The Hits' Jono Pryor performs guest Peter Andre's 1995 single Mysterious Girl.
Video / The Hits
With a singular "ab", some baby oil and unwarranted confidence, The Hits host Jono Pryor has performed iconic hit Mysterious Girl for the track's original singer, Peter Andre.
Andre, who gyrated onto our screens in the mid 90s with his eight pack, perpetually wet hair and plenty of "Oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh", joined Jono and Ben's podcast this week to discuss his 1994 smash hit.
Revealing to the pop star they had been left devastated when Andre's Mysterious Girl was knocked out of The Hits Best Song Ever competition in the first round, Andre tells them he "can take the elimination" but is shocked it got the boot so soon.
The pair tell Andre there is a chance at redemption, however: their boss has promised that if they create their own performance for the entire office, Mysterious Girl will be allowed back in the game.
"We're talking 150, 200 people, and we thought we'd just run it past you first," they tell the pop star who asks, "Are you going to seriously do it?"
"Well, I'm dressed for the occasion buddy," Jono tells him. "I've got old baggy jeans, hopefully there's an app where we can CGI some abdominals onto me ..."
Andre shares, "If it's any consolation mine are hibernating at the moment."
The hosts acknowledge that "this is probably a low point for your career and ours" and Andre replies, "Let's have this low point together."
Checking Jono's appearance pays suitable homage to Andre's original look, Ben notes that "in the video you did have an open shirt but the most iconic look was shirtless," as Jono loses his.
"And I presume baby oil? How much of this stuff am I putting on him?"
Andre tells him he's "doing good, mate. I'm not quite sure where this is going. This kind of looks like not a family show."
Appearing sweaty rather than greased up and hoping for Andre's blessing to take his skit to his colleagues, Jono gives it his all.
Peter Andre saves Jono from further embarrassment by advising him not to perform Mysterious Girl for his colleagues. Photo / The Hits
Andre can be seen cringing throughout the performance.
As the hopeful host wraps things up, the pop star tells him, "Honestly, me just being a mate, because I reckon we can talk like that, I wouldn't do it. Don't do it."
Jono tells Andre he's "glad we've got that relationship where you can talk to us straight."
While Ben shares he was "dying inside" watching his co-host, Andre goes on to say, "I mean, I've had some low points but I mean ... come on."
Moving on from the failed performance, Andre tells the hosts how Mysterious Girl came about and says he wrote it while recording in the UK where he heard a chorus of a song called Mystery Man.
"So, I flipped it on its head and then we wrote the verses and the pre-chorus and all of that."
When Australian music critic, Molly Meldrum, who had originally told Andre he "wouldn't work for the UK market" and just needed to focus on Australia, flew to England to hear the song, he told the burgeoning star, "This changes the game."
Of the memorable video clip, filmed on Phi Phi Island in Thailand, Andre says "I don't know why I was wearing jeans in the water. I don't know what I was thinking. No one said to me, 'Why are you wearing jeans?'"
• Listen to Peter Andre's full chat with The Hits' Jono and Ben below:
