Celebrity Race Across the World's Roman and Harleymoon Kemp locked down by show bosses amid violent protests
Guatemala was plunged into civil unrest while the siblings were filming thereRoman Kemp and his sister Harleymoon are left fearing for their lives after being locked down by BBC bosses in Central America.
The siblings were travelling through Guatemala for the show when civil unrest broke out in the country.
In tense scenes that air tonight, Roman and Harleymoon received a message on their satellite phone saying their race had been “paused”.
Roman reads to his sister: “A national strike has been announced in Guatemala and many major roads have been blocked. For safety reasons, your race will be paused. This is an ongoing situation and an update will be issued later today.”
Celebrity Race Across the World’s narrator John Hannah explains: “In Guatemala, local protests have turned into a national uprising with all major highways blocked and violent clashes in the cities.”
News reports from the country are then shown, with fires raging and protestors clashing with police. A reporter says: “In the morning there had apparently been reports of gunshots in the vicinity.”
Celebrity Race Across the World: Guatemala lockdown
The siblings’ co-stars, Anita Rani and her dad Bal, also find themselves trapped further down in the country. They are ahead of the Kemps in the race and find themselves being turfed off a bus in the street.
“We’re in lockdown in Guatemala. So basically, we’re trapped now,” Anita says to her father.
It is thought the foursome were only held up overnight before the Government backed down to protestors. They were then given the all-clear to continue with the game. But the effects of the road blockages still played havoc with their journeys.
Once being given the green light to travel again, Roman and Harleymoon will be seen getting on a public bus. But they are offloaded due to horrendous traffic jams.
Harleymoon asks Roman: “Where are we?” He replies: “I have no idea where we are. Obviously because of all this strike stuff that’s been going on, this is what’s leftover.”
Harleymoon tells him: “I never thought it would be this hard to get through a country. It’s wild.” They are left to continue on foot.
Anita and Bal, meanwhile, manage to find themselves a taxi.
When is Celebrity Race Across the World on?
Celebrity Race Across the World continues at 8pm tonight (Thursday November 13, 2025). It airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
There are four teams in this year’s race. They also include Molly Rainford and her partner Tyler West, and Dylan Llewelyn and his mother Jackie.
In episode 2, the teams are travelling from Guatemala to El Zonte in El Salvador. But aside from the protests, they are also warned not to travel anywhere after dark.
Each team receives a message before their journey that reads: “For safety reasons, travel after dark is not allowed on this leg. El Zonte in El Salvador.” Narrator John explains: “Across this region of Central America, increased trafficking and crime at night means it’s only safe for all teams to travel in daylight.”
Molly and Tyler, and Dylan and Jackie all managed to avoid the violent protests by travelling along a different route.
