Freddy Brazier has revealed that he used his Celebrity Race Across The World budget to buy drugs during filming. The 22-year-old appeared with his father Jeff on series two of the hit BBC show, which saw them travel over 7,800 miles from Belém, in Brazil, to Frutillar, Chile.
Freddy has now revealed that during the show, which was released in August 2024, he used his strict £1,100 budget to buy marijuana. Opening up about the experience on the Terry Stone Connection podcast, Freddy said that his appearance on the BBC show came at a “bad time” for him mentally.
Struggles on Mother’s Day
Freddy, who lost his mother Jade Goody in 2009 to cervical cancer, explained that he struggled on Mother’s Day whilst filming in Brazil. “When I knew that we were going to be filming over Mother’s Day as well, I was like, ‘Oh f*** s*** I’m going to have cameras in my face on f**king Mother’s Day. I want to be alone.’”
He said that he climbed out of his hotel window and headed to the beach, despite knowing that it “wasn’t the safest area”. “I’ve gone to the beach and we’d seen these people before, they were couples and they make bracelets with countries on. And they bought me a beer and I’ve taken some money out of the budget we were given, and I’ve went and bought myself a three five [of weed] in Brazil on Mother’s Day. And smoked it with these two bracelet makers on the beach while looking at the stars.”
Contestants’ strict budget
Contestants are given a strict budget to cover the cost of travel, food and accommodation. They are not allowed access to their own personal bank accounts. Freddy said that whilst the moment was “beautiful”, he has realised that it was “so wrong”.
“I felt like I needed that joint, otherwise I was getting kicked off the show anyways because I wasn’t in the greatest headspace and I didn’t want to be filmed on Mother’s Day,” he explained.
Opening up about his mother
During an episode of the BBC show, Freddy opened up about the death of his mother. “I don’t really like showing my emotions. I don’t even speak to my dad about my mum either,” he told the cameras at the time. “I prefer to bottle it up. I don't want to feel like I’m a burden to them. A lot of my memories that I have of my mum have come from watching a documentary, YouTube clips, newspapers... they are not my memories.”
The 22-year-old has been open with his struggles with substance abuse, revealing elsewhere in the interview that he was sectioned as a teenager after going into “drug-induced psychosis” from smoking marijuana.
