Peking Express

Peking Express
Peking Express
	Official logo
Created by	Ludo Poppe
Theme music composer	Brian Tyler
Country of origin	Belgium; Netherlands
Original language	Dutch
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	76
Production
Producer	Gert van Kerckhove
Release
Original network	Net 5 (Netherlands); VT4 (Belgium)
Original release	2004 –; present
Chronology
Related shows	The Amazing Race
External links
	Website

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; seasons four and five are set in South America). The series has already gone through five seasons. In the Netherlands it is screened by Net 5 and in Belgium by VT4.

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.^[1] An Italian version has been produced since 2012 by RAI and shown on Rai 2 successfully. 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, with three seasons so far.

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[]

	Season	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
	2011	Hind & Abd el Hakim	Dakar to Fez	Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco
	2012	Samid Ghilan & Younès Lazrak	Sulawesi to Manado	Indonesia

America[]

Colombian seasons[]

Asia Express	Season	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
	2016	Jairo & Eliseo	Hai Duong to Bangkok	Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand
	2020 (on hold due to Covid-19 pandemic)	TBD	Vietnam to TBA	Vietnam

Mexican season[]

Abandonados Asia	Season	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
	2016	Gabriel & Guillermo	Hai Duong to Bangkok	Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand

USA Latin season[]

Aventura Express	Season	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
	Postponed by COVID-19	TBD	Hai Duong to Bangkok	Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand

Europe[]

Belgium/Netherlands/Flemish seasons[]

Season	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
2004	Rani & Hans	Moscow to Beijing	Russia, Mongolia, China
2005	Karla & Sophie	Beijing to Mumbai	China, Nepal, India
2006	Yves & Wendy	Mekong Delta to Lhasa	Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China
2006 VIP	Chimène & Bart	Gangotri to Kochi	India
2007	Pascal & Miranda	Rio de Janeiro to Lima	Brazil, Bolivia, Peru
2008	Mark & Marlinde	Mexico City to Caracas	Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela
2012	Annebet & Quintin	Seoul to Manila	South Korea, Philippines
2017	Brecht & Cedric	Hạ Long to Angkor	Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia

Denmark/Sweden/Norway seasons[]

Peking Express	Season	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
	2007	Tyra & Stefan	Moscow to Beijing	Russia, Mongolia, China

German seasons[]

Peking Express	Season	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
Peking Express	2005	Anja & Marc	Moscow to Beijing	Russia, Mongolia, China
Star Race	2012	Jimi & Nino	Bolinao to Manila	Philippines

French seasons[]

Season	Season's subtitle	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
2006	La Route du Transsibérien	Fathi & Médi	Paris to Beijing	France, Russia, Mongolia, China
2007	La Route de l'Himalaya	Nadine & Sylvie	Beijing to Mumbai	China, Nepal, India
2008	La Route des Incas	Gérard & Cédric	Rio de Janeiro to Lima	Brazil, Bolivia, Peru
2009	La Route des Dragons	Albert & Laurence	Ha Long bay to Bali	Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia
2010	La Route du bout du monde	Cécilia & Mathieu	Equator/Amazon rainforest to Ushuaia	Ecuador, Chile, Argentina
2010 VIP	Duos de choc	Taïg Khris & Chloé (saison 5)	to Pondichery	India
2011	La Route des grands fauves	Jean-Pierre & François	Cairo to Cape Town	Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, South Africa
2012 All-Stars	Le Passager mystère	Ludovic & Samuel (saison 7)	Seoul to Sydney	South Korea, Philippines, Australia
2013	Le Coffre maudit	Linda & Salim	Habana to Miami	Cuba, Mexico, United States
2014 All-Stars	À la découverte des mondes inconnus	Caroline (saison 4) & Sabrina	to Colombo	Myanmar, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka
2018	La Course infernale	Christina & Didier	Kuching to Tokyo	Malaysia, Philippines, Japan
2019	La Route des 50 volcans	Laeticia & Aurélie	lake Atitlan to Bogotá	Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia
2020 All-Stars	Retour sur la Route Mythique	Julie & Denis	Moscow to Beijing	Russia, China
2021	Sur les pistes de la Terre Rouge (episodes 1-3) La route des 3 continents (episodes 4-10)	Christophe & Claire	Entebbe to Istanbul	Uganda, Greece, Turkey (Due to Covid-19 pandemic the route was changed after 6 months on hold. Original plans were to travel through Ethiopia and United Arab Emirates finishing in Dubai, but only was possible to film the 3 first episodes in Uganda)
2022	"TBA"	TBD	TBA to Dubai	Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Jordan, United Arab Emirates

