Race Across The World winner Alfie Watts takes on new role helping young people deal with grief

  • Tap above to hear Alfie speak about life after Race Across The World and how he's raising awareness for a cause close to his heart with charity Winston's Wish

By Chris Howse, Programme and Digital Editor

Race Across The World winner Alfie Watts is taking on an important new role helping grieving children and young people cope with the loss of someone close to them.

Alfie lost his mother to cancer when he was just five years old and didn’t know his father until he was 14.

He was raised by his grandmother in St Albans under an arrangement called kinship where children are cared for by family members.

The 21-year-old wants to help those in a similar situation and raise money for Winston’s Wish including plans for a charity single later this year.

Alfie spoke about the challenges he faced growing up during his appearance on the hit BBC TV show where pairs of travellers raced an epic 15,000km from Japan to Indonesia.

In one emotional episode he paused to light a lantern in Vietnam to remember his mother.

“When my mum passed away we always used to set off Chinese lanterns in the UK and we always used to write a message on them,” Alfie told ITV News London.

“It always used to be a very symbolic thing for me and my family.

“So when I heard about lighting them on the river it felt like such a good opportunity to share my story.

“I knew that it was going to be shared with a lot of people and it was going to be in an environment that I was very comfortable with and had a lot of symbolism attached,” Alfie added.

Alfie Watts lights a lantern in Vietnam to remember his mum Credit: Race Across The World/Studio Lambert/BBC Television

When Alfie was chosen to appear on Race Across The World with his best friend Owen Wood he knew his story would be told at some point.

Alfie added: “I knew I was going on a TV show. I won't get a more authentic opportunity to express myself than this.

“And that's why I'm particularly proud of that moment.

“I'm eternally grateful to Owen as well because he gave me the opportunity to do that on my own.

“He didn't want to step in or be involved. He recognised the importance of it and as any best mate should do, he just completely stepped back and let me just deal with it. And that was incredible.”

Alfie described growing up as “really, really tough” after his mum died of breast cancer which spread to other parts of the body.

His grandmother was widowed and Alfie said he felt “very, very different” growing up through his school years.

Alfie pictured with his mum who later died of breast cancer when he was five Credit: Alfie Watts

It wasn’t until Alfie reached his early teens that he found better ways of dealing with grief and “everything just sort of clicked”.

“I'm 21 years old so I'm very much eligible to be receiving Winston's Wish support,” Alfie said.

“Thankfully I'm at a stage where I really don't feel that I need to, but I know that support network is there,” he added.

Thousands of children and young people turn to Winston’s Wish each year for essential help and support when dealing with grief.

The charity provides emotional support to people aged up to 25, and those who care for them, to ensure no young person faces grief alone.

“It's really, really important that young people speak up about their grief because a lot of people experience it,” Alfie said.

“Whether it's a parent, whether it's a grandparent, a sibling, people pass away and that's a reality of life.

“It happens every day and there needs to be a conversation, particularly in young men, about the fact that it's okay to miss them,” Alfie explained.

Some of the questions charity Winston's Wish deals with as part of its work with children and young people Credit: Winston's Wish

Alfie highlighted three things he wanted to achieve as an ambassador for Winston’s Wish.

He wants to raise awareness and empower young men in particular to speak up and not worry about any stigma.

Going into schools, doing workshops and teaming up with experts with a “personalised twist” are also an important part of his plan.

And he wants to fundraise, adding: “Charities rely on fundraising. Winston's wish reaches over 62,000 young people every year and that requires funding.

“So I would like to fundraise in any way possible.”

Part of Alfie’s ambitious plan to fundraise involves making a charity single due for release in September this year.

“All proceeds will go directly to the charity [Winston’s Wish], whether it be through money we make on social media, through streaming, anything like that, it will all go directly to them.

“We'll probably release some T-shirts and things like that. Again, all profits go directly to Winston's Wish.

“I'm trying to add a unique spin on fundraising to encourage people to donate and to feel that they get something back.”

Since winning Race Across The World Alfie has carried on seeing different countries and had just visited his 50th place.

He’s also using his incredible knowledge of travelling to help hundreds more people see the world with advice on social media.

Alfie added: “I've really enjoyed kind of interacting with people on social media, trying to get people to budget travel.

“If I can help people have cheap holidays, then that's something else I'd like to do.

“My advice to anyone who has not travelled but would like to is simple - start in Europe.

“Book a flight. There are so many flights available on so many websites.

“Go to somewhere in Central Europe and know that you can get back if it goes wrong very cheaply, very easily.

“Flight availability in Europe is very common. There are so many connections, so many bus companies operate so many different destinations.

“You can see so much for so cheap in central and eastern Europe and it's beautiful. You can stay in hostels or you can stay in hotels.

“There are budget options at every single travel class in Europe.

“Get an understanding of whether you like it or not. And then I'd say Central America or Southeast Asia.

“Just definitely just give it a go. Because the worst case scenario is that you'll book a flight home.”

Alfie said he felt incredibly proud of what he achieved on BBC1’s Race Across The World and he still had to “pinch himself” to believe it even happened.

He added: “But now for me it really is about making the most of the fact that I am a winner and I've now got people that do take an interest in me and take an interest in how I conduct myself.

“It's now about maximising both my opportunity and also the opportunity that I can give to other people.”

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