Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan on the return of their Sky travel series

As Rob & Romesh Vs returns to Sky next week, its stars reflect on the challenges they undertook as they travelled to Mumbai for Bollywood, New York for rap, Sumatra for orang-utans and the Swiss Alps for Winter Olympics training – as well as learning Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre...

Rob Beckett

How was it to reunite with Romesh?

Brilliant, always fun to hang out with my best friend Romesh Ranganathan. It's great to spend time together, but I do think that it's a very weird relationship we've got. We don't have time to hang out normally because of other jobs and family. So, we have quiet fun chats, in-depth chats and good friendship chats in between horrifically stressful challenges that sometimes involve us being naked.

How was it making your Bollywood debut?

I do think I've got the right vibe for India, you know? I’m very loud and fun and Bollywood’s quite in your face, isn't it? It's not subtle. It's not like some sort of French indie film where it's all noir and moody. It very much does what it says on the tin. 

So, you know what, I think there's a big career for me in Bollywood. Me and Rom could push on that and it could be our new venture.

You had an interesting massage while in India, tell us about that…

It was one of the most disgusting things that's ever happened to me.  The worst part was when I got flipped over by this big old man who was swinging on a rope, and he massaged my nose with his toes.. It was horrific.

What was it like seeing Rom meet one of his hip-hop idols, Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon? 

It was fun watching Romesh be all nervous. And it's the first time I've seen somebody meet someone when they've got a tattoo of them. Because let's face it, having a tattoo of someone famous is creepy, isn't it? And then when that person meets that person, it's a bit odd. So, Romesh did very well. It really annoys me how cool Romesh is now because I knew him at the start when he was just this awkward maths teacher that was trying to do comedy. But now he's like this cool hip-hop dude, and I don't really get it. 

I want to be cool, but I don't know how to. But Rom styled it out very well, so I was very proud of him because it could have been a horrible moment for him.

What was it like trekking through the Sumatran jungle?

It was awful. It was so hot and sweaty. I just don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. If you’re thinking about trekking through the jungle to see an animal, I'd just Google it and have a beach holiday. Life's too busy as it is. 

I was so wet. The humidity was horrid. The humidity was 100. Surely that's just a full body of water, isn't it? I wanted to see whatever animals we needed as quick as possible so I could go home. Not a bit of me, that.

What was it like receiving acting lessons from Martin Freeman?

That was one of my favourite days ever doing Rob & Romesh Vs. Martin’s so funny, so cool and he’s an absolute legend. The Office is one of the best sitcoms of all time. His performance in that is probably one of the best performances in it. And he still does the look down the barrel. 

It was amazing to be able to get advice from someone who's that talented, but also so chilled out and chatty and not stuck-up. Big fans of Martin Freeman. We love him.

After your training with Team GB, might we soon be seeing you competing in the Winter Olympics?

No, I don't like being cold, which is a real stumbling block for the old Winter Olympics. We were awful, and a lot of the Winter Olympics involves having no fear, which is not my friend. 

No offence, I'd rather just go back working on the flower market than be in the Winter Olympics, if that's okay.

What would you choose as your next challenge with Rom, if you could?

I'd quite like to do martial arts like kung fu, karate, sumo wrestling. I think me and Rom wouldhave a good old sumo wrestle. Let’s do that!

Romesh Ranganathan

How was it to reunite with Rob?

Rob's one of my best mates and so it's always fun to meet up with him again. I feel like sometimes I get nervous about the fact that we get on so well and, touch wood, we've never had an argument.

Then you think, ’shit, is this going to be the one where we really fall out?’ And if we do fall out, it could be not only personally damaging, but financially damaging as well. So, there's always a worry about that. But it's always wicked to see him again, those shows are so much fun. I can't believe it's a job.

You took a trip to India to discover the wonders of Bollywood. How was it?

I love doing Bollywood and it was an amazing opportunity to be in a film. I would have loved Rob to get cancelled, but actually he was pretty good, and they seemed to love what he did. So that was a shame.

From what we did with those characters, though, I don't think they've got a future. They were quite one-dimensional. Maybe there's a world in which there's a dark tourist kind of spin-off where two guys who look like they're having an innocent holiday together end up killing somebody, like a horror thing, a musical horror. I think that's the only way because it's Bollywood so it'd have to be a musical.

