'We fell off the face of the earth': Dad and daughter raced across world but had to keep it secret

How do you disappear in 2026? When you're 23 years old with a smartphone, social media accounts and life as a junior doctor, it isn't easy.

But that's just what Molly Clifford, and her father Andrew did, for two months - much to the alarm of their friends.

"People genuinely thought I'd went missing, others thought I'd fallen out with them," she said.

Thankfully, it was all down to them taking part in the 7,500-mile (12,000km) scamper across Europe and Asia that comprises BBC's hugely popular show Race Across The World - although even after they returned home, they still couldn't tell people where they'd gone.

Spoiler warning: This story contains details of the outcome of the first episode of Race Across the World.

"When it came out that we were on the show and that's where I had been, one of my friends said they were just genuinely glad that I wasn't dead," she said.

Race Across The World sees pairs travel across land and sea, with flying, smartphones, and credit cards all banned.

Using the budget of a one-way airfare, teams travel thousands of miles, working local jobs and relying on the kindness of strangers to reach checkpoints and ultimately win a cash prize.

In the first episode of the series, which aired on Thursday, five teams were tasked with reaching their first checkpoint, starting the race in Palermo, Sicily.

The checkpoint they were given was Fiskardo, a village on the Greek island of Kefalonia.

The pair left the island of Sicily, heading for the Italian mainland, arriving in the town of Maratea. Here they managed to take a break by kayaking, in order to explore the town's coastal caves.

From Maratea, a train to Bari was the next obstacle. However a lack of Euro's stood in their way.

Some €10 short, and the check-in desk not accepting pounds sterling, they were able to convince one of the locals to swap a £10 note and they were on their way.

Their ferry passage took them to the port of Patras, on the island of Kefalonia, where after splitting a taxi fare with another one of the teams, they made it to the first checkpoint of Fiskardo.

For Molly, the hardest part was keeping all that a secret from close friends and family, until the show's line-up was made public last week.

And that lack of a smartphone, when taking part in the competition, meant a lot of confusion for friends back home in Maghera, County Londonderry who suddenly were receiving no replies to their texts.

"Two months without a phone at my age is like you've fallen off the face of the earth and disappeared," she said.

"When you get back you can't say what you've been doing, I mean lying to your parish priest is quite difficult."

On this year's show five intrepid teams embark on the journey through eight countries - Italy, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and finally Mongolia.

For Molly's father, Andrew, the show has fulfilled a boyhood dream.

"I had always wanted to backpack when I was younger, but to be honest I didn't have the money, and then life happens and you move on.

"I had always been a huge fan of the show, and Molly and I put in the application as a bit of a joke, and it just snowballed from there."

The programme makers claim this series is the most extreme race to date.

Contestants see conditions swing from 30C Mediterranean heat to sub-arctic temperatures of –20C, and they're doing it all on a budget of less than £26 per person per day.

Andrew, a geography teacher by trade, said every day was a new challenge.

"When most of us get up in the morning, there's a contentment of knowing there's a bed for you at night, you know there's a dinner for you.

"When you take that away , there's a level of panic, but you have to use that adrenaline, and that's definitely what we tried to do."

Molly added: "Having to find a different bed every night is not easy and that is a scary prospect, and there's definitely stages of the journey where you will see I'm panicking.

"For example, the prospect of trying to get to Mongolia was scary, because it's a place I know very little about, now Italy would definitely be a bit more up my street."

However, the father-daughter bond proved to be a big advantage.

"There are times when you could share a look and just know what the other one was thinking and I think we made a great team", Molly said.

Meanwhile Andrew says the experience has made him very proud of his daughter.

"Molly is my first child, my eldest and I know her better than anyone, but this experience has made me realise just how capable she is and the skills she has developed.

"When I was coming home, the first thing I wanted to do was give my wife a hug and tell her how good a job we've done with our daughter, because on this journey she relied on me, but I relied on her as well."

Race Across the World is available on BBC One and iPlayer.