Silverchair's Ben Gillies To Compete On 'The Amazing Race'

Ben Gillies, the drummer for the now-defunct band Silverchair, will join the new season of The Amazing Race: Celebrity Edition alongside his wife, Jackie Gillies. 

The new season will see eleven celebrity racers and their loved ones trade in their luxe lives for a life on the run to raise $100,000 for a charity of their choice. 

On joining the new season, Ben said, "I feel like the essence of the show is that it forces you to live in the moment and be present, and it will unfold in front of you," Ben said. "You are completely out of control of your destiny. You just need to enjoy it, and I am looking forward to that."

While they admit they're both competitive, Jackie also said the duo are a "very fun, happy, out there, passionate couple" who want to experience something amazing. But they've also got their eyes on the prize.

The pair are competing on behalf of the Moira Kelly Creating Hope Foundation, an organisation that provides support for children and displaced women from overseas and in Australia who have not been able to receive help elsewhere.

"She is just an amazing person, and I can’t wait to showcase what she does," Jackie said, adding, "She brings so much awareness and tries to bring medical attention to children that don’t have the opportunity in third world countries. It’s a charity close to our heart."

The news of Ben Gillies competing in this year's The Amazing Race: Celebrity Edition comes almost a year after the former Drummer questioned the 'genius' tag of previous bandmate Daniel Johns in a now-deleted social media post. 

Johns addressed the slander and the sad breakdown of his relationship with ex-bandmate Ben Gillies, in the second episode of his YouTube series In The Mind Of Daniel Johns, with host Megan Holiday.

"To be honest, I've tried to mend that bridge. I've tried, and I've gone out of my way to speak positively about him, even when I did my podcast. I didn't want to do any harm to our legacy, so I don't know. If he wants to be like that, it doesn't affect me. I'm not going to be offended and say, 'but I AM a genius'. The entire White Album is pretty simple, and I would consider that genius. Every Clash album, particularly London Calling, is simple, so that shit's hard. Who the fuck knows what genius is? I don't consider myself a genius."

Addressing the breakdown of Silverchair, Johns revealed the extent of the rift, particularly between himself and Gillies. 

"I was really clear with everyone when I left Silverchair that we weren't getting back together. I had in the past thought that I wanted to leave Silverchair and changed my mind, so my manager at the time quite intelligently suggested we say we're on an indefinite hiatus. I made it very clear to the other two that it's over, but that I didn't want to close that door or break anyone's heart in case I changed my mind. But I made it very clear to Ben and Chris. And then Ben actually went out of his way to say we were definitely getting back together while I was in the middle of a promotional tour for my first record 'Talk', which I thought was really unfair to Silverchair fans. I was caught in this 'who am I supposed to appease?'. I was in a situation where I was really trying to protect our legacy because that's really important to me. I pretty much gave up my childhood for that, and I thought it was really unfair to keep dangling a carrot in front of people who had supported us, knowing full well that I was never going back. So me being me, I said I wouldn't get Silverchair back together for a million dollars with a gun to my head."

In episode one of the series, Johns revealed that his attempts to reach out to Ben and Chris were rebuffed, making it clear that a reunion has never been further from being a possibility. Read the rest of the article here. 

The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition is coming soon to 10 and 10 Play. You can find out more here.