Peking Express

*Peking Express*
Peking Express
	File:Peking Express.jpg Official logo
Genre	Reality TV show
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	The Amazing Race

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 for its first four seasons, with the upcoming season being titled America Express, following the changing of its production location into America. In Greece, the series has started airing on Star Channel as Asia Express in fall 2022.

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

Dakar Fès Express	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 van Oosterhout & Bart Veldkamp	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	Host	Winning couple	Route	Visited countries
2006	La Route du Transsibérien The Transsiberian Route	Stéphane Rotenberg	Fathi & Médi	Paris to Beijing	France Russia Mongolia China
2007	La Route de l'Himalaya The Himalayan Route		Nadine & Sylvie	Beijing to Mumbai	China Nepal India
2008	La Route des Incas The Incas' Route		Gérard & Cédric	Rio de Janeiro to Lima	Brazil Bolivia Peru
2009	La Route des Dragons The Dragons' Route		Albert & Laurence	Ha Long bay to Bali	Vietnam Cambodia Laos Thailand Indonesia
2010	La Route du bout du monde The Edge of the World's Route		Cécilia & Mathieu	Equator/Amazon rainforest to Ushuaia	Ecuador Chile Argentina
2010 VIP	Duos de choc Shock duos		Taïg Khris & Chloé (season 5)	Bhatwari to Pondichery	India
2011	La Route des grands fauves The Big Cats' Route		Jean-Pierre & François	Cairo to Cape Town	Egypt Kenya Tanzania Lesotho South Africa
2012 All-Stars	Le Passager mystère The Mystery Passenger		Ludovic & Samuel (season 7)	Seoul to Sydney	South Korea Philippines Australia
2013	Le Coffre maudit The Cursed Chest		Linda & Salim	Habana to Miami	Cuba Mexico United States
2014 All-Stars	À la découverte des mondes inconnus Discovering the Unknown Worlds		Caroline (season 4) & Sabrina	Man Lawae to Colombo	Myanmar India Bhutan Sri Lanka
2018	La Course infernale The Infernal Race		Christina & Didier	Kuching to Tokyo	Malaysia Philippines Japan
2019	La Route des 50 volcans The 50 Volcanoes' Route		Laeticia & Aurélie	lake Atitlan to Bogotá	Guatemala Costa Rica Colombia
2020 All-Stars	Retour sur la Route Mythique Return on the Mythical Route		Julie & Denis (season 9)	Moscow to Beijing	Russia China
2021	Sur les pistes de la Terre Rouge (episodes 1-3) On the Red Soil's Tracks La route des 3 continents (episodes 4-10) The 3 Continents' Route		Christophe & Claire	Entebbe to Istanbul^[2]	Uganda Greece Turkey
2022	Sur les terres de l'Aigle Royal On the Royal Eagle's Lands		Lucas & Nicolas	Son-Kul to Dubai	Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Jordan United Arab Emirates
2022 VIP	Duos de choc Shock duos		TBD	Negombo to Colombo	Sri Lanka
2023	TBA		TBD	La Paz to Rio de Janeiro	Bolivia Paraguay Brazil

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	Edina Kulcsár & Szabó András "Csuti"	Megyeri Csilla & Molnár Zsolt	Asia	Haidong 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
2022			TBD	TBD	TBD		Aqaba to Tashkent	Jordan Turkey Georgia Uzbekistan

Italian seasons

In this version, there are mainly VIP couples.

Season	Season's subtitle	Host	Winning couple	Runner up	Third placed	Continent	Route	Visited countries
2012	Avventura in Oriente (Adventure in the East)	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 (Goal: Bangkok)	Costantino della Gherardesca	Massimiliano Rosolino & Marco Maddaloni (Gli Sportivi)^[3]	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 (At the boundaries of 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 (The new world)		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 (The lost civilizations)		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 (Towards the Rising Sun)		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 (Adventure 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 (The seasons of the East)		Nicole Rossi & Jennifer Poni (Le Collegiali)	Enzo Miccio & Carolina Gianuzzi (I Wedding Planner)	Ema Kovač & Dayane Mello (Le Top)	Asia	Ko Phra Thong to Seoul	Thailand China South Korea
2022	La rotta dei Sultani (The sultans route)	Costantino della Gherardesca & Enzo Miccio	Victoria Cabello & Paride Vitale (I Pazzeschi)	Natasha Stefanenko & Sasha Sabbioni (Mamma e Figlia)	Gianluca "Fru" Colucci & Aurora Leone (Gli Sciacalli)		Uçhisar to Dubai	Turkey Uzbekistan Jordan United Arab Emirates
2023	TBA	Costantino della Gherardesca & Enzo Miccio	TBD	TBD	TBD		TBA to TBA	India Malaysia Cambodia

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 Guatemala to Cartagena	Guatemala Colombia
Azja Express	2023	TBD	Istanbul to Tashkent	Turkey Georgia Uzbekistan

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)	Great Rift Valley, Kenya 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