The alarms from within • The changes • Kaspersen: Psychological help was offered
Published 2024-08-28 19.30
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Employees raised the alarm about extreme working conditions during Kanal 5’s new venture.
Now the participants talk about their experiences of the recording of “Race across the world”.
– It was really, really tough before the information reached production, says Eva Röse.
- Employees of Kanal 5’s “Race across the world” raised the alarm about extreme working conditions during filming, including long working days and lack of sleep.
- Participants such as Eva Röse and Carl Hedin describe the situation as “very, very tough”, while presenter Kristin Kaspersen points out that the production tried to improve the conditions.
- The production company introduced changes such as banning night buses and introducing breaks to improve the working environment.
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During 42 days, Swedish celebrities would make it 11,000 kilometers across an entire continent via a bunch of unknown checkpoints – without flying, using their phones or payment cards and with an extremely limited budget.
But during the recording of Kanal 5’s new venture “Race across the world”, several employees raised the alarm about extremely long working days with hardly any sleep, something that the participants also noticed.
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full screen Program leader Kristin Kaspersen together with all the participants. Photo: Anders Kilander / Warner Bros. Discovery
– It was a very tough production. You noticed that a lot. Both for us, but perhaps above all for those who worked behind the cameras, says Carl Hedin33, who was in a team with Emil Henrohn27.
How did you notice it?
– You noticed that people were tired and that people lacked energy and that there was a lot of workload.
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full screenCarl Hedin and Emil Henrohn. Photo: Andreas Bardell
Was there any difference after the alarms?
– Changes were definitely made, but there were probably many who were still tired and even if the changes might have come, they came too late. We hope that it can make a difference and that this production can be an eye opener so that there can be better conditions in the future.
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full screen Karin and Eva Röse Photo: Andreas Bardell
“There was no difference between us or the team”
Also Eva Röse50, who was on the show with his sister Karin Röse52, experienced the recording as tough.
– We were also employees, there was no difference between us or the team regarding hours per day because the team traveled with us, so we were all on the same bus. We all had an extremely great understanding of each other and it was very, very tough before the information reached production, she says.
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full screen Swedish “Race across the world”. Photo: Anders Kilander / Warner Bros. Discovery
The sisters say that they could not contact the production company ITV because they did not have access to their phones, but that they “raised their voices” when they met them during the program.
– Once the alarm started going off, it took a while and by then everyone was quite tired. But as soon as they understood what the problem was, they tried to change the route, try to shorten the distances, but we were already on our way. We already had two sleepless weeks in our bodies.
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full screenEva Röse Photo: Andreas Bardell
Did you ever think about canceling?
– Every single day, says Eva and continues:
– Since this has not been done in Sweden before, I think that neither production, participants nor team could understand how it would turn out. But I think that all first seasons, regardless of the program, come with quite a lot of childhood illnesses and you have to understand that. However, I assume that the industry will take the criticism to heart so that this will not be repeated and there will be guidelines for similar productions.
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full screen Kristin Kaspersen Photo: Andreas Bardell
Kaspersen: Everyone knew it would be tough
The presenter of the program is Kristin Kaspersen54, who thinks the production did everything they could to improve the working conditions of the employees during the filming.
– It was difficult to see when changes were made because you were so tired and then you also don’t see all the changes that are made. So I can understand that they found it difficult, I think it was good that they spoke up, but then you have to be open to see what can reasonably be changed along the way.
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full screen Kristin Kaspersen leads the Swedish “Race across the world”. Photo: Anders Kilander / Warner Bros. Discovery
She says all employees have been interviewed afterwards and have been offered to see a psychologist.
– Everyone knew it would be a very tough job. Someone said ‘This is going to be so difficult, so imagine the most difficult and it will be even more difficult’, but then no one could imagine that it could turn out like that. It was nobody’s intention.
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full screen Kristin Kaspersen Photo: Andreas Bardell
Banned night buses and introduced breaks
According to several of the participants, the production companies banned night buses as means of transport, among other things, so that the teams could sleep. The employees must also have received shortened work shifts and had to take a certain number of breaks during the day.
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fullscreenClara Herngren. Photo: Andreas Bardell
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full screenClara and Felix Herngren. Photo: Warner Bros. Discovery
– Those were very long working days, for them and for us. It was tough. But the production really acted on it and embraced it and tried to change, that’s my view, says Clara Herngren51, who was in a team with Felix Herngren57.
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full screen Peter Magnusson. Photo: Andreas Bardell
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full screen Peter Magnusson and Lotta Blomqvist Photo: Warner Bros. Discovery
– It was a super hard program, hard recording, but when I look back on it now, I think it was also damn fun, says Peter Magnusson49, who was on a team with his mother Lotta Magnusson Blomquist.
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full screen Lotta Blomqvist and Peter Magnusson Photo: Andreas BardellFACTS
Here are the participants in “Race across the world”
Spouses Felix and Clara Herngren
Father and son Thomas Wassberg and Björn Wieser
Son and mother Peter Magnusson and Lotta Magnusson Blomquist
Best friends Emil Henrohn and Carl Hedin
Sisters Eva and Karin Röse
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