of I’m A Celebrity, claiming they were not just nearby — they were in the beds themselves.
The storm that changed everything
As the teams travelled toward Colombia, the dangerous Darien Gap was off limits, forcing them onto a nearly ten-hour boat journey through open water.
What followed was one of the most frightening moments of Roman’s life.
Caught in a violent storm, he said the conditions were more dangerous than anything he had experienced before — including skydiving and bungee jumping. Throughout the journey, he held onto Harleymoon’s life jacket, quietly preparing himself to keep her afloat if the boat went down.
Arguments, breakdowns and moments of rage
Despite their strong bond, the siblings were not immune to stress. One unseen incident involved a bus that broke down before leaving a car park, followed by a ticket clerk who refused a refund.
Roman recalls Harleymoon being close to losing her temper — and admits he understood exactly why.
Another tense moment occurred while they were desperately searching for a checkpoint, only to be asked by a stranger what it was “worth” to them to get directions. Roman admits that although he kept calm, the pressure pushed him to the brink.
The medical emergency no one saw
Perhaps the most alarming moment never shown took place on a remote island in Guna Yala, inhabited by just one family.
During the night, Harleymoon experienced intense pain so severe that she temporarily lost her vision. She spent hours crawling on the floor searching for a medic, enduring the episode until morning.
Viewers never saw it — but it explained her sudden absence in the following scenes.
A final decided by six seconds
At the last checkpoint, Tyler West and Molly Rainford were ahead — boarding a boat just six seconds before the Kemps.
Then everything changed.
Their engine stalled.
Roman and Harleymoon sprinted up a rocky path and signed the check-in book moments before their rivals appeared behind them. The race was over in an instant.
What the race left behind
Since returning home, Harleymoon has switched off completely — no social media, no notifications, no noise.
She says the race grounded her in a way nothing else ever has.
Roman agrees. For him, the journey stripped life back to its essentials, revealing how much energy is spent on things that do not matter — and how many forms of happiness people forget exist.
Despite the danger, illness, arguments and fear, one truth remains for both siblings.
They want to stay closer.
Because for Roman and Harleymoon Kemp, the finish line was never the end of the journey — it was just where something else began.