Upbeat singer Sam Ryder's a perfect antidote to all those whinging celebs: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews episode two of Celebrity Race Across The World

Published: 17:07 EDT, 4 November 2026 | Updated: 17:29 EDT, 4 November 2026 Celebrity Race Across The World (BBC1)Rating:Rating: Four stars Whatever Sam Ryder's got, I want a bottle of it. Lost in a city whose name he can't even pronounce, sweltering hot, foot sore and skint, he can say, 'Everything is going perfect' - and mean it.The singer, who delivered Britain's best Eurovision performance in decades with his hit Space Man in 2022, exudes enough positive energy to blast a rocket into orbit. His optimism is more powerful than gravity.'I find it to be a choice,' he declared, trekking through Borneo in Celebrity Race Across The World with his close mate and tour manager Kaz. 'If you look for the light, you'll find it.'And as their transport was dogged by a series of hold-ups and breakdowns, he refused to bemoan his setbacks: 'I'm sure that heading our way is this golden ray of lucky light.'It's truly refreshing. So many shows are stacked with celebrities obsessed with their mental health worries. They're either prostrated by anxiety, or blaming all their problems on ADHD and autism.If they want to wallow, that's up to them — but when they make a performance of it, that encourages no end of other people to feel hopeless too. Making a fetish of depression helps nobody. Whatever Sam Ryder's got, I want a bottle of it. Lost in a city whose name he can't even pronounce, sweltering hot, he can say, 'Everything is going perfect' - and mean itSam's relentless focus on being upbeat is the antidote. He doesn't pretend it's the formula for instant success - it took 15 years, 'a long stretch of knockbacks and failures,' of plugging away at music before he got his breakthrough. When it came, that stroke of luck was something he could never have planned for: superstar singer Justin Bieber saw one of his videos, and gave it an online boost.He had a dream and didn't give up. That's true for many celebs, of course. So why can't more of them be like Sam, and talk about the importance of staying positive, instead of whinging for sympathy?Football presenter Jeff Stelling wasn't whinging as he and his son Matt endured a 14-hour stop-start taxi journey along Borneo's backroads. But if he had one glimmer of good cheer left inside him, it wasn't reaching his face.The only time he looked even half-happy during the entire hour came as the pair of them took a job hosing out a buffalo stable. When the best bit of your day is standing ankle-deep in buffalo dung, something's gone wrong.Ella Eyre and best pal Nana went orang-utan spotting, while Princess Andre, the 19-year-old daughter of Katie Price, made friends with one of the island's ubiquitous cats. It's truly refreshing. So many shows are stacked with celebrities obsessed with their mental health worriesShe tickled its ears till it licked her, which sent her into a tizz. 'Am I going to get rabies?' she yelped.The show's editor must be a cat fan. We've seen dozens of them so far, strays of every colour posing for the cameras. Unlike in India, there don't seem to be packs of dogs roaming the streets.Perhaps the Borneo cats are too tough for them.Anniversary of the night: BBC4 celebrated the 90th birthday of British TV with a series of repeats. One, called Television Comes To London, dated from 1936. Remarkable to think that Sir David Attenborough, currently presenting Blue Planet III, was already ten years old.