Hungarian seasons[]

In this version, there are mainly Hungarian VIP couples.

Season	Season's subtitle	Host	Winning couple	Runner up	Third placed	Continent	Route	Visited countries
2017	A sárkány útja	Ördög Nóra	Ambrus Attila & Berki Krisztián	Kulcsár Edina &	&	Asia	Hải Dương to Bangkok	Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand
2019			Horváth Gréta & Meggyes Dávid	Janicsák Veca & Ladányi Jancsó Ábel	Demcsák Zsuzsa & Kandász Andrea		Negombo to Chiang Mai	Sri Lanka, India, Thailand
2020 (on hold due to Covid-19 pandemic)			TBD	TBD	TBD		TBA to Taipei	Philippines, Taiwan

Italian seasons[]

In this version, there are mainly VIP couples.

Pechino Express	Season	Season's subtitle	Host	Winning couple	Runner up	Third placed	Continent	Route	Visited countries
	2012	Avventura in Oriente	Emanuele Filiberto	Alessandro Sampaoli & Debora Villa (Gli Attori)	Andrés Gil & Anastasia Kuzmina (I Ballerini)	Costantino della Gherardesca & Barù (Zio e Nipote)	Asia	Haridwar to Beijing	India, Nepal, China
	2013	Obiettivo Bangkok	Costantino della Gherardesca	Massimiliano Rosolino & Marco Maddaloni (Gli Sportivi)^[2]	Francesca Fioretti & Ariadna Romero (Le Modelle)	Daniel Moreno Mendoza & Laura Caratelli (I Laureati)		Hanoi to Bangkok	Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand
	2014	Ai confini dell'Asia		Stefano Corti & Alessandro Onnis (I Coinquilini)	Amaurys Perez & Angela Rende (I Pérez)	Eva Grimaldi & Roberta Garzia (Le Cougar)		Mandalay to Bali	Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia
	2015	Il nuovo mondo		Antonio Andrea Pinna & Roberto Bertolini (Gli Antipodi)	Christian Kang Bachini & Son Pascal (Gli Espatriati)	Giulia Salemi & Fariba Mohammad Tehrani (Le Persiane)	America	Quito to Rio de Janeiro	Ecuador, Peru, Brazil
	2016	Le civiltà perdute		Alessio Stigliano & Alessandro Tenace (I Socialisti)	Diego Passoni & Cristina Bugatty (I Contribuenti)	Lory del Santo & Marco Cucolo (Gli Innamorati)	America	Bogotá to Mexico City	Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico
	2017	Verso il Sol Levante		Ema Stokholma & Valentina Pegorer (Le Clubber)	Antonella Elia & Jill Cooper (Le Caporali)	Achille Lauro & Boss Doms (I Compositori)	Asia	Pagbilao to Tokyo	Philippines, Taiwan, Japan
	2018	Avventura in Africa		Patrizia Rossetti & Maria Teresa Ruta (Le Signore della TV)	Fabrizio Colica & Tommy Kuti (Gli Scoppiati)	Linda Morselli & Rachele Fogar (Le Mannequin)	Africa	Tangier to Cape Town	Morocco, Tanzania, South Africa
	2020	Le stagioni dell'Oriente		Nicole Rossi & Jennifer Poni (Le Collegiali)	Enzo Miccio & Carolina Gianuzzi (I Wedding Planner)	Ema Kovac & Dayane Mello (Le Top)	Asia	Ko Phra Thong to Seoul	Thailand, China, South Korea
Pekin Express	2022	TBD		TBD	TBD	TBD	Asia	TBA to Dubai	Israel, Jordan, United Arab Emirates

