Alfie Watts, the 23-year-old winner of the BBC travel competition Race Across The World, has spoken about his estrangement from the family who raised him. Watts, who won the series in 2024 with best friend Owen Wood, stated that tensions with his relatives escalated significantly as he became more successful, culminating in a complete breakdown in their relationship over the past year.
Watts was raised by his grandmother in St Albans after his mother died of breast cancer at age 39 when he was five. He told Matt Willis's On The Mend podcast that he felt his relatives adopted a "giving-up attitude" after his mother's death, which he could not resonate with. "Even from an early age, I didn't know why I didn't have that connection," he said.
He described his relatives as having "never any passion to go out and see anything, any kind of hobbies, any urge to go and see friends," and he felt guilty for enjoying himself, believing he was expected to share their level of grief. This disconnect widened as he grew older and achieved more success. "And it's completely boiled over in the past year. We now just don't talk to each other," Watts stated.
He emphasized the importance of chosen family, saying, "Family doesn't have to be by blood. And that is so true for me because I've had to find my family outside my bloodline."
Watts also shared difficult experiences with family gatherings, particularly Christmas. "I cannot tell you how much disdain I have for Christmas. I love Christmas, like the build-up to it. I love being around Christmas. And then the day hits and it's like, wow, this is c**p. I hate every minute of Christmas Day with my family because it just feels like a pit of misery," he said.
His grandmother had retired early to care for both his mother and her own mother, leading to a household income of around £15,000 per year. Watts remained in his late mother's pink bedroom until he was about 15 because the family could not afford to redecorate. "I'm never, ever, ever in a million years going to sit here and say that I had it really incredibly difficult because I had food, I had shelter, there were people who were always going to have worse than me, but bloody hell, it was hard," he recalled.
Watts also revealed that his father's name was not on his birth certificate, and the circumstances surrounding his parents' relationship were never fully explained. He reconnected with his father around age 14, but the relationship did not develop as he had hoped.
Watts found fame in the fourth series of Race Across The World in 2024, traveling approximately 15,000km from Japan to Indonesia with Owen.
He became an ambassador for Winston's Wish, a charity that supports grieving children and young people, and has spoken extensively about childhood bereavement since his television appearance. One of the most memorable moments from the show was Watts' emotional tribute to his mother in Vietnam, where he lit a lantern in her memory, a tradition his family had kept after her death.