John & Murray

John Gbenda-Charles and Murray Roeske are a team of Best Mates on The Amazing Race: Australia v New Zealand.

They won 3 of the first 5 legs, and only their forgetting to pay their tuk tuk driver in Cambodia, and Carla & Hereni's Express Pass usage on leg 4, kept them from winning all five of those legs. However, they did tend to make a number of mistakes, most of them due to their lack of genre savviness. Though they were able to power through those mistakes thanks to a little luck in the first five legs, those mistakes piled up and cost them dearly in Kostroma, Russia.

Profile[]

These fun-loving athletes are no strangers to winning; how will they play this competition?

John (35) and Murray (35) – or Raspberry and Coke, as they call themselves – met in their final year of boarding school, while John was on a soccer scholarship and Murray on a rugby scholarship.

The retired professional footballers shared a stint in Hong Kong together, but have spent most of their careers living and working in separate cities around the world. They're relishing this opportunity to focus on their friendship and hopefully nab a victory in the process. "We believe we've got enough skills, fitness and ability to win this, so we have to focus on that. This is our team and our journey," says John.

Murray currently works in the civil infrastructure rebuild of Christchurch – or as John puts it, "he's doing God's work in this world". John manages professional athletes – or as Murray puts it, "he's the black Jerry Maguire".

By their own admission they're different characters, and they don't compete with each other. "We don't like the same kind of girls, we don't dress the same – our differences are our strength," John says.

John, who is Murray's best-mate, was born in West Africa and moved to Wellington with his mum and sister when he was nine. Murray, who is John's, 'second-best-mate', grew up on a farm in Nelson until he was 15.

The two have made a living from being fierce competitors on the sporting field, although it remains to be seen just how seriously the fun-loving larrikins will engage in competition on the Race.

Game face aside, Murray says, "I‟m sure we'll make some friends, I've been making friends since 1978."

The Amazing Race: Australia v New Zealand[]

Race History[]

John & Murray's Race History
Episode	Leg	Destination(s)	Detour Choice (underlined)	Roadblock Performer	Placement	Notes
1	1	Australia → New Zealand	No Detour	Murray	1 of 10
2	2	New Zealand → Cambodia	Shrimp / Shoot	Used Express Pass	2 of 9ϵ	^[1]
3	3	Cambodia → Thailand	Climb Up / Drill Down	Murray	1 of 8⊂
4	4	Thailand → Namibia	Pipe / Poo	John	2 of 7
5	5	Namibia → Russia	Cossack / Coat Rack	Murray	1 of 6
6	6	Russia	Boil / Build	John	6 of 6	^[2]
				Average	2.17
Legend: The team finished in first place The team finished in last place and was eliminated from the race The team finished in last place in a non-elimination leg The team that won The Amazing Race The team that crossed the Finish Line second The team that crossed the Finish Line third ► The team used the Fast Forward pass ϵ The team used the Express Pass somewhere during the leg ⊂ The team used the U-Turn ⊃ Recipient of the U-Turn ► The team used the Salvage Pass
Notes: 1: John & Murray were subject to several placement changes on the 2nd leg: They overslept and missed their departure time by 1 hour, departing in 5th place instead of 1st. They used their Express Pass to bypass the Roadblock in Leg 2. Neither had opted to perform the Roadblock, so this is not counted in their total. They initially arrived 1st, but could not be checked in as they didn't pay their tuk-tuk driver. By the time they paid it and returned to the mat, Emily & Jono arrived, dropping them to 2nd place. 2: Daniel & Ryan chose not to use their Salvage Pass to save John & Murray, who came in last, eliminating them.