Redmond Symons (born 13 June 1949) is an English-born Australian musician, and television and radio personality. He was the lead guitarist in the band

Skyhooks Skyhook, sky hook or skyhooks may refer to: Fiction * 'Skyhooks' or 'Skyhooks II', parts 1 and 8 respectively of the Adventure Time Elements (miniseries), Elements miniseries. * ''Sky Hook'', a Hugo-award nominated science fiction fanzine * Sk ...

, the snide judge of 'Red Faces' (a segment of the long-running variety show ''

Hey Hey It's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...

''), and a judge on talent search show ''

Australia's Got Talent ''Australia's Got Talent'' is an Australian reality television talent show. The show is based on the ''Got Talent'' series format that originated in the United Kingdom with Simon Cowell. The first six seasons aired on the Seven Network, from ...

''. He hosted

ABC Radio Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

's breakfast show from 2003 until 2017.

Early life and education

Born in England, he emigrated to Australia at the age of nine in 1958 (on the same ship as the members of

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

). Symons was educated at Emerald Primary School, Monbulk High School, Upwey High School and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

, where he resided at Queen's College, and obtained a Bachelor of Science in pure mathematics and computer science.

Career

Musical career

After graduating, Symons joined the Australian rock band

as a guitarist in the 1970s. He also worked in the theatre as a musical director for several organisations, including

The Pram Factory __NOTOC__ The Pram Factory was an Australian alternative theatre venue in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton from around 1970 until the 1981. It was home to the Australian Performing Group and Nindethana, Australia's first Aboriginal theatre group ...

, a famous 1970s Melbourne theatre group. Symons also had three solo singles, "It's Only a Flipside" (EMI 1976); "The Big Time" (Mushroom 1987); and "Sex Appeal" (Mushroom 1988); none of these songs entered the Australian top 100.

Television career

In 1985, Symons guest-starred in ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

'' as criminal Gordon Miller, Terry Robinson's ex-husband. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he combined his on-air role on ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' (also playing in the house band) with composing for various film and television shows (such as ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian Police procedural, police drama series that was produced by Endemol Australia, Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, ...

''), and jingle-writing. Between 1992 and 1995, he played the role of the narrator in ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the ...

'', touring Australia and Singapore. In 2000, he appeared on the Australian version of ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

'' in 2000 and became the first Australian celebrity to reach the $500,000 question, however he lost $218,000 after answering that

Benvenuto Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the ''Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiograph ...

was an architect and not a sculptor, going away with $16,000 for his chosen charity and $16,000 for his home viewer. Between 2001 and 2011 Symons appeared in advertisements for Thrifty-Link Hardware. In February 2002, he hosted the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

show ''

Shafted ''Shafted'' was a British game show that aired on ITV from 5 to 26 November 2001 and was hosted by Robert Kilroy-Silk. Format The game begins with six players and is played in five rounds. In the first round, each player must secretly declare ...

'', which was canceled in April of the same year. Later in 2002 he was a contestant on ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...

''. Symons' on-camera persona is a sarcastic killjoy, a role he apparently adopted through his appearance as third judge on 'Red Faces'. On '' Test Australia: The National IQ Test'', he scored higher than any of the other celebrities with an IQ of 131. In October 2005, Symons together with his wife, Elly, competed in and won the 'Celebrity Couples Great Temptation' with Elly answering all the questions in the fast money round during the grand final. He also competed in the

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fiv ...

's ''

Australia's Brainiest ''Australia's Brainiest'' is a television game show series produced in Australia by Crackerjack Productions, a FremantleMedia company. It originally aired on the Seven Network before moving to Network Ten. The format was taken from the B ...

Comedian'' the following month, in which he came third. In 2007, he signed up with Channel Seven to become a judge on ''

'' along with

Dannii Minogue Danielle Jane Minogue () is an Australian singer, television personality, and actress. She initially gained recognition for her appearances on the television show '' Young Talent Time'' (1982–1988) and for her role as Emma Jackson on t ...

and Tom Burlinson. He remained on the show until 2009 and was replaced by

Brian McFadden Brian Nicholas McFadden (born 12 April 1980) is an Irish pop singer and television presenter who rose to fame in 1998 as a member of the Irish boy band Westlife. Following his departure from the group in 2004, McFadden released his debut solo ...

. In August 2008, Symons participated on a celebrity edition of ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch '' Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a.k ...

'', on which he won $4,000 for a home viewer. He was also a regular member of the brains trust on ABC TV's ''

The Einstein Factor ''The Einstein Factor'' was an Australian television quiz show that was broadcast on ABC (Australian TV channel), ABC1. The show's host is comedian and broadcaster Peter Berner. It was first broadcast in 2004 and in 2009 the show commenced its s ...

''. In 2009, Symons appeared on the two high-rating ''Hey Hey Reunion Specials'', and in 2010, returned to the 20-episode airing of ''Hey Hey It's Saturday''. He appeared on ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' again in February 2021 and won $1,000 after missing his tenth question, this time saying that the word 'entrepreneur' came from the French for 'present yourselves', rather than 'rendezvous'.

Radio career

Symons originally appeared as a presenter in a weekly slot on the ABC Radio Melbourne's breakfast radio program. He then filled in for Lynne Haultain on the breakfast program while she was on maternity leave, replacing her permanently in that slot in 2003, and continuing in the role until late 2017. In June 2017, Symons interviewed fellow ABC radio presenter Beverley Wang about her new podcast, ''It's Not a Race''. During the interview, Symons asked Wang questions such as "What's the deal with Asians?", "Are they all the same?" and "Are you yellow?", and defended the infamous "

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

" skit on ''Hey Hey It's Saturday''. Most of the controversial comments were edited out of the broadcast interview, but Wang released the full interview on the podcast feed. The ABC removed the recording, saying that "a review of the editorial processes around this content and its use is in progress" and apologised for its broadcast. In December 2017 Symons announced that he would not return to the breakfast presenter role in 2018 after he was advised that the ABC did not renew his contract.

Personal life

Symons married Elly Agrotis in 1990 and together they had three sons, Samuel, Raphael and Joel. Symons and Elly separated in 2016. An ''

Australian Story ''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs Department. The program first aired on 29 ...

'' episode aired in February 2010 documented his son Samuel's fifteen-year battle with cancer. The episode won a silver medal at the 2011 New York Festivals "Worlds Best T.V. and Films" Category and a Quill award in 2010 from the

Melbourne Press Club The Melbourne Press Club, commonly referred to as MPC, is a not-for-profit association of journalists in the city of Melbourne, Australia. The Melbourne Press Club provides awards in the State of Victoria for outstanding journalism, presenting th ...

for Best Current Affairs Feature. Samuel died from an aggressive brain cancer on 3 October 2018 at the age of 26.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Symons, Red 1949 births Living people Male actors from Melbourne Australian agnostics Australian game show hosts Australia's Got Talent Musicians from Melbourne Radio personalities from Melbourne People from Brighton University of Melbourne alumni Writers from Melbourne English emigrants to Australia Australian rock guitarists Australian male singers Australian songwriters Naturalised citizens of Australia Lead guitarists Australian male guitarists