A pair of lifelong friends from St Albans scooped up a £20,000 prize pot after they won the latest series of hit BBC show Race Across The World.

Alfie Watts and Owen Wood met at school and have been friends ever since. At 20 and 21 years of age, they are the youngest winners of the BAFTA winning show.

The show follows pairs as they embark on a race across three continents, with the pair who cross the winning line first netting the jackpot.

Alfie is a referee for the Hertfordshire FA while Owen is a trainee pilot.

The pair believe their friendship carried them through the gruelling race.

Alfie told the BBC: "I think that's what gave us a bit of an advantage, we know what each others limits are and we were just there to have a good time.

"We had very different priorities in the race, Owen wanted to experience a lot more and go home with experiences and I wanted to get to the top of the tree.

"As time went on, we had a tolerance for what each other wanted and, because we care about each other."

Owen added: "We went into it as best friends and came out of it as best friends."

The Herts duo beat mother and daughter team Eugenie and Isabel to the finish line by just eight minutes in a nail biting finale.

Incredibly, the pals plan to spend their winnings on doing yet more travelling.

Owen wants to return to East Asia in September to "do the bits we missed" while Alfie wishes to use his footballing background to deliver football kits to underprivileged communities.

The series was a ratings hit with almost four million people tuning in to watch the St Albans locals complete the epic journey from Japan to Indonesia.