Peking Express
| Peking Express | |
|---|---|
| File:Peking Express.jpg | |
| Genre | Reality |
| Created by | Ludo Poppe |
| Theme music composer | Brian Tyler |
| Country of origin | Belgium Netherlands |
| Original language | Dutch |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 76 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Gert van Kerckhove |
| Production location | Various |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Net 5 (Netherlands) Play4, Q2 (Belgium) |
| Release | 14 March 2004 – 28 May 2017 |
| Related | |
| The Amazing Race | |
Peking Express is a Dutch–Flemish reality game show that follows a series of couples as they hitchhike to or from Beijing (only in the first three seasons; the following seasons are set elsewhere around the world). The series, first broadcast on 14 March 2004, ran for seven seasons from 2004 to 2008 and was revived in 2012 (as a sole Dutch production) and again in 2017. In the Netherlands, it was screened by Net 5 and in Belgium by VT4 during its original 2000s run before moving to Q2 in 2017. The game show concept has also been sold to a number of countries around the world since 2005.
General theme
The theme of the show is to demonstrate how various couples deal with the challenges and pitfalls of attempting a long-distance hitchhike to a strange city, together with all the difficulties presented by trying to communicate in a language they don't understand. Tension was added by including couples who had broken up "in real life", but were willing to work together for the sake of winning the race. In somewhat similar fashion to The Amazing Race, couples that come in last at various checkpoints along the way are eliminated from further competition. In the second series, each of the couples was given €1 per person/per day as their stipend along the route.
Theme music
The music used during the opening sequence is "Summon the Worms" from Brian Tyler's soundtrack to the 2003 miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.
Winning couples in the international versions
Africa
Moroccan seasons
| Dakar Fès Express | Season | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Hind & Abd el Hakim | Dakar to Fez | File:Flag of Senegal.svg Senegal File:Flag of Mauritania.svg Mauritania File:Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.svg Western Sahara File:Flag of Morocco.svg Morocco | |
| 2012 | Samid Ghilan & Younès Lazrak | Sulawesi to Manado | File:Flag of Indonesia.svg Indonesia |
America
Colombian seasons
| Asia Express | Season | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Jairo & Eliseo | Hai Duong to Bangkok | File:Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam File:Flag of Laos.svg Laos File:Flag of Cambodia.svg Cambodia File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand |
Mexican season
| Abandonados Asia | Season | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Gabriel & Guillermo | Hai Duong to Bangkok | File:Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam File:Flag of Cambodia.svg Cambodia File:Flag of Laos.svg Laos File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand |
Asia
Israeli Seasons
| פקין אקספרס - מסלול הדרקון Peking Express - The Dragon Track |
Season | Host | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Oz Zehavi | Ram Strauss & Tal Eros | Siem Reap to Bangkok | File:Flag of Cambodia.svg Cambodia File:Flag of Laos.svg Laos File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand |
Europe
Belgium/Netherlands seasons
Denmark/Sweden/Norway seasons
| Peking Express | Season | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Tyra & Stefan | Moscow to Beijing | File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia File:Flag of Mongolia.svg Mongolia File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China |
French seasons
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German seasons
| Peking Express | Season | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Anja & Marc | Moscow to Beijing | File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia File:Flag of Mongolia.svg Mongolia File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | |
| Star Race | 2012 | Jimi & Nino | Bolinao to Manila | File:Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines |
Greek seasons
In this version, there are only celebrity couples.
| Asia Express | Season | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Konstantinos Vassalos & Fipster | Angkor to Bangkok | File:Flag of Cambodia.svg Cambodia File:Flag of Laos.svg Laos File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand |
Hungarian seasons
In this version, there are mainly Hungarian VIP couples.
Italian seasons
In this version, there are mainly VIP couples.
Polish seasons
In this version, there are only celebrity couples.
| Azja Express | Season | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Michał Żurawski & Ludwik Borkowski | Hai Duong to Bangkok | File:Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam File:Flag of Laos.svg Laos File:Flag of Cambodia.svg Cambodia File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand | |
| 2017 | Antoni Pawlicki & Paweł Ławrynowicz | Sigiriya to Mumbai | File:Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka File:Flag of India.svg India | |
| Ameryka Express | 2018 | Aleksandra Domańska & Dawid Domański | San Antonio de Ibarra to Cusco | File:Flag of Ecuador.svg Ecuador File:Flag of Peru.svg Peru |
| 2020 | Karolina Pisarek & Marta Gajewska-Komorowska | Antigua Guatemala to Cartagena | File:Flag of Guatemala.svg Guatemala File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia | |
| Azja Express | 2023 | Angelika Trochonowicz & Luka Trochonowicz | Istanbul to Tashkent | File:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey File:Flag of Georgia.svg Georgia File:Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Uzbekistan |
| 2024 | TBD | TBA | File:Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan |
Romanian seasons
In this version, there are only celebrity couples.
Spanish seasons
International versions
A German version was shown in 2005. The concept has also been sold to Scandinavia where it was broadcast for the first time in the autumn of 2007. The Scandinavian version is shown on Kanal 5 in Sweden, TVNorge in Norway and Kanal 5 in Denmark. A French version named Pékin Express is screened by M6, with twelve seasons aired so far from 2006 to 2019, and a thirteen and fourteen planned for 2020. It can be seen on TV5 outside France. In Spain, the first four seasons of local version Pekín Express aired on Cuatro from 2008 to 2011; Atresmedia acquired the rights in 2015 and has produced two seasons since.[3] An Italian version has been produced since 2012 by RAI and shown on Rai 2 successfully until 2020, when it passed on Sky Uno. In Poland, the series has been broadcast on TVN since 2016 and was known for its first two seasons, which were set in Asia, as Azja Express. From season 3 onwards, it has been known as Ameryka Express, with its production location changing to America; a fourth season premiered in spring 2020. In Romania, the series has aired successfully on Antena 1 since 2018 as Asia Express for its first four seasons, with the upcoming season being titled America Express, following the changing of its production location into Americas. In Greece, the series has started airing on Star Channel as Asia Express in fall 2022.
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References
- ↑ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the route was changed after 6 months of shooting put on hold. Original plans were to travel through Ethiopia and United Arab Emirates finishing in Dubai, but it was possible to shoot only the 3 first episodes in Uganda.
- ↑ "Pechino Express".
- ↑ Migelez, Xabier (16 January 2015). "Antena 3 arrebata a Cuatro el reality 'Pekín express'". FormulaTV.