The first time Connor Carroll ’19 ever encountered John Ferguson ’19 was in an elevator in McMaster’s Mary E. Keyes Residence. That brief interaction was memorable because, as Connor recalled, “There’s this guy in the elevator blatantly hitting on my girlfriend.” Now, the Mac-grad best friends have competed as a team on season 10 of The Amazing Race Canada and retold the story of their inauspicious meeting in dozens of interviews for media outlets from local newspapers to national television.
John was born with achondroplasia dwarfism and grew up on a farm in Erin, Ontario while setting his sights on a career in entertainment. “I always grew up wanting to be an actor,” he said. “I always had this mindset that I wanted to entertain. I live a life at four foot [tall] where everyone’s already looking at me, so I thought I might as well give them a little something more than just my physical appearance.” John knew, however, that making a living as an actor can be a long shot, so by the end of high school, he had decided on a very different path: finance. He enrolled in the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster because, as he recalled,
“Everyone was so nice, and it kind of felt like its own little world. … It seemed small enough to where I could see it feeling like home, and rightfully so. It was the greatest four years of my life.”
Just over an hour’s drive away from Erin, Connor grew up in Pickering, Ontario with a dream career that was, like John’s, less than a sure thing. “Growing up, I had the stereotypical Canadian dream for what I wanted to do,” said Connor of his aspiration to play in the National Hockey League. “But I also liked to argue. Because of that, my parents were always joking around that I should be a lawyer.” Seeing a legal career as a “little more realistic” than playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Connor chose McMaster for his undergraduate degree. “The first thought I had when I visited Mac was, ‘Wow, this kind of reminds me of Hogwarts a little bit.’ There are beautiful old buildings and architecture and nature. I fell in love with it right away.” That’s how John and Connor happened to find themselves in an elevator together during Welcome Week of their first year at McMaster.
By second year, they had become roommates and something of a team. Connor helped John record his first videos – setting the stage for things to come – and they explored everything they could of life beyond the classroom from hiking in Cootes Paradise to enjoying nights out in Hess Village.
Academically, John pursued studies in finance while doing a year abroad at Lancaster University in northern England. He also began making videos for social media, often with Connor’s help. Connor, who had started in the Faculty of Humanities in communications, switched to the Justice, Political Philosophy and Law (JPPL) program in his second year. There, he drew inspiration from one of his professors, Dr. Matthew Grellette (a “great storyteller” according to Connor), who invited a series of legal professionals – including a judge, class-action lawyer, criminal lawyer and others – to speak to the class. “It really inspired me to continue chasing that law career,” John said. After graduating with his undergraduate degree, he took a year to work and make plans, then attended law school at the University of Southampton in England, a move he characterized as “terrifying” and an “adventure,” having never been to England before moving there. Connor now works in Toronto where he is the manager of legal affairs for Envest, an independent clean energy producer known for its Bullfrog Power brand.
John has pivoted away from his finance degree and is back to pursuing his original dream. He is now a social media content creator who has attracted millions of views, saying,
“This is the least predictable and least secure job ever. Ironically, when I was at Mac, I planned on having a very secure financial advisor job where I would know where I would be in 40 years, but finance is great because you can use it so many other ways than just your classic office job.”
In fact, John often leans on his finance background in negotiating and managing his agreements with different corporate partners and advertisers.
Then, earlier this year, the two Mac-grad friends found themselves together in the national spotlight when they were selected to compete as a team on The Amazing Race Canada. They decided to audition for the show for remarkably similar reasons. Connor said, “The number one reason why I ended up pulling the trigger on going on the show: the best things in life are on the other side of fear.” John expressed a similar desire to attempt something that would put him to the test, saying, “The reason I wanted to do it was because I knew I couldn’t. It was such a large challenge. I don’t want to feel too comfortable in my life.” Then he added, “Not only can I challenge myself physically and mentally, I can also use this insane adventure to showcase the physical and mental capabilities of the Little People community.” Ultimately, though, it seems the main reason they decided to go on the show was even simpler. John said, “But also, I can have a month with my closest friend!”
The friends bowed out of The Amazing Race when the competition was in British Columbia, tripped up by a challenge that involved hanging laundry on a line in a memorized pattern. While they didn’t win the race, it was, in Connor’s words, “such a cool opportunity because only 200 Canadians have done that show.”
And only two of those 200 started their path to The Amazing Race in an elevator on the McMaster University campus.
Learn more about Connor and John’s adventure on The Amazing Race.
