Let me start by stating that if any reader by any point doubts this information, you are welcome to contact me directly. There is indisputable evidence to support and prove everything in terms of receipts, e-mails, texts and Messenger logs.
We fully understand the legal implications of making the accusations on this page and have removed many facts that we cannot document in court, if needed so.
I write on this page to share our side of the story and to prevent anyone else from being tricked by Henrik Søndbjerg ever again. We don’t want anyone to experience the same.
Our plan to enter the Gumball 3000 fails
The Gumball 3000 Rally from Dublin to Bucharest in 2016 was supposed to be my first official participation in this mythical event. I had previously driven support and medic-car in the rally, but never actually been a real contestant before.
I am a simple doctor from Sweden and don’t have endless means, even for something as amazing as Gumball.
The initial plan was to team up with a businessman from Romania and join the rally with him starting from London. However, in the very last minute circumstances changed and that plan changed, To my despair the participation in Gumball 3000 went down the drain. With very short notice I tried to come up with an alternative plan to realize my entrance into Gumball 3000 Rally.
During the last months prior to start, I had been bombarded with e-mails and texts from this Danish guy, Henrik Søndbjerg. It was obvious from social media that he was a frequent commentator for a couple of years back. You might say, that during the time of the ‘bombardment’ we developed a kind of online friendship and communicated frequently. My trust and confidence in Henrik Søndbjerg and the things, he said, grew in me as the months went along.
Everything Henrik Søndbjerg told me before the Gumball 3000 in 2016 was completely untrue
Among many things he told me that he had been in the sphere surrounding Gumball for many years, which turned out to be untrue. He never actually participated in Gumball 3000 officially, but had previously showed up at the rally uninvited. He also said that he frequently worked for Gumball HQ, which also turned out to be a lie according to the Gumball HQ, Max and Katherine. He even told me that he was by next of kin, married into Maximillians closest family, which of course also was a lie.
I have a Facebook Messenger full of exciting stories like these above and have attached a few screenshots here on this page. There are many more, where they come from.
He claimed to have driven all the cars and then some. He told me that he was a respected businessman and entrepreneur from Denmark. The truth was that he went bankrupt and got sued by his business partner after the bankruptcy.
During these months with frequent communication back and forth between us, some of the information overlapped and in a way indoctrinated me. There were often the same set of storys told in many different ways, always with a couple of details not consistent with the story being told before.
As I look back on everything now, there were so many signs along the way leading up to what happened, which should have made me think twice about taking him with me. Up to this date, its not the money or the things he stole from us that caused the worst damage. It´s the endless lies and manipulation that still to this day makes me sick just thinking about them.
I gave up entering Gumball 3000 grid in 2016, but then…
As I finally stated on Facebook that I wasn’t going to make it for the Gumball 3000 rally in 2016 after all, something peculiar and completely unexpected happened.
Henrik Søndbjerg immediately contacted me with a new story. He told me that he had been asked to manage a media crew for both Gumball HQ and a famous Danish tabloid called Ekstrabladet. He announced that there was room for me in his crew as long as I fulfilled some purpose. When asked what my role would be in the crew, he initially responded that driving and helping out would be sufficient. He would take care of everything else – and in VIP-style.
We were going to go in one car from Denmark along with Ekstrabladet and then team up with two more cars in Germany. It took about a day for that plan to change, when I suddenly got the word that there had been some complications with the car we were going in from Denmark, so Henrik Søndbjerg asked me, if we could take my car instead.
Since I already mentally got used to the idea of finally going in the Gumball 3000 Rally and wanted to help the crew in the matter, and since I had a Mercedes Brabus estate with plenty of room, I felt that this was the least I could do to return the favor of being invited into the team. And since we were going in my car and had plenty of space i asked if i could bring a good friend and businessman along. Henrik Søndbjerg responded that as long as there were room for gear for the crew, it would not be a problem.
