GRAND PRIZE: Bedford grad wins Race to the Center of the Earth
Nearly two years after winning $1 million, 2002 Bedford High School graduate James Batey can finally talk freely about the experience.
The University of Michigan alum and two of his fellow teachers from The Bush School in Seattle took home the $1 million grand prize in National Geographic’s Race to the Center of the Earth, a seven-part competition that aired its final episode on Monday.
Despite filming the show over a two-week period in October 2019, Batey, outdoor-education teacher Jay Wyatt and Spanish/French teacher Marilina Kim had to wait almost two years before their friends and families could watch the show and see what they had experienced. Batey says they and their fellow competitors weren’t even allowed to tell their spouses how the competition played out, adding that they all had to sign non-disclosure agreements that laid out a very convincing argument for keeping their mouths