It’s hard to believe that we are into the 10th year of FightMND’s Big Freeze. The massive event (and opportunity to laugh at celebrities sliding into freezing cold water) raises vital funds for MND research.
Each year on the King’s Birthday weekend Australia’s most famous sporting arena is awash in a sea of blue beanies as a group of courageous celebs take the plunge to help find effective treatments and a cure for Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
While we love every single slider for taking the plunge and doing their bit to help raise awareness of FightMND, we’re taking a look back at some of our very favourite moments and costumes from 10 years of The Big Freeze.
Peter Helliar, 2015 – Strauchanie
Back in 2015, Collingwood legend Bryan ‘Strauchanie’ Strauchan (aka comedian Peter Helliar) became one of the first sliders to go down the big blue slide at the ‘G. And in doing so, Strauchanie goes down in history as one of the first (and best-dressed) sliders to help raise awareness of the FightMND cause.
Cameron Ling, 2016 – Ronald McDonald
We love a slider who can poke fun at themselves so when Geelong’s most famous ginger de-robed and revealed a Ronald McDonald costume (with no need for a wig) at the second ever Big Freeze, we found a little more love for Cameron Ling. Although the three-time Premiership player might have regretted his outfit choice telling Seven after his slide that the giant clown shoes acted like lead weights in the bottom of the pool.
Steven Bradbury, 2017 – Warwick Capper
Can you name an Aussie Olympian who has made a bigger impact on the culture and language of this country? Okay, there might be a few, but they don’t have a phrase coined in their honour. “Doing a Bradbury” is one of the finest contributions to Aussie’s sporting history. Although in the 3rd instalment of the Big Freeze “doing a Bradbury” took on a new meaning of “dressing up as Warwick Capper and sliding into a pool of icy water”. Got a nice ring to it.
Steve Hooker, 2017 – Various Members of the Hooker Family
We love when a slider goes that extra mile and brings along their own props for the slide. Olympic gold medalist pole vaulter Steve Hooker went extra meta with his costume in the 2017 Big Freeze, dipping into his famous sporting family’s wardrobe to pull out some historic athletic outfits for the big day (both his mum and dad were athletes for Australia at Commonwealth Games) and topping it off with a pool noodle “pole”. We’re not sure how useful that would’ve been for vaulting, though.
Anna Meares, 2019 – Jesse from Toy Story
The champion Olympic cyclist, Anna Meares slid down at the ‘G in Big Freeze 5. But for Meares the slide was extra meaningful as she slid in tribute to her late coach Gary West, who passed away of MND in 2017. Dressed as Jesse from Toy Story, complete with her horse Bullseye, Meares slid in front a full house MCG crowd that included the family of her late coach.
Gil McLachlan, 2021 – Meat Loaf
The bigwig in a big wig! Then- AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan stole the show when he roasted Meat Loaf at the 2021 Big Freeze. Throwing back to the infamous performance by the late American singer at the 2011 Grand Final. One decade on from the performance, Gil told Seven that Mr Loaf brought “great shame and disgrace to the whole game of Australian rules football”.
Ash Barty, 2022 – Rafiki
2022, the retired Aussie tennis legend stole the show, dressing up as Rafiki from the Lion King and committed to the bit too, holding up a plush Simba for the entirety of her slide. In her halftime interview on Channel Seven, Barty explained the method behind her acting, saying that “the moment’s about Simba. It’s not about me, it’s about Simba! It’s not about Rafiki”. She also reflected on Neale Daniher and the impact he has had on so many, telling Seven: “So many come together because of him”.
Eddie Betts, 2022 – Black Panther
There’s a pretty good argument to be had that Eddie Betts is Australia’s most loved footy player. In 2022, the iconic goal sneak dressed as Blank Panther for his turn down the Big Freeze slide. And we saw why Eddie would always avoid ice baths as a player, we can’t say that he looked like he was enjoying himself once he hit that icy pool. Sliding as a superhero, Eddie told Hamish McLachlan post-slide that he thought of Neale Daniher as a superhero himself. “When you think about inspiration, he’s a fighter and we’ll continue to fight and continue to support and help out anyway we can”.
Rhonda Burchmore , 2022 – Poison Ivy
The Australian stage royal slid down as Batman villain Poison Ivy in 2022 – even going to the effort of hand-sewing her own costume for the big day. Telling Channel Seven pre-slide, Rhonda said: “Neale, this is for you … only for you would I do something like this. I hate the cold, I hate everything about it!”
Abbey Gelmi, 2023 – Maleficent
It seems like every year, the stakes are raised on the costume front and Big Freeze 9 saw some of the most elaborate, impressive and not-at-all-slide-appropriate costumes in Big Freeze history. Although it was almost impossible to separate, we reckon Channel Seven and Two Good Sports podcast host Abbey Gelmi’s Maleficent costume was most magnificent. Ahead of the slide, Gelmi told Seven that she was “terrified” and “really bad with the cold”. No matter, Abbey. You slayed.
There is more to do in the fight against the beast that is MND.
More than 2,000 Aussies are living with MND at any one time, their average life expectancy is 27 months. We want to help FightMND raise $3 million by Monday. You can do your part to help the cause by donating at fightmnd.org.au
Hear Cooper Johns’ chat with Bec Daniher ahead of Monday’s Big Freeze:
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