Ryan Ferguson on life’s challenges and “The Amazing Race” | Forensic Files

i think i've proven my innocence i think most people in the world in the whole world can see that i'm erin moriarty
i've been following the case of ryan ferguson since 2005 when he went on trial for the murder of newspaper sports
editor kent heithold you are as you stand here an innocent man i'm an innocent man and i hope the whole world
can see it now hi everyone you may remember this case that we started reporting on in 2005 that involved a
young man by the name of ryan ferguson who was wrongfully convicted of murder he spent a decade in prison until he was
released these are exactly the kinds of stories that we thrive on in 48 hours and we
were honored that we brought national attention to his case first by covering the trial and then staying on it until
we could watch him walk out of prison now i've kept up with ryan and he'll tell you that over the years but i never
expected this latest chapter of his life competing on the amazing race [Music] how did this come up uh i was very
fortunate i was on instagram one day and one of the casting directors actually reached out to me and i thought it was a
joke i was like not really going to be able to get on this this race right i mean this guy's
like just a it's a scam and i googled him and he was actually real and i was like okay yeah check it
out and talk to him and so uh yeah it became this whole thing and ended up being able to uh invite a friend did you
ever imagine honestly especially with years back when you're sitting in prison that you'd never be traveling around the
world like this i i did um i thought it would be with my father and we have made many of those
trips together unfortunately you know he's he's a little bit older and can't run as well
um because you know i love my my friend dusty and it was great racing around the
world with him but being with my father would have been the coolest thing ever as you know our
relationship but uh yeah so i it's a little different than i envisioned but it was still it was amazing right now
the world is dealing with the coronavirus and in order to keep you safe we believe
the best choice for all of us is to suspend the race this was also a historic season because
you started before the pandemic and then all of a sudden they had to stop production were you surprised and what
was that like we were very surprised uh you know when the pandemic started people probably forget what they were
thinking at that time but i thought okay this will this will be over in a month you know and uh a little do we know that
a month later two months later the whole world would be shut down so you know we
we were kind of surprised we were racing um but we weren't that surprised that it
stopped we were surprised that it stopped for 19 months i mean i studied a lot i i got my pilot license i worked
out a lot yeah so i mean i i took full advantage of those months um because i knew that
i couldn't just be upset with being locked in the whole world being shut down i just had to take advantage the
opportunity to do something positive for my life and um and so that i think that
helped when i came back on the race what's been happening with you guys since the last time i saw you things for
me haven't changed a whole lot you know i'm used to being locked down i just transitioned straight back into
prison life it does take a lot of physical strength more than i realized from what i've been
watching but it also takes mental strength and that is the one thing i've always noticed about you you know i knew
you through those 10 years that you were staying in prison and you only survived
because you had this amazing mental strength i was by myself for the first time driving down the highway that's
when i actually felt free ryan ferguson spent nearly a decade trapped inside this missouri state prison has that
given you a bit of a edge in this i think it helps a lot it's it's tough you know and you see especially in the
earlier episodes how people have a difficult time communicating with one another it's very stressful you know
you're competing and for me it was it was a lot easier i think in that sense because i'm just like okay i've been
through a lot of these these stressful environments before and uh and and i know how to support my teammate
you know i know how to be traveling around the world with somebody like my father or stuck in a room with somebody
like my my teammate and so all these things just kind of came naturally to me we knew it was going to be tough right
we see some of the best teams you think if when you watch the race you know on other seasons you see teams you think
would be great do horrible and for us it was we thought we'd be great but we also
knew the challenges and there certainly were what else you know have you been doing since we last spoke right thank
you for asking um so i've moved to new york i started a podcast called called prison counts so that's really uh
something i've been wanting to do for a long time because there's so many amazing people in prison they've made
big mistakes they deserve to do time but they also deserve to have a life when they get out you know have opportunities
and they never had a voice and so i wanted to create that opportunity for them a form where they could speak talk
about their realities and humanize them because people need to see that there's a lot of these individuals coming back
into the real world and they need our support they need our help to be productive citizens and i've also
started my real estate career here in manhattan aaron if you need to move let me know but uh yeah i work for next step
realty it's an amazing luxury boutique relocation firm so really really excited about that having
a lot of fun working in the city i love it what do you want people to take away from the amazing race what do you what
do you think is the most important the best part of it i think to me the most important and
best part is just growth as a person and growth in friendships and relationships
and then uh also within the the team relationship my buddy dusty and i we went through some hard times we messed
up a lot you know he messed up i messed up he messed up a little bit more but the thing is we we never got upset
with one another we just knew okay we're human beings we're gonna make mistakes let's support each other and work
through that so we can continue on in this thing if you break down and you give up it's just it relates to life and
uh you got to keep going no matter what the challenge is so it's great to see you it is great to follow your journey
on the amazing race and to follow your journey to the next chapters of this very interesting life thanks so much
ryan absolutely thank you aaron good to see you

Ryan Ferguson spent a decade in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of murder. Now, as a competitor on "The Amazing Race," he shares his journey with "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty, who has covered his story from the beginning.

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Ryan Ferguson discusses his journey from wrongful conviction to competing on The Amazing Race and launching his podcast, Prison Counts.

Key points

Ryan Ferguson's Journey to Innocence. Ryan Ferguson shares his story of wrongful conviction and eventual release after a decade in prison.
The Amazing Race During a Pandemic. Ryan discusses the unexpected halt of The Amazing Race due to COVID-19 and his preparation during lockdown.
Creating a Voice for Prisoners. Ryan talks about starting a podcast to humanize those who have been incarcerated.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I'm an innocent man and I hope the whole world can see it now.

Ryan Ferguson asserts his innocence after years of wrongful conviction.

0:19WatchJan 24, 2022

Tension

40/ 100Low tension

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