Zan Rowe launches Race Around The World reboot with five contestants

Zan Rowe is fronting the new race around the world reboot, which has returned with five contestants, John Safran as a judge and weekly guest judges. The new version keeps the travel competition format but does not tell contestants where they will end up week by week.

Zan Rowe and five contestants

ABC's Race Around the World ran for two seasons from 1997 and was described as a massive cult hit. In the original series, contestants travelled around the world for 100 days and sent back a documentary every 10 days for home viewers to judge.

The reboot keeps the documentary focus but changes the structure. Five contestants are taking part, and the uncertainty of each week is built into the format because they are not told their destination in advance.

John Safran returns to judge

John Safran is back as a judge after being famously disqualified for using hidden camera footage in the original run. He later won the popular audience vote, which makes his return one of the more notable parts of the reboot.

Claudia Karvan and Margaret Pomeranz are guest judges in episode one. Margaret Pomeranz gave the first films produced for week one what was described as a terrifically acerbic assessment.

ABC's 1997 cult hit

The original series also had a direct effect on at least one writer, who said it lit a spark and made them think seriously about a career in storytelling. Rowe described the show as “an incredible door opening into a whole bunch of stories and ideas I had never imagined” after being interviewed about the reboot.

For viewers, the key change is simple: the series is back, the cast is smaller, and the judging line-up now mixes Safran's return with guest judges in the opening episode. For the production, that means the reboot is leaning on the original's travel-and-documentary format while adding weekly uncertainty and a rotating panel.