You had an interesting massage while in India, tell us about that…

We had an oil massage and Rob had milk poured over him. I would love to tell you that's the weirdest thing that happened to us, but the weirdest bit was the foot massage, which isn't somebody massaging your feet, it's somebody massaging you with their feet. 

That makes sense on your back, but he got really intimate. There was one point where he pinched and massaged my nose with his big toe. I don't know what to say to you, man. It was… I just can't. It was ridiculous. My God, it was bad. 

I wouldn't do it again, but I'd recommend it. I think you should be allowed to monitor the guy during the day and see what he's doing with his feet.

What was it like meeting one of your hip-hop idols, Raekwon, and showing him your Wu-Tang Clan tattoo?

One member of the Ranganation years ago got a tattoo of me, but if somebody came up to me and said, ‘I've got a tattoo of you’, can we be absolutely honest? It's a bit of a red flag, isn't it? Saying to Raekwon, ‘I’ve had your band stuck permanently on my body’, I think Raekwon would have been well within his rights to go, ‘Can you get him the fuck out?’ But he was very cool about it.

What was it like trekking through Sumatran jungle with Rob?

It was horrific. Not particularly because it was with Rob, but trekking the jungle is just hard. When you've got two people that are very vocal about how they're feeling, you basically fuel each other's anger. You sort of go, "this is fucking hell, what the fuck? How much longer do I have to do this for?’

It's a lot of that, which is very ungrateful actually. But then we were told that a 22-year-old had done it a week before us so we didn't have many grounds to complain.

It's one of those things where seeing an orang-utan is really difficult, unless you're in Sumatra, in which case you almost become blasé about it.  By the end of the day, we got to a point where if you'd have said there's an orang-utan behind you, I might not have turned around. But if I was to see one in Croydon, holy shit!

You wrote and performed a hip-hop track in New York…

The New York cipher was the most horrific thing I've ever done because everyone there is spitting these bars and then you've got to try to join in. It's not like, ‘Oh, I'd like to have a go’. It's, ‘I think I'm good enough to stop you guys from rapping for a bit so that you can hear what I've got to say’.

When I started doing my verse, obviously production told me it went well, but I heard some people in the background who basically weren't into the accent. While I was rapping, I heard a couple of them going, ‘Would you like a cup of tea, Guv’nor?’ And stuff like that. So, it was a minor triumph.

Would I do it again? Absolutely not. Even if I was invited to one, I would turn it down. 

After all your training with Team GB, might we soon be seeing you in the Winter Olympics? 

I don't think so. I wouldn't mind being the third guy in the bobsleigh. Not that I want to take the place of whoever's already doing it, they're really muscular. But I used to teach the guy that pilots it at school. That's probably the best chance I've got, a bit of a friend's favour… I'd love to do that. You're essentially like a weight. Once you've done the first bit, you're kind of just a passenger.

What's the biggest highlight from the series?

For me, it was meeting Raekwon.

With Rob, there's two highlights and they're both in the same episode. Rob trying on the gold teeth in the hip-hop episode might be one of the funniest thingsI've seen in my life. I like him trying to talk after he had them in. I couldn’t deal with it. 

And then also watching Rob try to record an eight-bar verse for CJ Fly's tune in the studio - we nearly got to the point where we're going to have to go straight to the airport and go home because he's taking so long. He cannot ride a beat to save his life, he can't even find the beat. It was unbelievable.

You've obviously competed against Rob in various challenges, but do you have any off-screen rivalries?

The one off-screen rivalry we've got is who's balancing their work diary the best. Rob will often say, ‘I've booked a holiday because I've managed to work the jobs around clearance and time. Have you done that, Rom, or are you continuing to neglect your family?’ That's an ongoing thing between us. 

I'd say Rob & Romesh Vs Schedule if we were ever allowed to do that. It wouldn't beentertaining or anything, but it would be true.

If you could pick another challenge for you both to face, what would it be?

I'd love to go to Japan and do martial arts. Something like that would be amazing, to get good at it and immerse ourselves in the culture.

• Rob & Romesh Vs S8 will air weekly on Sky and streaming service Now from Tuesday. The Winter Olympics two-part special will air in early 2026. 

Published: 4 Dec 2025