David Hasselhoff spotted in Taihape by Kiwi fans, gumboot throw not ‘too bad’

Ben Caldwell snapped a selfie with David Hasselhoff during his visit to Taihape. Photo / Ben Caldwell.

Sharp-eyed Kiwi fans were treated to time with David Hasselhoff whilst he was out and about filming in Taihape.

The Knight Rider and Baywatch leading man has been travelling around New Zealand filming his new TV series with Kiwi actor Rhys Darby.

Rangitīkei District Council communications coordinator Ben Caldwell said he had been “a bit sceptical” about rumours he’d seen on Facebook of the Hoff coming to the town, home to just 1800 people.

“We saw that there were a couple of posts in the Taihape community Facebook groups saying that David Hasselhoff was coming to do some filming for a TV show with Rhys Darby.

“We were a bit sceptical about it but decided to chuck something up on our page saying we’d seen the rumours.”

The film crew contacted the council and confirmed the news.

Caldwell said between 50-100 people flocked to the filming location to meet Hasselhoff on Thursday.

Fans had a chance to take photos and get signatures from David Hasselhoff after his gumboot throw. Photo/ Ben Caldwell.

“He was incredibly generous with his time, he went around basically everyone that was there taking photographs and signing autographs.

“It was really, really cool.”

He said for a first-time effort, Hasselhoff’s attempt at the gumboot throw “can’t have been too bad”.

“By the sounds of it, he’d just had some surgery too.

“He’s 71 years of age as well, so we can be forgiving.”

Hasselhoff has previously been spotted at the Auckland Sky Tower, central Christchurch and even going as far as Stewart Island.

“It was a really good day for Taihape, it’s not often they get stars of that magnitude coming through the town,” Caldwell said.

“You’d kind of think, particularly stars like that, that he’d be in a big rush to get elsewhere, but he was the one who was being really methodical and making sure everyone who wanted pictures and autographs was taken care of.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.