The final aired yesterday on Sky and streaming on Now
Best ratings result ever for the ‘Beijing Express’ Grand Final, yesterday on Sky and streaming on Noe. An exciting last act with the long-awaited final for two at the end of an exciting and very tiring edition: thus the journey that has crowned this year’s winners, Italian Americans Joe Bastianich and Andrea Belfiore, to the final finish of Angkor, the archaeological site of the former capital of the Khmer Empire, the largest temple complex in the world, in Cambodia. Second place for the other pair of favorites on the eve, the Newlyweds Federica Pellegrini and Matteo Giunta; third the Mediterranean Carolina Stramare and Barbara Prezia.
To lead the travelers also in the last stage Costantino Della Gherardesca and Enzo Miccio. Friends for 8 years, Joe (restaurateur, television personality, author, triathlete, wine producer and musician) and Andrea (born in Ancona and American by adoption, histrionic drummer with a passion for cooking) were the protagonists of a ten-episode long competition which has always seen them in the top positions. Today they will celebrate together with the public from 4 pm at the Sky Shop in Corso Vercelli 12, in Milan: during the event, open to all, they will tell their impressions after the victory and it will be possible to ask them all the questions about this amazing adventure that saw them protagonists.
The last act of the Sky Original production created by Banijay Italia, yesterday on Sky Uno/+1 and on demand, as mentioned, recorded the best audience result ever with 531,000 average viewers and a share of 2.3% (917,000 contacts ): a figure that grows by +22% compared to last week and by +12% compared to the final a year ago. In the seven days, the semifinal obtained 1 million 71 thousand average viewers (with almost 2 million unique contacts).
Overall, this edition of ‘Beijing Express’ closes with an average Thursday evening attendance of 446,000 spectators, an increase of +6% compared to the previous edition; in the seven days the figure tripled with 1 million 191 thousand average spectators (the latter figure is updated to the semi-final). On social networks, thanks to the total 187 thousand interactions and almost 168 thousand social interactions, +30% compared to the previous final, it was the most commented show of prime-time and the official hashtag #PechinoExpress was always on the podium of Italian Trending Topics during airing and then also on Friday morning (Sources: Talkwalker SCR; Trends24.in).
Data in strong growth, also in this case, with the mid-season: social interactions grow by +8%, total ones by +14%. The final 172 kilometers of this race saw the three pairs set off from Battambang in the heart of Cambodia. At the starting line, the mystery on Federica Pellegrini was resolved: despite her not perfect conditions after last week’s ankle injury, during the semi-final, in agreement with the medical staff, she started running in the final.
After a very few meters of running, the first round of the final with one of the most feared rocks of ‘Beijing Express’, the ‘7 monsters’, the wheel divided into seven segments each of which contains a food not particularly popular in Italy but much more widespread in loco: ant salad, grilled mice, stuffed frogs, giant water bugs, cockroaches, snakes, honeycomb with bee larvae.
Afterwards, the race continued towards the Phare Circus, born thanks to the intention of some Cambodian refugees who, through the therapeutic value of art, wanted to re-educate orphans and destitute children: the competitors, dressed up and dressed as clowns, had to measure themselves against the circus art among the smiles of the children present; after that, an intermediate stop in an unusual and fascinating art gallery in Siem Raep, the ‘Theam’s Gallery’, where the conductors unveiled the classification of the intermediate finish line and the first elimination of the bet: returning home, a breath away from very final, the Mediterranean Carolina Stramare and Barbara Prezia. Italo Americani and Newlyweds faced each other in the last leg of the competition, to compose the most awaited final between the two couples who more than all the others for ten episodes faced each other with loyalty but with no holds barred.
For them, the first mission consisted in passing an olfactory test almost ‘imitating’ what the very powerful local rats trained in the search for unexploded ordnance do (the area of Cambodia is full of landmines after decades of fighting), then headed for the last red carpet of the season, with the second mission of the day on the Angkor zip-line which allowed them to glide among the rainforest trees, up to 70 meters high: one last and adrenaline-pumping journey through the Cambodian nature before reaching the final goal among the millenary temples of the old capital of the Khmer Empire.
Here, hidden in the labyrinthine circuit made up of temples and centuries-old trees, was the carpet guarded by Costantino and Enzo and “conquered” by Joe and Andrea: their most important victory of the year, at the end of an exciting and unforgettable season and of a journey that – despite the physical fatigue, the total absence of comforts, the linguistic difficulties and those encountered in the search for hospitality and passages – gave everyone the most precious prize, the amazement of the discovery and knowledge of a new part of world.
Source-www.adnkronos.com