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	Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand
	2017	Antoni Pawlicki & Paweł Ławrynowicz	Sigiriya to Mumbai	Sri Lanka, India
Ameryka Express	2018	Aleksandra Domańska & Dawid Domański	San Antonio de Ibarra to Cusco	Ecuador, Peru
Ameryka Express	2020	Karolina Pisarek & Marta Gajewska-Komorowska	Antigua to Cartagena	Guatemala, Colombia

Spanish seasons[]

Season	Season's subtitle	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
2008	La Ruta del Transiberiano	Fernando & María (couple in crisis)	Pskov to Beijing	Russia, Mongolia, China
2009	La Ruta del Himalaya	Carmela & Antonio (rural friends)	Beijing to Mumbai	China, Nepal, India
2010	La Ruta del Dragón	Sandra & Belinda (sisters)	Hanoi to Bali	Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia
2011	Aventura en África	Mar & Vanesa (sisters)	Rift valley to Cape Town	Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa
2015	La Ruta de los Mil Templos	Ángel & Bea (siblings-in-law)	Mandalay to Singapore	Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore
2016	La Ruta de los Elefantes	Matías & Nabil (geek cousins)	Anuradhapura to Mumbai	Sri Lanka, India

Romanian seasons[]

In this version, there are only celebrity couples.

Season	Season's subtitle	Host	Winning couple	Runner up	Third placed	Continent	Route	Visited countries
2018	Drumul Dragonului	Gina Pistol and Marius Damian	Raluca Nistor & Ana Baniciu	Liviu Vârciu & Andrei Ştefănescu	Daniela Crudu & Vica Blochina	Asia	Hạ Long to Bangkok	Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand
2019	Drumul Elefantului	Gina Pistol, Liviu Vârciu and Andrei Ștefănescu	Eduard Mihail Andreianu & Ionuț Dongo	Ana Claudia Grigore & Adrian Robert	Andra Gheorghe & Bogdan Boantă		Negombo to Mumbai	Sri Lanka, India
2020	Drumul Comorilor	Gina Pistol, Ionuț Dongo and Marius Damian	Sorin Bontea & Răzvan Fodor	Ștefan Sprianu & Ștefania Codreanu	Ada Alexandra Moldovan & Cătălin Rizea		Lucena to Taipei	Philippines, Taiwan
2021	Drumul Împăraților	Irina Fodor, Ionuț Dongo and Marius Damian	TBD	TBD	TBD		Edirne to Jerusalem	Turkey, Georgia, Jordan, Israel

International versions[]

