Celebrity Race Across the World star's dad makes emotional admission

Four celebrities and their family members joined forces to participate in the latest series of Celebrity Race Across the World. The duos consisted of Anita Rani and her dad Bal, Dylan Llewellyn and his mum Jackie, DJ Tyler West and actor and singer, Molly Rainford, and Roman Kemp and his sister Harleymoon. The teams departed from the picturesque Caribbean island of Isla Mujeres, situated just off Mexico's easternmost tip.

They were then required to journey to their initial checkpoint in Flores, a settlement in Guatemala's northern Peten region. During the opening leg, audiences gained glimpse into their personal bonds and viewers were left devastated when Anita's father Bal made a poignant revelation following their visit to a Mayan temple, reports the Mirror.

He revealed: "When I was growing up, my passion was to travel and visit different parts of the world. I wanted, actually, to join the Royal Air Force.

"But in them days, Asian families, especially with my family, you had to respect your parents. So, whatever they said, you actually did.

"So I left school at 15 to help them out. So when I had my own family, I focused on giving them more than I had. And I've worked all my life to achieve that."

Gazing up at the ancient structure after ascending it, he added: "I'll try and take it all in, and then suddenly, the wind starts rushing through the trees. And the more I think about that, the more energy I'm feeling from this place. At this stage, I'm getting to a point where I'm thinking, how much longer can I be going?"

"You'll start looking towards making funeral plans - never mind anything else. You get into that sort of thing where, 'It'll never happen to me now,' and then suddenly it does. It's fantastic. Now I've cancelled the funeral plans, by the way."

One viewer reacted to the emotional moment, sharing: "Bal is already a national treasure. What a wonderful man #CelebrityRaceAcrossTheWorld #RaceAcrossTheWorld."

Another chimed in: "Anita's Dad though...a proper, lovely Northern star #CelebrityRaceAcrossTheWorld."

A third commented: "Anita's dad is a sweetheart #celebrityraceacrosstheworld.

"Anita's dad is golden. He needs protecting at all costs #CelebrityRaceAcrossTheWorld," another viewer added.

Race Across the World continues Thursday on BBC One at 8pm.