final episode, airing a week later than scheduled (due to the 9/11 attacks pre-empting the airing of the second episode). While the second set was set to debut the next week, NBC put the show on hiatus. On December 23, 2001, the second set of episodes began airing on NBC in a new 7:00 p.m. ET Sunday timeslot. Although the final two episodes of the second set were initially scheduled to air in a two-hour block the following week, NBC decided to skip the second episode of the set, and only aired the final episode in a one-hour timeslot, due to the previous episode having one of the lowest ratings in the network's history. The series debuted the night before The Amazing Race on rival CBS. UK version The UK version of the show was produced for Channel 4 by Windfall Films, and shown in October 2001. In the UK the show was narrated by Mat Fraser. Format Five sets of three episodes were broadcast in which teams were abandoned in the Solovetsky Islands in Northwest Russia, Mali in West Africa near Timbuktu, near Mount Roraima in Venezuela, the province of Quebec in Canada, and the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. The UK teams had to race back to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, except in the final race from Azerbaijan, where the destination was the Angel of the North statue in Gateshead. The first team to arrive at the destination in each race won a prize of £5,000. The winning team from each race was brought back to compete again the following week as returning champions. They compete against two new teams. A 320-paged book detailing the series, written by Nikki Arend (wife of producer Robert Davis), accompanied the series. Each team member and camera person was provided at the start with three days' food and water and a small amount of money. In the first two races the participants were given U.S. $200 cash each. For the third race from Venezuela the funds were in the form of an amount of gold and uncut diamonds roughly equivalent to £150. In the fourth race the cash was reduced to U.S. $150. For the final race from Azerbaijan the funds were reduced again, to only $80. Episodes 1 to 3 DROP 1: Anzer, one of the Solovetsky islands in Russia, making up the Solovki archipelago in the White Sea,