Marijana Rajčić and Chelsea Randall may be best known for their time on the field playing for the Adelaide Crows in the AFLW, but now they’re taking on the race and they’re a duo that'll have the other teams nervous. Fighting fit and incredibly competitive, MJ and Chelsea have their eyes on the prize and they’re not going to make it easy for the other racers.
Originally from Western Australia, Chelsea met South Australian MJ in 2017 where they both played in the AFL women’s competition.
“MJ’s a senior leader, I’m the captain,” Chelsea told 10 play ahead of their debut on the race. “I’ve been a part of the AFLW since its inception in 2017, MJ joined the Crows from a soccer background where she was a captain of the Adelaide United soccer team.”
When they’re not on the field, MJ is a teacher and Chelsea is studying to be a teacher.
“Her poor students never win a game of ping pong against her,” Chelsea said. “She just won’t let them!”
“They have to learn how to lose,” MJ added, laughing.
As a surprise addition to the race, MJ and Chelsea have had to keep quiet when The Amazing Race kicked off, and have been able to see for the first time what the other teams got up to before they joined in.
“It’s been good to watch all the other teams but we’re excited to finally join the party,” MJ said.
Chelsea agreed saying, “The last couple of weeks, watching it back, MJ and I are just so jealous of what everyone has had to do in the challenges and the places they’ve been! But that’s okay, we got to be part of something pretty amazing.”
Having been a fan of the show since she was a kid, MJ knew she and Chelsea shared a love of adventure, travel and have a super competitive streak.
But it wasn’t until right before they joined the race that the pair found out they weren’t starting right at the beginning.
“We only found out the day before that we were stowaways,” MJ said. “I think I just paced in the hotel room of lockdown and I was like Chels, this is going to be crazy. This is going to be so hard because they’re going to hate us from the get-go!
“We haven’t been an original from the beginning so we’re always going to have that stigma on us,” she continued. “I definitely thought it was going to be an uphill battle to try and fit in with the group and actually get to know them, but obviously we were both just super excited to join the crew and get going.”
The pair also knew that their sports careers would help them when it came to not only the physical nature of the race but also teamwork and communication.
“Being elite athletes helps us both be able to communicate with one another because we’re constantly giving each other feedback and improvements on the field and off the field so that we can be our best,” Chelsea said. “We knew we wouldn’t take that personally from one another and we’d just continue to give it everything.”
MJ said that the whole race would feel like one big “game day”.
“We’re in game mode so whatever happens on the field stays on the field,” she added. “We’re in pressure situations all the time where we have to communicate quickly and directly… we knew going into it that we do that well and we’ve just got to focus.”
Catch MJ and Chelsea’s first leg of the race when The Amazing Race Australia returns Sunday at 7.30 on 10 and 10 play