From fruit salad to hot potato: how well do you know the Wiggles?

Learning to love the Wiggles is a journey every Australian parent has been forced to embark upon whether they choose to or not. And with the group having just celebrated their 30th anniversary, not to mention Yellow Wiggle and first female member Emma Watkins announcing her retirement from Wiggling after a huge final tour, it feels like the right time to ask ourselves some questions about how much we’ve absorbed during the age of Wiggles.

So it’s high time that we toot toot, chugga chugga, answer ten questions.

1. How many official Wiggles members have there been in Australia to date?

   1. Four

   2. Seven

   3. Thirteen

   4. In a way, aren't we all Wiggles?

2. Which is not a real Wiggles character?

   1. Simone the Squid

   2. Officer Beaples

   3. Shirley Shawn the Unicorn

   4. Zamel the Camel

3. True or False: The Friendly Pirate Captain Feathersword is an actual captain and has a ship.

   1. True

   2. False

4. What song did the Wiggles cover for Triple J’s Like A Version?

   1. Elephant by Tame Impala

   2. Thunderstruck by AC/DC

   3. Newspaper Mamma by Peter Coombe

   4. Flame Trees by Cold Chisel

5. True or false: The original Wiggles were all in Sydney band the Cockroaches, who had a sizeable Australian hit with ‘She’s The One’.

   1. True

   2. False

6. What’s the name of the restaurant in Wiggletown?

   1. Lachy’s Wiggly Restaurant

   2. Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy

   3. Le James Café

   4. Dorothy the Degustationosaur

7. Which of the following have not worked with the Wiggles

   1. Natalie Imbruglia

   2. Jimmy Barnes

   3. Rolf Harris

   4. Lou Diamond Phillips

8. What manner of beast is Henry?

   1. He’s a dinosaur

   2. He’s a human man, with a human man’s feelings, hopes and dreams

   3. He’s a big red car

   4. He's an octopus

9. True or False: A very special episode of Ready Steady Wiggle featured the wedding of Wags the Dog and and Dorothy the Dinosaur.

   1. True

   2. False

10. How many studio albums have The Wiggles released?

    1. Ten

    2. Fourteen

    3. Eighteen

    4. Fifty-seven

Solutions

1:C - The classic four were Anthony Field, Greg Page, Jeff Fatt and Murray Cook; Philip Wilcher was the original fifth member of the Wiggles but left before things took off; Sam Moran became the Yellow Wiggle when Page left in 2006 until his 2012 return, and the new lineup kept Anthony and added Emma Watkins, Simon Pryce and Lachlan Gillespie. Four bonus new Wiggles were announced in 2021: Tsekay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce, and Kelly Hamilton. Watkins will be replaced by Hawkins at the end of 2021., 2:A - Beaples has been a recurring character since the OG Wiggles, Zamel first appeared in Wiggles World, and Shirley Shawn made their debut on Fruit Salad TV. Simone, sadly, exists only in our hearts., 3:A - He sure does. It’s called the Good Ship Feathersword. Its tonnage, personnel and cargo capacity haven’t been canonically confirmed in the show as yet, though., 4:A - It was shockingly good, and also featured OG Wiggles Murray and Jeff. It does segue into Fruit Salad at several points, though, which Tame Impala haven’t had the guts to do live as yet., 5:B - Ha! It’s false! Not that the bit about how the Cockroaches had hits - ‘Some Kind of Girl’ was also pretty big - but not all of them were in the band. Only two Wiggles, Anthony and Jeff, were members of the Cockroaches, although Greg roadied for them. , 6:C - It’s run by James (played by James Harkness) who is, as the theme song helpfully explains, the town’s Cool Resturant Dude. This appears to be an honorary title., 7:A - Jimmy appeared on Duets; Rolf Harris rather unfortunately guested on Ukele Baby! and the La Bamba star turned up in episodes of Ready, Steady Wiggle! and even got a co-writing credit on ‘We’re All Fruit Salad’. Natalie hasn’t Wiggled yet though, unlike her old Neighbours colleague Kylie Minogue., 8:D - Not only is he an octopus, he’s also allegedly the King of the Sea. Which you’d think would put him at odds with Captain Feathersword but the two seem to get along perfectly fine., 9:A - And it was beautiful. It took place in 2017, the same year that Australians were forced to vote in a non-binding postal not-actually-a-plebiscite over whether non-straight people should be allowed to marry one another. Anyone remember the ACL getting all up in arms about a dog and a dinosaur challenging the sanctity of marriage - on our national broadcaster, no less? Honestly, you’d have thought that would have been a culture war flashpoint for weeks!, 10:D - Yep. Fifty-freaking-seven. And three live albums. And nine compilations. And 12 digital-only albums. And a bunch of solo and character records on top of that. They’re probably releasing another dozen of them right this second.

Scores

1. 10 and above.

   You have children and chronic sleep deprivation. Salut, friend.

2. 9 and above.

   You have children and chronic sleep deprivation. Salut, friend.

3. 8 and above.

   Your nieces and nephews/grandchildren sure do talk a lot, don't they?

4. 7 and above.

   Your nieces and nephews/grandchildren sure do talk a lot, don't they?

5. 6 and above.

   Your nieces and nephews/grandchildren sure do talk a lot, don't they?

6. 5 and above.

   Yes, you're so very cool and happening with a life that apparently doesn't revolve around ABC Kids and kindy drop-offs. Sorry there weren't more questions about Bumble and artisanal ales in this quiz.

7. 4 and above.

   Yes, you're so very cool and happening with a life that apparently doesn't revolve around ABC Kids and kindy drop-offs. Sorry there weren't more questions about Bumble and artisanal ales in this quiz.

8. 3 and above.

   The Wiggles are a children's entertainment group from Australia, a large island nation in the Oceania region of Earth. Should we have mentioned that before you started the quiz?

9. 2 and above.

   The Wiggles are a children's entertainment group from Australia, a large island nation in the Oceania region of Earth. Should we have mentioned that before you started the quiz?

10. 0 and above.

    The Wiggles are a children's entertainment group from Australia, a large island nation in the Oceania region of Earth. Should we have mentioned that before you started the quiz?

11. 1 and above.

    The Wiggles are a children's entertainment group from Australia, a large island nation in the Oceania region of Earth. Should we have mentioned that before you started the quiz?