Pete Murray reveals extent of ‘confronting’ SAS injury

Singer Pete Murray told hospital staff to do whatever they could to put his elbow back into place after he severely dislocated it during a boxing bout with Mark Philippoussis on SAS Australia

Singer Pete Murray has revealed it took three hospital staff and three attempts to put his elbow back into place after he severely dislocated it during a boxing bout with tennis great Mark Philippoussis on SAS Australia.

Murray, 51, said he was still unable to straighten his elbow three months on from the incident, which saw him forced to withdraw from the Channel 7 reality series on Monday night.

The Byron Bay-based singer fell backwards following a knock from Philippoussis during the challenge and staff immediately noticed his elbow was protruding from his arm.

“I wasn’t sure whether I broke a bone or what it was at the time, I just went down and suddenly my arm was looking strange,” Murray said.

Pete Murray is injured during a boxing challenge with Mark Philippoussis on SAS Australia. Picture: Supplied

“The first thing I asked was ‘can you put it back in’ because I was ready to go again. I was just really focussed on having another crack at Mark.

“It’s confronting when you see that sort of thing but I’m a pretty calm person. That whole course I was really in the zone. When that happened it was uncomfortable, the pain was slowly creeping in, but my mindset was ‘I’m here to do a job’.”

The show’s doctor informed Murray he would have to go to hospital and while he initially declined medication he said the pain set in quickly.

“Within about 10 or 15 minutes I remember going ‘I might have a shot of morphine now’,” he said.

Pete Murray is injured on SAS Australia. Picture: Supplied

The Brisbane-raised singer was then driven two hours along bumpy roads from the Blue Mountains set to hospital in Lithgow, at one stage asking staff to pull over for another dose of morphine.

Having not eaten much as part of the show, Murray said he was “starving” by the time he was being treated in hospital at 11pm.

He was told he would have to travel further to Penrith where they could operate if they couldn’t get his dislocated elbow back into place.

“I said ‘Can I eat food? And they said ‘No, you can’t eat food’,” Murray said.

“I was getting angry at this stage and I said, ‘Listen, pardon my French, but I don’t give a f--- what you do, when I wake up I want this arm back in place so I can eat some food’.”

“It took the docs three guys and three attempts to put it back in.”

Singer Pete Murray on SAS Australia. Picture: Supplied

The father of four said he was “disappointed” to be forced out of the show due to injury, and was still struggling with the slow recovery, but was proud that he never failed to complete a task.

“There was absolutely nothing I could do. I was just glad I didn’t hand my number in,” he said.

“At the end of my time there I guess the positive thing for me was I hadn’t failed anything; so for me it was a really positive experience.”

“I loved the show.”

Murray released new track Hold Me Steady on Friday, the first single from his forthcoming EP.