Celebrity Race Across the World winners respond to £72 job controversy

Celebrity Race Across the World winners Scott Mills and Sam Vaughan have responded to the controversy from some viewers over being paid £72 to sell hot dogs in the final, which seemed like a lot in context.

Radio 2 presenter Mills told Yahoo in our exclusive winners' interview: "You didn't see it on the television but we were there for hours."

Their race journey first started out in Belém, Northern Brazil - the gateway to the Amazon - and the four teams passed through five checkpoints across the length of South America where they reached the final checkpoint in the Andes, Frutillar in Southern Chile.

The final of the second celebrity spin-off series was tense, with Mills saying: "We knew the outcome but watching it with friends last night, I was biting my nails." There was drama at every corner. Kelly Brook and Jeremy were stranded for "like 12 hours" when their bus broke down while Jeff and Freddy Brazier missed their bus and had to hitchhike, both incidents setting the pairs back.

The winning couple's biggest Celebrity Race Across the World fear of running out of money almost came true in the final leg but they narrowly escaped disaster. Slowing down, Mills and Vaughan made the decision to earn money while in Santiago in Chile before pushing ahead to the final checkpoint. It was this thought process that secured them the top spot.

Celebrity Race Across the World's £72 hot dog job

The couple were tasked with making a hot dog topped with chopped tomatoes, avocados and mayonnaise - a Chile special. They banked a lucrative £72.92 that gave their dwindling budget a last minute boost ahead of the finish line, although some fans were skeptical of this because other jobs throughout this series had been very low paid across South America.

Of being paid the big sum of cash, Mills said: "It is true. I don't know why we got that [amount] but we did."

However, Vaughan had the answer as to the burning question about why they had got more money for this particular job. He explained: "Because that part of the country is affluent and everything. It's all relative, all the jobs that you can do are on a similar par on what you achieve. So it's not as if we pick that." Mills agreed that Chile was "expensive" and noted that they had been working for hours, although only minutes made the cut for the hour-long final.

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Series one where the frontrunners were unable to pay to get to the checkpoint was in the back of their mind. Money was such a big worry for Mills and Vaughan that they even sacrificed food as they did absolutely everything in their power to win the BBC show.

Vaughan added: "You've had 30 days of no sleep and and towards the end, we were running out of money, so we didn't have proper food for about two days because I knew that they might have something up their sleeves for the final run to the checkpoint, cos you usually have to spend money to get to the book.

"So I wanted to make sure that we had money left behind, just in case that happened. Because remember in the first series, when they couldn’t win that one because they didn't have money. I didn't want that situation for us, so I made sure that we had money. So we sacrificed food for the last 24 hours."

Celebrity Race Across the World secrets

When asked about their secrets to winning success, the BBC radio DJ burst out laughing. "Luck," the couple agreed on. "It's all about luck and making sure you get on the right bus," Vaughan said.

Mills said: "Here's the thing throughout the journey, we had a some terrible legs where nothing aligns, buses break down or there's not a bus for nine hours and blah, blah, blah. Fortunately, that's just like on the last leg.

"Some of the other guys, like Kelly and Jeremy they had a bad leg. Everyone had that at some point. So a lot of it is luck. Then, obviously, Sam is very good at budgeting and strategy and I'm just there for the ride. But a lot of it is down to luck, right place, right time."

There was one very unique thing the couple did that we haven't seen on race before that spurred them onto the path of victory. The pressure of the race was on and neither of them wanted the responsibility for choosing the route to the final checkpoint.

At 5am, Vaughan put it in the hands of destiny when he tossed a coin. "Maybe the secret to it was the coin?" he said. "Maybe everyone should flip a coin to decide where they're going on their route."

Mills quipped: "When I watched that, I was like, 'Oh my god, this is so hammy.' But that's exactly what happened. Because none of you want the pressure on the last leg which is the winning race leg. You don't want the pressure of choosing the wrong route. Obviously, Sam did the right thing but at the time that was 5am when we filmed that. And I'm like, 'You're insane. You're insane.'"

In fact, it worked so well, the couple say they might flip a coin when it comes to any decisions in the future. "Maybe we'll start doing that now to get more decisions made, because obviously it works for us," Vaughan said.

The pair had even said goodbye to cousins Kola Bokinni and Mary-Ellen on the penultimate checkpoint because they didn't think they would make the finishing line. The cousins had been burning through their budget quickly, they hadn't been keeping track of their spendings also they were splashing a lot on last minute taxis.

"That's what I mean about this show," Mills said. "You never know because me and Sam were discussing it on the bus. We were like, 'They are out. They're out of money.' Then they end up coming second in the show because they just scraped in. We honestly thought on the last leg that we wouldn't see them again."

The Celebrity Race Across the World inner circle

Race Across the World is a once in a lifetime experience and something only those who have competed on the show truly understand. "It's our favourite TV show," Vaughan said. "I just wanted to do it and experience it and see if we can Race Across the World and get from the start to the end. So, yes, we were able to do that, but to win it was shocking."

Vaughan revealed the sweet message they received from Alfie, who won the fourth Race Across the World 'normal people' series. He added: "Alfie just messaged me last night. He said, 'Congratulations. 12 people have experienced winning this show. We are two of those people. How mad is that? We had that experience.'"

Mills also bumped into Harry Judd, who starred on the first celebrity spin off series with his mum Emma and they came in second place, and recalled their conversation about the show ahead of the final airing on our screens.

He added: "We've heard quite a lot from previous contestants on the show who have been getting in touch going, 'We know what it feels like. You've done amazing.' I saw Harry [Judd] from McFly in the BBC reception this week and I've not seen him for a few years.

"He went, 'Mate, how hard is it?' I was like, 'I know!' Very few people have had that experience and I was like, 'It's really hard, Harry.' He's like, 'I know. We had it easy. At least we went through Europe.' They definitely made it harder, that's for sure."

Celebrity Race Across the World prize

There is no monetary prize for the Celebrity Race Across the World version, while the 'normal people' series sees the pairs bank £20,000. But what Mills and Vaughan have walked away with is memories that will last a lifetime, a love stronger than ever and the best preparation for marriage. They went onto tie the knot in June after filming the BBC show.

Mills said: "I think we both are but I'm personally having the best year of my life. We won this TV series which I never thought we would do. I honestly did not, never in a million years.

"We did honeymoon in reverse, which was Race Across the World, and then got actual married at the beginning of June which was incredible. I'm loving being at Radio Two. I'm just so happy right now. I'm having such a great year."

Celebrity Race Across the World is streaming on BBC iPlayer.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/celebrity-race-across-the-world-winners-job-scott-mills-interview-152138818.html