We now had just a few days before the flag dropped and Henrik Søndbjerg told me that he had gotten the information from Katherine Peake in the Gumball HQ that he would be sent the official Gumball logos and stickers from within a day or so. Of course they never arrived – and they were never supposed to do so.
Two days before the start Henrik Søndbjerg had gotten the word that we had to go to London to receive the logos and stickers, but since our plan was to team up in Germany, we were not going to make that time table. Instead he had received a file so that we could print it ourselves. Unfortunately, his advertising guy were on sick leave, so he asked if i could assist. I quickly called the advertising company used by my company and asked them to make an exception with short notice. In order to make it work, the file had to be sent by Henrik Søndbjerg that same day. But again, it never arrived. Henrik Søndbjerg explained that there had been a malfunction with his computer, so I begged the advertising company to work all night to vectorize old files on the internet. This job cost me about 2.700 euro. When I finally received the files, I had about 6 hours before, I had to hit the road from Sweden. Henrik Søndbjerg again ensured me that he had put on thousands of stickers and that he was an expert on the matter.
Arriving in Denmark to pick up Henrik Søndbjerg
You know that feeling, when you see a pretty girls picture on Facebook and it’s dated 8 years back? You realize that time might have not been that kind and you are not sure what to expect in real life. Well, this was sort of the case with Henrik Søndbjerg.
The tanned hunk on Facebook with a cap and glasses were nowhere to be found. Slowly walking towards the car was a middle-aged man with grey hair and beard. His clothes were wrinkled like something that had lived in the bottom of the closet for several years. In his hand were the remains of a six-pack 33cl SLOTS. For those of you who dont know what SLOTS beer is, I can assure you, its not even qualified to be called beer. He had not even removed the plastic holding the cans together, so every time he took a sip from a can, the plastic covered parts of his face. His eyes were red like ”sailors be warned”. As I wrote above I am a doctor by profession, so I immediately asked him, if he was sick or feeling well. He got very offended by the question and defensively asked me, why I asked him that.
We parked the car and were invited up to his apartment. He quickly started to tell me, how much the apartment had cost and how much it was worth now, which i thought was out of the ordinary for a man of his statue. He offered coffee and when I went to get milk, the refrigerator was to my surprise completely empty. During our meet and greet, I looked around and observed, not one personal item in the apartment. No pictures of his kids, no personal details of any kind. This stroke me as odd to say the least. Henrik Søndbjerg kept drinking huge quantities of SLOTS beers and I recommended that we called it an early night, since we had to go early in the morning and prior to that had to put all the stickers and logos on the car. Henrik assured me again that he was an expert on the matter and that I was not to worry. Without asking directly if we were staying there, i looked around and noticed that he hadn’t planned for us staying at his place. It became evident, when he suddenly recommended a hotel in near vicinity. We checked in that same hotel later that evening.
The morning after
As a man of some structure, I started to sort the stickers out to make the most of it. I had barely started before Henrik Søndbjerg put his SLOTS beers on the car and all over the stickers. To spare you some reading time, the results was nothing short of a joke. There were more bubbles on the car than in a 1.000 gallon bubble bath and the stickers overlapped each other as well as lists and door cracks. The result made me want to cry, but Henrik assured me that this was how all the Gumball cars looked and told me not to worry. Even though i knew it was bullshit, his words were somewhat soothing and off we went. Our first stop were supposed to be at Ekstrabladet to pick up a reporter, but much to my surprise, Henrik led us into a suburban area and asked me to pull up at a house. We exited the car and were met by a guy with very basic camera equipment. He introduced himself by name and asked which one of us was from the press. There were some seconds of extreme awkwardness as we all looked at each other like no one had a clue what was going on. Suddenly Henrik Søndbjerg introduced us as the Gumball crew and wanted the man to show us how to work his equipment. We picked up the camera equipment and left. Up to this date I still don’t know who the man was, but there was no question about it. We had both been played with different storys by Henrik Søndbjerg.
