Race Across the World's Alfie burns images of his late mum in hard-hitting music video

Race Across the World's Alfie spoke exclusively to Yahoo about his new single Hopeless Wings

Race Across the World's Alfie pictured on the BBC show
Race Across the World's Alfie burns images of his late mum in hard-hitting music video. (BBC)

Race Across the World's winner Alfie Watts says the music video for his new charity single – in which he he burns old photos of his mum – is "a journey through grief".

Watts was five years old when his mum Karen died of breast cancer in 2008. When he took part in Race Across the World 2024, he won over the viewers with his openness in talking about grief. He's now using his platform to help others grieving as an ambassador for childhood bereavement charity Winston's Wish.

He told Yahoo UK: "The magic for us really is in the music video for Hopeless Wings... The storyline is a journey through grief, it showcases how hard it is when you lose someone. There's a point where I burn old images of my mum. But then at the end, there's a really nice moment where one of the cards that we burn actually re-reveals itself to show that even in the toughest moments, they will always be there."

Watch the music video for Race Across the World winner Alfie's Hopeless Wings below

Watts said the music video – inspired by his own grief experience – will be "hard-hitting" for people. He added: "We made sure everything was photocopied. Nothing is original. It would just be wrong to do that. It's weird because we've become so desensitised to the video because we've seen it so many times. I think for someone watching the first time it will be quite hard-hitting."

Although he didn't talk about it on Race Across the World, Watts has been singing since the age of 13. His first single Hopeless Wings is inspired by the letter his mum wrote to him in the week before she died. He has only ever read it twice.

Read more: Race Across the World

Race Across the World's Alfie pictured with his mum. (Alfie Watts)
Race Across the World's Alfie pictured with his mum. (Alfie Watts)

Watts explained: "This letter was left for me, she wrote it in the week she died. I only read it for the first time when I was 13 and I only read it for the second time last year. It's a really nice poem about how the bond between a mother and son who definitely broken and that wasn't the part that she wrote.

"Then she wrote a couple of lines at the end and she said, 'I'm always with you. Remember that, you're strong. Always believe in yourself.' And she also left me some little cards and one of them does say it’s time to fly, so it was nice to be able to include that in the song."

One of the most talked about moments of Race Across the World saw Watts pay tribute to his late mum while lighting a floating lantern in memory of her in Vietnam. It was shortly after this moment — behind the scenes of the BBC show — the start of the song was born.

Alfie took part in an emotional lantern ceremony. (BBC screengrab)
Alfie took part in an emotional lantern ceremony. (BBC screengrab)

Watts wrote the chorus to Hopeless Wings while travelling on a bus, while best friend and travel companion Owen Wood was fast asleep, before enlisting the help of his friend back home to finish the song. "It got written on a tiny little bit of scrap paper and made it all the way back to England," he said. "I gave it over to my friend, who put some chords behind it and wrote the verses and fair play to him, he's an absolute legend."

On Race, people loved Watts; determination to succeed — regardless what life or indeed the race threw at him — while he was competing alongside his best friend. Viewers also admired Alfie's openness in speaking about grief.

He said: "I don't think you can ever be prepared to speak about something on that scale. The support I've had is incredible and it's touched a lot of people, because everyone will experience grief in some way or another, even with their dogs. There will always be people and they will always experience grief.

Race Across The World's Alfie pictured with best friend Owen. (BBC)
Race Across The World's Alfie pictured with best friend Owen. (BBC)

"My message that I'm trying to get across is that everyone deals with it in different ways. My way isn't the traditional way. Counselling didn't work for me, the standard stuff didn't work for me. What actually works for me was getting on my own two feet and saying, 'No, sod this, I’m not going to let it define me.'

"But also that's not the way that it will work for some other people. That's why I like the song because I think it can be interpreted in different ways, depending on how to deal with it. And that's what we were really going for."

Watts is keen to break the stigma when it comes to men's mental health.

He said: "For Winston's Wish, I just think any opportunity that I can to fundraise for them or raise awareness... For me, it is more about the awareness side of things, particularly with young men. It's about making sure that they don't feel so part of the stigma. If they lose a parent or lose a loved one, they can be on their two feet about it and either own it or embrace it whichever way they want to."

Men's mental health is important to Race Across the World's Alfie. (BBC)
Men's mental health is important to Race Across the World's Alfie. (BBC)

Since winning Race Across the World, he has put a real emphasis on carrying out charity work from his ambassadorial role with Winston's Wish, to donating football kits to children in Kuala Lumpur where he previously visited on Race Across the World.

"If you have the ability to help others and if you've got the platform to be able to make a difference, why wouldn't you?" He said. "Why wouldn't you want to be an inspiration to young people? I might have missed a trick financially. This is how I believe people should use a platform when you have one."

Most recently, the Race Across the World winner paid the Kobe beef bill off in Japan a year after the restaurant gave him the meal for free in the iconic scenes that aired on Race Across the World. "I believe I had a debt there and to be fair, people say, 'Oh it's only £12' but we only finished with £25 on Race Across the World."

He added: "So had they charged for that, it's a butterfly effect world, where that could have been an entirely different situation. I just felt like it was a really, really kind thing to do and the guy knew that I was really p***ed off in the moment.

"He helped me in that situation and I was like, 'Well, I'm here, I've got money now like there's no reason not to do this.' So let's do it."

So what's next? "I'd love to be back on TV and that's where I like to think that I'll eventually end up because I feel like I've got a lot to offer."