For 30 years What Now has been wowing, exciting and gunging New Zealand audiences. It's become as much a part of New Zealand as barbeques, jandals, pavlova and tomato sauce!
To celebrate 30 years of the iconic show a special episode was screened on Sunday July 24th . The episode featured three decades of presenters, a studio audience of 250 children, pink ponies, a flying gorilla, 1200 cupcakes (one for each episode), fireworks and of course hundreds of litres of gunge! Now what could possibly go wrong�
Past presenters and VIP's were all welcomed to Whitebait-TV with a moving powhiri on the Saturday morning. Lots of laughter followed, as all quickly slotted back into filming classic What Now styled skits. Some had learnt their lines and others typically had come a little less prepared!
It was a very cold Sunday morning with snowflakes falling as the excited audience arrived at Whitebait Studios. The epic show was true to format, big, explosive, full of hilarity and plenty of mess! The ultimate kids' birthday party!
However in predictable What Now style, the show ended on a completely unscripted moment� Camilla the Gorilla dramatically swung down from the lighting truss with torch in hand. She flew over the audience to the tower of cupcakes, setting the cakes on fire rather than the firework. Flames leapt from the beautiful birthday cake! Saving the day, into shot rushed props master Warren with a fire extinguisher followed by a giant cloud of smoke. We all agreed it was the perfect messy ending to celebrate 30 years!
As the smoke cleared, a couple of hundred towels dried the foam and gunge soaked audience of smiling children. None of whom want the party to stop. The cast and crew were then off to a celebratory lunch full of fabulous speeches, the odd tear and of course more What Now style laughter. Cheers, to thirty years!