During the drive towards the first hotel, empty SLOTS beer cans were building up in the back seat and the floor matts started to get drenched with beer. We were supposed to meet up with the Gumball crew along the way, but they were nowhere to be found, considering what had previously happened, I didn’t even bother to ask. my co-driver tried to get to the bottom of it, but it was of no use.
When we pulled up at Europa Park and the hotel I was very tired and Henrik Søndbjerg was wasted and nervous. When we exited the car Henrik Søndbjerg had specific instructions for us. We should wait for him in the lobby as he was going to find friends and crew so that he could announce our arrival. By this point me and my co-driver knew that things were seriously wrong, but we just wanted to make the best of it, so we checked in to the hotel and waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually I started to get pissed off.
When he finally appeared, I pulled him aside. I made it perfectly clear to him that the time for BS was over and that I didn’t mind paying for him as long as he fulfilled some part of our deal. Either that – or I would be dropping him of at the train station. However ,he assured me that everything were going to be alright. The words were as empty to me as the cans of SLOTS in the back seat of my precious car. Needless to say, no introductions to Gumball HQ people or crew were made that evening – or any later evening. Instead, me and my co-driver started hooking up with some Gumball friends and suddenly we had Henrik Søndbjerg attached to us like a spooked dog on new years eve. Henrik Søndbjerg started quite a few bar tabs for several thousands of euros and then mysteriously disappeared, when it was due payment. It was so embarrassing and I went to bed feeling that bringing Henrik was the biggest mistake of my life. The situation during our stay in Prague was exactly the same and Henrik Søndbjerg kept opening bar in mine or my co-driver´s names like there were no tomorrow. We actually didn’t even realize how bad it was until I went through it all with my bank several days after we returned from the Gumball rally.
Judgement day in Budapest
We arrived at the Ritz Carlton late in the afternoon. After checking in we met up with some friends of mine and the evening was on. For me personally, I was worn out and by early hours of the night I was hugging my friends and excusing my leave of absence, since we had a long drive to Bucharest in the morning. So I went to bed and many of the others including my co-driver and Henrik kept partying on. My co-driver started to get a bit unease, since others started to take notice in Henriks behavior, so when Henrik went to the toilet at a club, they actually left him. Not being able to figure out where they went and since he didn’t have any money, he eventually went back to the hotel.
We had the largest suite at The Ritz Carlton, which were like three separate bedrooms combined in one large hotel room with additional utility area and several balconies. Sometime in the early hours, my co-driver came to our room with entourage, friends as well as local girls. As I was sleeping, I got the following confirmed from several people the day after. When they opened the door to say hi to Henrik Søndbjerg, he immediately jumped out of bed and grabbed one of the girls, who was wasted and pulled her down in his bed. my co-driver said that they were leaving for another room and asked the girl, if she wanted to go with them, but he got no straight answer so they all left, leaving the girl and Henrik Søndbjerg behind. A few hours later, my co-driver came down again and he woke me up to tell me about some of the fun happening the previous night.
Suddenly Henrik Søndbjerg started declaring that he was robbed by the girl. As I did not understand, I had my co-driver explain the scenario. Henrik opened his walet and showed us that it was empty. He couldn’t really account for how much it was, but it was a lot, he said. I immediately went into my room and sure enough, about 2.000 euro and my Omega Planet Ocean XL was gone. This made me furious and my initial reaction was that the guys were responsible for bringing her into the suite in the first place. Of cource, my co-driver was not to blame. Henrik promised that he was going to make good on all that was lost, something that I knew in my heart was never going to happen. my co-driver said that our initial intervention should be to contact the manager of the hotel to make a formel charge involving the police. When we told Henrik to get dressed, he started twisting and turning saying that it probably was of no use to make formal charges against the girl, because he was never going to see his money anyway – and that the girl was long gone anyway. I thought it was a bit odd, so we convinced him to come down with us, and reluctantly, he did.
