A new edition of Celebrity Race Across the World is airing on BBC One, with a new cast of intrepid explorers embarking on a journey through the Amazon, including Ted Lasso star Kola Bokinni, who is also a graduate of the famous BRIT School.

Traveling from northern Brazil to southern Chile, four celebrity racing couples hope to be the first to reach the final checkpoint. Among them are Bokinni and his cousin Mary Ellen. Of his plan to win the show, Bokinni said: “I can come up with a strategy when I’m there. I can’t have a strategy if I don’t know where I’m going. Because I could be completely wrong.”

His cousin Mary Ellen was an obvious choice to take part in the show and told the BBC of her family’s reaction to taking part in the show: “They all said, ‘I don’t think Kola could do this with anyone else’. And I agree. But they all wished me ‘good luck’ because they know what we are like.”

Bokinni added: “We have been on holiday together before and they say if you can go on holiday with someone, you can do anything, right?”

But who is Bokinni and how can you recognize him? Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the series debut on August 14.

What is Kola Bokinni best known for?

Viewers will probably recognise Peckham-born Bokinni from his starring role in the hit Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso, playing Richmond AFC captain Isaac McAdoo alongside the likes of Jason Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham.

A graduate of the famous BRIT School, whose alumni include Adele, Amy Winehouse, FKA Twigs and Raye, Bokinni began his career on stage before moving into television. In 2016, he appeared in the Men Against Fire episode of Black Mirror and has had film roles in numerous films, including Brad Pitt’s War Machine, American Assassin and Annihilation.

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In 2019, he appeared in six episodes of the acclaimed drama Top Boy as Leyton before landing his biggest role to date in Ted Lasso.

Mary Ellen says viewers will be surprised to learn of her cousin’s love of musicals. “One thing I discovered about him that really shocked me was that he knows almost every song to every musical imaginable,” she said. “He even has an entire playlist dedicated solely to that. This macho guy isn’t that macho after all!”

The actor said the home comforts he will miss most while traveling through South America are “the internet, movies, entertainment… even restaurants and bars.”

The “Ted Lasso” star said of his reasons for joining the show: “I’ve traveled a lot for work, but I’ve always had to play different characters. But doing something where I’m alone and with my family means I get to see what we’re all about and test our abilities a little bit. That’s why I wanted to do it, just to see a different side of life and the world.”

Kola Bokinni’s charity work against dementia

While Bokinni’s career has taken off in recent years, his family life was struck by tragedy after his father Taiwo was diagnosed with vascular dementia.

He first spoke about his father’s diagnosis in 2023 to support an Alzheimer’s Research UK awareness campaign, and then gave an emotional interview to BBC Breakfast about the devastating impact of the disease.

Bokinni said: “It is horrible to watch someone you idolize literally decay before your eyes and there is nothing you can do.”

When asked what it was like to deal with his father’s illness while rising to fame on the hit TV show Ted Lasso, Bokinni admitted: “It’s incredibly difficult. He was missing for nearly 12 hours and we found him on the other side of London. Just in his pyjamas, no shoes. Wherever I go, people say, ‘Oh my God, your life is going so well.’ In the back of my mind I’m thinking, you have no idea.”

Who else is appearing on Celebrity Race Across the World?

Bokinni will take part in the series alongside his cousin Mary Ellen, where the two will compete against three other celebrity couples: TV presenter Jeff Brazier and his son Freddie, Kelly Brook and her husband Jeremy Parisi, and radio DJ Scott Mills and his husband Sam Vaughan complete the field of contestants.

Celebrity Race Across the World begins on August 14 at 9pm on BBC One.