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This Week on POPSUGAR Rush: The OG Wiggles Are Hot, Too
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Toot toot. Chugga chugga. Hot potato. Cold spaghetti. Fruit salad. Yummy yummy. These are all immortal phrases we’ve lived by since we were kids, and those ancient Australian proverbs have historically guided us through life’s challenges. The Wiggles could do ‘Macbeth’, but there’s no way Shakespeare could do ‘Big Red Car’. The cultural impact The Wiggles have had is undeniable, and in conjunction with the release of “Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles” on Prime Video, this week’s episode of POPSUGAR Rush is a Wiggles-cast.
In case you missed it, “Hot Potato” tells the story of The Wiggles from the group’s inception in 1991 to what the brand has become in 2023. Going through our favourite parts of the documentary, Starr and I were both shocked at the impact The Wiggles had on us. I hadn’t thought about the group’s 1997 movie in my entire adulthood, but one mention of it in passing in “Hot Potato” suddenly flooded me with memories of watching it on repeat on VHS.
If you were a young kid in the late 90s/early 00s in Australia, The Wiggles were inescapable. They were omnipresent, and as far as childhood me is concerned, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Were The Wiggles Our Childhood Crushes?
Cut to 2023, and The Wiggles, as a band, are much larger. With 8 members, of different ethnicities and genders, the band is a more accurate reflection of the kids they’re performing to. Representation matters to the band, and its impact can be traced back to kids seeing Jeff, who is Chinese Australian, on TV in the mid-90s.
But, alongside Tsehay’s radiant smile or the band’s record-breaking turn on triple j’s Like A Version, the discourse on social media around The Wiggles seems to focus on a new purple Wiggle — John. The hot one.
The documentary touches on John, who is all about fitness and exercising, and his TikTok presence. Never did I think I’d hear the words “thirst trap” in a doco about The Wiggles. But, I would like to circle back to the early days in the band’s career, when Greg, Jeff, Anthony and Murray were still performing at pre-schools. Their extremely-90s shirts — to die for. The baggy pants — to die for. The completely unkept eyebrows — to die for. John Wiggle might be the hot Wiggle, but I will not stand idly by and let him be the only one.
It’s time for me to reveal my truth: The OG Wiggles are hot, too.
Listen to the latest episode above, or via any major podcast provider.
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