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Damage control a disaster for The Wiggles

Richard Wilkins' interview with The Wiggles generated an instant buzz after Anthony Field was ill-prepared for the scrutiny.

How could they have got it so wrong?

For all the squillions The Wiggles have accrued you would think somebody would have given them better advice before fronting the Today show yesterday.

Anthony Field’s deer-in-headlights answer to Richard Wilkins’ questions about the exit of Sam Moran was TV gold.

Wilkins’ interview generated an instant buzz after Field was ill-prepared for the scrutiny.

“What about Sam? Sam was…. what do you mean?” Field asked awkwardly.

“What Sam does now is Sam’s thing. His contract has come to an end.

“I have nothing to do with really, Richard. Sam was doing a job.

“Yes it was news to him. I haven’t spoken to him so I don’t know (how he took it).

“I don’t want to speak for the guy … I don’t know how he feels.”

The Wiggles were doing the rounds yesterday. On Sunrise the chat wasn’t much better.

Field also told The Circle the Today interview had caught him by surprise and had been expecting to sing songs (seriously?).

But he again conceded Sam Moran didn’t know he was going to be leaving the group.

“No….Sam was an employee of ours. Like a musical theatre performer he was playing a role,” he said.

“They were going back and forth. Sam has lawyers…. we were keeping out of that.”

As a branding exercise for a children’s entertainment troupe, yesterday was a disaster. Now the pressure will be on to land a tell-all interview with Moran.

Meanwhile the Herald Sun says Greg Page won’t be a shareholder in the group, after leaving with $20m when he exited five years ago.

Anthony Field, Jeff Fatt and Murray Cook each own 30 per cent of the band and the remaining 10 per cent is split  between the band’s managing director, Mike Conway, and its creative manager, Paul Field (brother of Anthony).

There is also speculation Moran was called in by management on Tuesday and terminated with a $60,000 payout.

First blunder for 2012: The Wiggles.

54 Responses

  1. Having listened to the radio interviews with Greg this week and recently, i can understand the decision. He is a key player in their history and has every right to return. Sam deserves a decent treatment in his exit, but such is working life on a contract. The question is what are the long term prospects for a group of childrens entertainers pushng 60, clearly with more health issues than they had 20 years ago?

  2. Interesting….according to Wikipedia….there was originally….5 Wiggles…the fifth was one Phillip Wilcher …and according to the article…he went overseas and was told he was not wanted on his return….he said …’dont know why’…Wiggles spokes person….claims he resigned….go figure…..do not know how true/false it is….it is on Wiki…?!?!?……Not sure what colour he was??

  3. Futher to my earlier comment “Brand Wiggle needs to sharpen up the PR act Fast.”

    Sending the Blue Wiggle out for another round this afternoon, where he suddenly knows a whole lot more about the financials of Brand Wiggle. I didn’t say sharpen up the knives. I said sharpen up their handling of the situation.

    Blue Wiggle even suggests some of the negative rumours have come from Wiggle Sam. It’s now turning into a “he said, he said”. Toddler style. Time for the Blue Wiggle to go to the naughty corner. Or should they lock him in the boot of the Big Red Car.

    More manure than on Dorothy’s roses.

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