Jo Beth Taylor’s apology to Daryl Somers: ‘Hey, Hey, I’m sorry’

‘I didn’t mean he was an egomaniac as such’: Jo Beth Taylor has made an on-air apology to Hey Hey legend Daryl Somers for calling him ‘egocentric’.

JO BETH Taylor has issued an on-air apology to her one-time sidekick, Australian TV veteran Daryl Somers, for calling him ‘egocentric’ during her stint in the South African Jungle.

Fresh from being booted off reality show I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here on Monday night, Taylor volunteered the apology during an interview with Studio 10’s Ita Buttrose.

Telling Taylor her comments had made headlines, Buttrose asked: “When you’re in there, do you forget your conversations are being broadcast?”

A contrite and sheepish Taylor replied: “yes we do.” said.

“And I didn’t mean he was an egomaniac as such. What I meant was he had a big ego because of his time in the entertainment industry,” she continued.

“And as I was saying it to The Chief (fellow-contestant Paul Harragon) I was like ‘oh no, I hope that doesn’t come across the wrong way’, because he’s (Somers) a lovely man who has always been really supportive of me and I really care for him.

“I hope that he’s OK with that and Daryl, if you’re watching, I really care for you and I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Hey Hey heyday: Daryl Somers and Jo Beth Taylor embrace during the final weekly episode of Hey Hey in 2009. Picture: Craig Borrow

Taylor’s on-air apology followed an earlier exit interview in which she said calling Somers — with whom she co-hosted Hey Hey It’s Saturday in the 1990s and again in 2009 and 2010 — to apologise was a priority. She indicated her original conversation was badly worded.

“What I meant to say was you can’t help but have an ego and I went on to say most people in that position have an ego and if you didn’t have an ego, then you couldn’t do that job,” Taylor told News Corp.

In the original conversation with Harragon, Taylor said Somers treated her well, as long ‘as he was put first’ and continued: “He’s very supportive if he likes you ... the flip side of that is he is very egocentric as in he doesn’t want anyone to be … he wants to take the lead”.

She added: “Honestly, he treated me really well but I always had to be, it was him first always. I could never be better and if I was, I always got short shifted out. I really like him, he’s just got the ego and everyone let him have it, that’s the thing too. If no one brings you back down to reality, then you just live in that world.”

Saying Hey Hey was ‘the biggest show, that was huge’, she told Harragon: “Still now he (Somers) talks about putting Hey Hey back together, even the last conversation we had and it is like, ‘you know you’ve got to get over it, do something else because it is not going to ever work again’.”

Somers, 67, hosted Hey Hey from its inception in 1971.

He will be seen on Channel Nine again later this year, as host of You’re Back In The Room, a game show based on a UK format in which contestants try to win cash prizes after being hypnotised by Irish hypnotist, mentalist and magician Keith Barry.

He hasn’t been seen regularly on TV screens since 2010 when Hey Hey It’s Saturday, revived by Nine for two reunion specials in 2009, then given a 20-show run in 2010, was not renewed.

Originally published as Jo Beth Taylor’s apology to Daryl Somers: ‘Hey, Hey, I’m sorry’