'Fred doesn't want to be seen as his dad's plus-one'

Father and son Jeff and Freddie Brazier chat about taking on Celebrity Race Across The World together and why older brother Bobby wouldn't have put himself through the gruelling challenge

- LAUREN MORRIS

TV presenter Jeff Brazier already has a famous son, EastEnders star Bobby Brazier, and now he’s introducing his youngest, Freddie, to the spotlight. The father-son duo will be on our screens in the latest series of Celebrity Race Across The World, the BBC reality show that follows four famous pairs on an epic journey – this time across South America – with a small budget, no phone, no wallet and a tight deadline.

With the show being 19-year-old Freddie’s first real foray into TV, Jeff admits that signing up was a “big decision” for the family.

“He hasn’t done anything on television before and he wasn’t sure whether that was his path,” says Jeff, 45. “We just reached a point of understanding that this doesn’t necessarily mean he’s using it as a stepping stone to do anything. This can just be for the experience.”

Starting in the Amazon Rainforest and ending in the Andes, the pair spent four weeks racing radio DJ Scott Mills and his husband Sam Vaughan, presenter Kelly Brook and her husband Jeremy Parisi, and Ted Lasso’s Kola Bokinni and his cousin Mary Ellen across 12,500km of terrain. But ultimately, taking part in the show was a chance for Jeff to spend more time with his younger son.

Freddie and big brother Bobby, 21, are Jeff’s sons from his relationship with Jade Goody, who tragically died of cervical cancer aged 27 in 2009.

“It’s a big life experience and we’re trying to collect as many of those as we can, especially as Fred is of an age where before long, he’s going to be making his own way in the world,” Jeff says. “To do something like this with your 19-year-old son is an opportunity that probably won’t come up again.”

Freddie, who only recently left school, wanted to prove he could take on the mammoth challenge.

“I wanted to stop allowing the voice in my head to restrict me from doing the things that will actually benefit me in some ways,” Freddie admits.