Name	Country	Host	Route	Channel	Website
Peking Express	Netherlands Belgium (Flanders)	Ernst-Paul Hasselbach (2004) Art Rooijakkers and Roos Van Acker (2005-2008) Sol Wortelboer (2012) Sean Dhondt and Rik van de Westelaken (2017)	2004: Moscow – Beijing 2005: Peking – Mumbai 2006: Rach Gia – Lhasa 2006: Gangotri – Kochi 2007: Rio de Janeiro – Lima 2008: Mexico City – Caracas 2012: Seoul – Manila 2017: Hạ Long – Angkor	NET 5 VT4 (2004-2008) Q2 (2017)	Official website Netherlands Official website Belgium
Peking Express Star Race	Germany	Patrice Bouédibéla Roberta Brandao	2005: Moscow – Beijing 2012: Bolinao – Manila	RTL
Pékin Express	France	Stéphane Rotenberg	2006: Paris – Pskov – Beijing 2007: Beijing – Mumbai 2008: Rio de Janeiro – Lima 2009: Ha Long Bay – Bali 2010: Nueva Loja – Ushuaia 2010: Gangotri – Pondicherry 2011: Cairo – Cape Town 2012: Seoul – Sydney 2013: Habana – Miami 2014: Lashio – Colombo 2018: Kuching – Tokyo 2019: lake Atitlan – Bogotá 2020: Moscow – Beijing 2021: Entebbe – Istanbul 2022: Kyrgyzstan – Dubai	M6	Official website
Peking Express	Denmark Sweden Norway	–	2007: Moscow – Beijing	TVNorge Kanal 5	Official website Norway
Pekín Express	Spain	Paula Vázquez (2008) Raquel Sánchez-Silva (2009–2010) Jesús Vázquez (2011) Cristina Pedroche (2015–2016)	2008: Madrid – Pskov – Beijing 2009: Beijing – Mumbai 2010: Hanoi – Bali 2011: Rift Valley – Cape Town 2015: Mandalay �� Singapore 2016: Anuradhapura – Mumbai	Cuatro (2008–2011) Antena 3 (2015) laSexta (2016)	Official website (Cuatro) Official website (Antena 3) Official website (laSexta)
Dakar Fès Express	Morocco	Hicham Mesrar	2011: Dakar – Fez 2012: Wori – Manado	2M	Official website
A Grande Aventura	Portugal	Fernanda Serrano	2012: Manado Tua – Manado	TVI	Official website
Pékin Express	Belgium (Wallonia)	Michel De Maegd	2012: Wori – Manado	RTL	Official website
Pechino Express (1–8) Pekin Express (9–)	Italy	Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia (2012) Costantino della Gherardesca (2013–2020) TBD (2021–)	2012: Haridwar – Beijing 2013: Hanoi – Bangkok 2014: Mandalay – Bali 2015: Quito – Rio de Janeiro 2016: Bogotá – Mexico City 2017: Pagbilao – Tokyo 2018: Tangier – Cape Town 2020: Ko Phra Thong – Seoul 2022: Israel - Dubai	Rai 2 (2012–2020) Sky Italia (2021–)	Official website
Asia Express	Colombia	Ivan Lalinde	2016: Hanoi – Bangkok 2021: TBA	Caracol Televisión	Official website
Abandonados Asia	Mexico	Paola Nuñez	2016: Hanoi – Bangkok	Azteca 7	Official website
Azja Express (1-2) Ameryka Express (3-4)	Poland	Agnieszka Woźniak-Starak (2016-2018) Daria Ładocha (2020-)	2016: Hanoi – Bangkok 2017: Sigiriya – Mumbai 2018: San Antonio de Ibarra – Cusco 2020: Antigua – Cartagena	TVN	Official website
Ázsia Expressz	Hungary	Nóra Ördög	2017: Hải Dương – Bangkok 2019: Negombo – Chiang Mai TBD: Lucena – Taipei	TV2	Official website
Asia Express	Romania	Gina Pistol (2018-2020) Marius Damian (2018, 2020-) Liviu Vârciu (2019) Andrei Ștefănescu (2019) Ionuț Dongo (2020-) Irina Fodor (2021)	2018: Hạ Long – Bangkok 2019: Negombo – Mumbai 2020: Lucena – Taipei 2021: Edirne – Jerusalem	Antena 1	Official website
Asijský Expres	Czech Republic	TBD	2022: Hạ Long – Bangkok	TV Nova
TBD	Greece	TBD	2022: TBD

References[]

External links[]

Peking Express at IMDb

[1] Antena 3 arrebata a Cuatro el reality 'Pekín express'

[2] ttp://www.pechinoexpress.rai.it/dl/portali/site/personaggio/ContentSet-21b5b54f-0f94-4147-8b80-be6470a3dac5-list.html?ContentItem-576cc03f-fa46-4159-828e-989ab209db81

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