Peking Express
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| Peking Express | |
|---|---|
| 200px
Official logo
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| Created by | Ludo Poppe |
| Theme music composer | Brian Tyler |
| Country of origin | Belgium Netherlands |
| Original language(s) | Dutch |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 76 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Gert van Kerckhove |
| Release | |
| Original network | Net 5 VT4 |
| Original release | 2004 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | 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 2004. 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 ten seasons aired from 2006 to 2014. 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; Antena 3 acquired the rights to air a fifth season in 2015.[1] An Italian version has been produced since 2012 by RAI and shown on Rai 2 successfully.
Contents
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.
Dutch/Flemish Seasons
| Peking Express | Season | Winning couple | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Rani & Hans |  Russia, Moscow to  China, Beijing |
Russia,  Mongolia, China |
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| 2005 | Karla & Sophie | China, Beijing to  India, Mumbai |
China,  Nepal, India |
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| 2006 | Yves & Wendy |  Vietnam, Mekong Delta to China, Lhasa |
Vietnam,  Cambodia, Laos, China |
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| 2006 VIP |
Chimène & Bart | India, Gangotri to Kochi |
India |
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| 2007 |
Pascal & Miranda |  Brazil, Rio de Janeiro to  Peru, Lima |
Brazil,  Bolivia, Peru |
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| 2008 |
Mark & Marlinde |  Mexico, Mexico City to  Venezuela, Caracas |
Mexico,  Nicaragua, Venezuela |
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| 2012 |
Annebet & Quintin |  Republic of Korea, Seoul to  Philippines, Manila |
Republic of Korea, Philippines |
French Seasons
Italian Seasons
In this version, there are mainly VIP couples.
| Pechino Express | Season | Channel | Host | Winning couple | Runner up | Third placed | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Rai 2 | Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia | Alessandro Sampaoli & Debora Villa (Gli Attori) | Andrés Gil & Anastasia Kuzmina (I Ballerini) | Costantino della Gherardesca & Barù (Zio e Nipote) | India, Haridwar to China, Beijing |
India, Nepal, China |
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| 2013 | Costantino della Gherardesca | Massimiliano Rosolino & Marco Maddaloni (Gli Sportivi)[2] | Francesca Fioretti & Ariadna Romero (Le Modelle) | Daniel Moreno Mendoza & Laura Caratelli (I Laureati) | Vietnam, Hanoi to  Thailand, Bangkok |
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand |
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| 2014 | Stefano Corti & Alessandro Onnis (I Coinquilini) | Amaurys Perez & Angela Rende (I Pérez) | Eva Grimaldi & Roberta Garzia (Le Cougar) |  Burma, Mandalay to  Indonesia, Ubud |
Burma,  Malaysia,  Singapore, Indonesia |
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| 2015 | Antonio Andrea Pinna & Roberto Bertolini (Gli Antipodi) | Christian Kang Bachini & Son Pascal (Gli Espatriati) | Giulia Salemi & Fariba Mohammad Tehrani (Le Persiane) |  Ecuador, Quito to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro |
Ecuador, Peru, Brazil |
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| 2016 | TBA | TBA |
Spanish Seasons
| Pekín Express | Season | Channel | Host | Winning couple | Runner up | Third placed | Route | Visited countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Cuatro | Paula Vázquez | Fernando & María (couple in crisis) | Martha & Javier (domestic worker and employer) | José & Oier (religion teacher and student) | Russia, Pskov to China, Beijing |
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| 2009 | Raquel Sánchez-Silva | Carmela & Antonio (rural friends) | Fran & Merino (police buddies) | Juan & Juan Jr. (father and son) | China, Beijing to India, Mumbai |
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| 2010 | Sandra & Belinda (sisters) | Manolo & Marta (father and daughter) | David & Javi (flight attendant buddies) | Vietnam, Hanoi to Indonesia, Bali |
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| 2011 | Jesús Vázquez | Mar & Vanesa (sisters) | Jota & Freire (strangers) | Inés & Pedro (recently graduated couple) |  Kenya, Rift valley to  South Africa, Cape Town |
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| 2015 | Antena 3 | Cristina Pedroche | Ángel & Bea (brother- and sister-in-law) | Mª del Amor & Yareli (Canarian friends) | Aitor & Charo (strangers) | Burma, Mandalay to Singapore, Singapore |
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| 2016 | TBA (Atresmedia) | TBA | TBA |
