[James Gutierrez]

Blast from the past as Hey Hey It’s Saturday reunion special smashes ratings​

Australian television’s long-running variety show program Hey Hey It’s Saturday just had its reunion special on Seven last Sunday night, and fans nationwide we’re booming with nostalgia.

Daryl Somers hosting the one-off anniversary show. Photo from The Sydney Morning Herald.

The variety show’s original host Daryl Somers was brought back, along with messages from celebrities featured before, including Molly Meldrum, Red Symons, Marcia Hines, Dave Hughes, and Rhonda Burchmore.

The Hey Hey We’re 50 one-off anniversary show smashed through the ratings of the evening, even outperforming Nine’s reality juggernaut The Block.

The anniversary show garnered a massive 1.22 million (metro) viewers in the 7pm time slot, with around 300k more viewers as compared with The Block.

Earlier this year, Seven approached Somers with the idea of the one-off anniversary special and he stated that he was delighted by it.

“Trawling back through the vast archive has been almost as much fun as doing the show in the first place, so I hope we can offer a few laughs, not only to the diehard Hey Hey fans but to all Australians, as we desperately need a touch of levity at this time,” the variety show host said.

And this was just a few months after Hey Hey It’s Saturday received backlash from accusations of racism.

Daryl Somers and show mascot Ossie Ostrich. Photo from Channel 9.

“You probably could not get away with half the stuff you could on Hey Hey now because of the political correctness and the cancel culture. It is a shame because showbiz does not get much of a chance,” Somers said in an interview with the Herald Sun, which then began the controversy back in March.

After his comments, a compilation video surfaced online, showing the times when Malaysian-born singer Kamahl was subject to backhanded racist jokes and stereotyping on the variety show.

“I felt humiliated,” the singer said in an interview. “Hey Hey was a landmine and I knew that I would get blown up here and there, but there were some instances that were harder to stomach than others.”

He continued: “It’s like losing your underpants. It’s stripping you of everything. It’s like being naked. It’s a terrible feeling.”

Somers later apologised and issued a public statement saying that the show and all members of the Hey Hey team do not condone racism of any form. “I have always considered Kamahl a friend and supporter of the show, so I deeply regret any hurt felt by him as a result of anything that took place on the program in the past.”

Even though the reunion itself and its ratings send a pretty strong message, it was clear from social media that fans at home were loving this blast from the past.



You can watch the Hey Hey It's Saturday Reunion Special by clicking here.

This article is based on an article written by Bronte Coy for news.com.au.