We all met with the hotel manager, who was horrified by the situation. He immediately called the police and since they had many cameras in the hotel, he stated that the girl could be identified quite easy. When the police arrived, Henrik Søndbjerg was nowhere to be found. We called him several times, but he didn’t answer. This made the police, me and my co-driver irritated to say the least, so eventually the police said that we should come down to the police station, when we suddenly found Henrik. After the police left we were approached by the head of security at the hotel. He stated that it would not take him more that a few days to find the girl and that if she had stolen from us, he would get it back without a doubt. The man was very convincing and we both got the impression that no one did escape, if they tried to drag The Ritz Carlton name in the dirt. He also stated that he found it very strange that what he called a ”working girl” dared to steal at The Ritz. Somehow, I believed every word he was saying.
When we finally found Henrik Søndbjerg, we asked him why the hell he took off and left us, but his only response was that pressing charges was of no use. When we told him about the head of security, he got even more nervous and stated that we should leave for Bucharest as soon as possible. If only we could fund the rest of the trip, he would make good of everything we paid for him so far, when we got home. By this point both me and my co-driver knew what Henrik Søndbjerg was all about, and Henrik knew that we knew. Things were falling apart and everything had gotten to be so pathetic. Even so, by this point I actually believed that the mysterious girl were to blame for the theft in our rooms and it didn’t cross my mind that it was all in Henriks elaborate scheme.
We leave the Gumball and drive back to Sweden
Naturally we aborted the trip right there and left for home. On the ferry to Sweden, Henrik Søndbjerg was picking up his phone from his jeanspocket and a hundred euro bill fell out on the floor. Even though me and my co-driver were several meters away, we both saw it clear as day. Henrik quickly picked it up and went down the stairs to the car deck. We just looked at each other and suddenly things started to clarify about the theft. The rest of the kilometers back to ”Henriks place” went without a sound or word being said and we finally dropped him off with a feeling of relief. The nightmare was over even though it had cost me roughly approximately 2.000 euro in cash, my Omega worth at least 6.000 euro, about 2.800 euro in advertising costs and a couple of grand in bar tabs opened by Henrik Søndbjerg without my knowledge or accept.
The working girl was innocent
A day after we got home my co-driver got a call from the head of security. He had found the girl and he was absolutely sure that she was not to be blamed. Apparently, the hammer had really come down on the poor girl, because of Henriks charges against her for theft. Even though I dont know exactly what had happened to her, I know that she called me and my co-driver completely broken down and promised on the lives of her kids that she didn’t take a dime from any of us. Of course we believed her.
The next day the head of security of The Ritz called again and explained that he had reviewed what was available for him from the discreet cameras outside my room. He confirmed that the only person walking into my room that night was Henrik Søndbjerg.
The aftermath – Henrik Søndbjerg becomes unresponsive
Both my co-driver and I approached Henrik Søndbjerg on phone, Facebook and Messenger many times after returning to Sweden and kindly asked him to repay us back the money, we paid for him during the trip. On the trip he promised us that this would happen immediately upon our return.
His response was to block us on Facebook and our mobile numbers. Not only did he do that. To protect himself and his name, he has been spreading rumors about me and my co-driver that we owe him money and have threatened him, which hurts me even more.
Me and my co-driver have also been in contact with several other Gumballers, who all confirmed Henriks unmoral behaviour, not only in the 2016 Gumball, but in several rallies in the past. If needed so, we will put this information forward as well, but for now there is no need to bring their names forward.
In a correspondence with Catherine Peake from the Gumball HQ about the incidents, she was always very helpful and even made an official statement pretty much saying that Henrik Søndbjerg is a fraud and that he has nothing to do with Gumball 3000, nor do they want him to be associated with their brand and good name in any way. I so wish we had this information before and I will do my best very best to ensure that all Gumballers are well aware of our story with Henrik, so they don’t make the same mistakes.
Even though I probably wont get any of my money or lovely watch back, it is somewhat comforting that Henrik Søndbjerg’s time in Gumball is now finally over. In fact he was never really in the Gumball 3000 Rally, but now he is definitely completely out.
– The Anonymous