Gossip Queen: Sam heaps it on as stunt takes a turn

SAM Newman’s Footy Show career almost ended in disaster as an attempt to chair him off stage ended in a crumpled heap when Shane Crawford urged him to climb on to his shoulders.

SAM Newman’s Footy Show career almost ended in disaster as an attempt to chair him off stage ended in a crumpled heap.

The credits of the Grand Final edition of the 25-year-old show had rolled when Shane Crawford urged Newman, 72, to climb on to his shoulders.

Game for anything, Newman did. But his moment sitting head and shoulders above the rest of the cast did not last long as Crawford struggled to bring the 190cm former ruckman safely back to earth.

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Sam Newman gets chaired by the Footy Show cast after the 2018 Grand Final Footy Show. Picture: Channel 9

“I put Sam on my shoulders but he started to overbalance and we ended up in a heap. It was a graceful fall not a fall from grace. He was squeezing my head and neck so tight with his thighs I could hardly breathe. He wasn’t going to let go. The other boys helped get us back on our feet.”

Chris Judd was notably absent from the famed Footy Show Players Revue on Thursday night.

All the show’s key cast swallowed their pride, put on a costume and showed off their dancing skills (or lack of) except Judd. The canny ex-footy champ apparently had it written into his contract when he signed on to the show that he would not participate in the extravaganza. One cast member, who clearly was not keen on being involved, was overheard at a Grand Final lunch lamenting his manager’s lack of foresight when sorting out his deal with the show.