The Wiggles announce new 'gender balanced and diverse' cast members for YouTube series
Posted 4h ago, updated 29m ago[ original | archive ]
The Big Red Car just got a bit crowded with twice as many Wiggles on board.
Key points:
- There is a new member of the band for each of the four Wiggle colours
- The band says it is seeking to inspire a 'diverse audience'
- Anthony Field is the only remaining original Wiggle
The Wiggles said they were "seeking to inspire a diverse audience with its gender-balanced and diverse cast" and make sure children around the world "see themselves reflected on the screen".
There are four new cast members, one for each Wiggle colour, including three women, two of whom wear pants.
Tsehay Hawkins, 15, is the second red Wiggle. Hawkins was born in Ethiopia and adopted by an Australian family. She is a Latin dance champion.
Evie Ferris, a corps de ballet dancer with the Australian Ballet, is the second blue Wiggle and wears blue ballet shoes.
Ferris, 24, is an Indigenous Australian and first performed with the Wiggles for their song We're All Fruit Salad earlier this year.
Kelly Hamilton, 45, is the second yellow Wiggle alongside the band's first female member Emma.
Hamilton is a Chinese-Australian and will ride her skateboard around Wiggle Town.
The fourth new cast member is second purple Wiggle John Pearce, 30, a former member of the music group Justice Crew.
Hawkins, Ferris, Hamilton and Pearce join the current Wiggles: Lachlan Gillespie (purple), Simon Pryce, (red), Emma Watkins (yellow) and Anthony Field (blue).
Field, 58, is the only remaining original Wiggle — the band formed in 1991.
Fruit Salad TV will debut on September 4 on YouTube and be available worldwide.
