top of page
Now Casting for the Next Season → Click Here to Apply
_edited.png)
Meet the Team Behind the Journey
Nearly two decades after launching one of the world's first audience-driven travel series, the original Around The World For Free team is reuniting to bring the adventure back for a new generation.
Burton Roberts
Burton Roberts is an entrepreneur, producer, and world traveler who co-created Around The World For Free. After earning his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, he built a career spanning media, technology, education, and adventure travel. Burton has co-founded multiple companies, including Around The World Productions and The College Tour, and has helped create award-winning television and digital content seen around the globe.
Having traveled to nearly 70 countries and competed on both Survivor and Eco-Challenge Fiji, he is excited to reunite with the original team and bring Around The World For Free back for a new generation. Burton lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and twin daughters.
Alex Boylan
Alex Boylan first captured audiences' attention when he won the second season of CBS's The Amazing Race. He later became the original traveler and co-creator of Around The World For Free. Since then, Alex has hosted and produced television series around the world, combining adventure, travel, and storytelling.
Most recently, he created The College Tour, the first television series dedicated to sharing the stories of colleges and universities across the country, now entering its 17th season. Nearly two decades later, Alex is reuniting with the original team to bring Around The World For Free back for a new generation of adventurers.
Zsolt Luka
Zsolt Luka is an editor, director and videographer who was the original, pioneering one-person ‘crew’ on the first season of Around The World For Free. He started as an editor on Canadian children’s shows and later expanded to the travel documentary, lifestyle and reality genres.
He remains an editor-at-large for various projects while participating in a distribution role for The College Tour and mentoring a new generation of digital storytellers.
He’s excited to reunite with the original ATWFF team to re-launch the show for the social media era.
Shane Farley
Shane Farley is a four time Emmy Award winning television producer and entrepreneur whose credits include The Rachael Ray Show, The Steve Harvey Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Voice, and other influential daytime and primetime series. He is the Co Founder and CEO of TrustedPrenup.com, an AI powered platform he conceived after years producing relationship focused television and working with renowned divorce attorney James Sexton.
Shane is also the creator and executive producer of Gaia's StarCast Weekly and is developing new content focused on consciousness, personal growth, and transformation. Throughout his career, he has built a reputation for turning compelling ideas into successful shows, brands, and businesses.
Anne O’Grady
Anne O’Grady is an entertainment marketing executive who spent over 3 decades at CBS Television launching and promoting some of the world’s best know shows. Anne’s areas of expertise include brand strategy, experiential marketing, creative design and multi-platform marketing.
Throughout her career Anne has been a champion of new concepts and techniques in marketing including many innovative, award-winning promotions. Most notably she was a key member of the team that launched cbs.com in early 1995. Today, Anne is a Marketing Consultant and continues to serve on boards supporting the arts.
Anne loves to travel and her career has afforded her the opportunity work in many countries around the world, in fact, she recently set foot on her 7th continent, Antarctica!
Ashley Spence
Ashley Spence got her start in storytelling as a college intern on the ground floor of internet history — as part of the original team that launched Around The World For Free, widely recognized as the world’s first online interactive travel series. Since then, Ashley has channeled that same fearless spirit into becoming a nationally recognized victim advocate, public speaker, and founder of the DNA Justice Project, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit fighting to expand forensic DNA access and reform criminal justice policy across the United States.
A sought-after global voice on forensic DNA, she has presented at conferences in East Africa and Kazakhstan, testified before statehouses nationwide, and authored Silent Witness — a memoir blending her journey from survivor to changemaker with a call to action for DNA policy reform. Ashley brings that same bold, boundary-pushing energy back to the ATWFF reboot, proving that one person’s story can spark something much bigger.
bottom of page