Big Strong John on wearing his Wiggles skivvie: 'You feel like a superhero'

Dancing around the TV to 'Dorothy the Dinosaur' as a toddler, it didn't cross John Pearce's mind that The Wiggles were real people, let alone that he could become one.

But in 2021, the Sydney fitness fan donned a bright purple Lycra skivvy - tailored to his rather ripped shoulders and torso - and became 'Big Strong John'.

"If I've got [my Wiggles shirt] underneath a tracksuit, I do feel like an undercover superhero … it's such a privilege to be able to put on the iconic skivvy and feel like a superhero for the next generation," he tells Saturday Morning.

After high school, Pearce was studying to be a personal trainer when his pop band Justice Crew won Australia's Got Talent. Signed to Sony Music, the band had two number-one hits in Australia - 'Boom, Boom' (2012) and 'Que Sera' (2014).

Fast forward to 2021, and Pearce was studying to be a nutritionist and had applied to be a firefighter when he befriended Wiggles founder Anthony Field (aka Anthony Wiggle), who lived down the road from him.

When Field's invitation to check out The Wiggles' HQ turned into an invitation to become a Wiggle, Pearce says he was a bit shocked at first, but then said yes without hesitation.

"Nearly four years later, I'm happy as Big Strong John, touring with The Wiggles around the world."

In 2021, Pearce says the original Wiggles band - Greg, Murray, Anthony, and Jeff - was in the process of becoming the culturally diverse group of four men and four women that it is today.

Singing and dancing as Big Strong John, he educates kids about health, fitness and nutrition in "a fun, light way".

"If you get big and strong enough, you can learn how to do a backflip eventually - that's kind of the image that I'm kind of portraying."

Because we don't get to control what people say about us online, Pearce says he can't really complain about being dubbed the 'Hot Wiggle' when he joined the band.

"I don't try to delve too much into it. I just focus on making good, fun, engaging content and just being myself, and the world will take it wherever they like."

What he's prouder of is getting a few Filipino nursery rhymes into The Wiggles' music catalogue.

"It's such a cool thing for young Australian Filipinos to grow up and say, 'I can go and dance and sing with The Wiggles. Big Strong John looks a bit like me.' It's really cool to have that inclusion with the next generation.

"It's just teaching young children to be accepting of everyone, all colours, all nationalities and all different backgrounds."

To Pearce, it was "just natural" to have friends of different races and ethnic backgrounds when he was growing up.

"I think society is changing, and I think it's changing for the best."

All of The Wiggles take the "huge responsibility" of education through performance very seriously, he says, and get coaching on that from the original members.

"As long as we're being honest and genuine to ourselves and understand the responsibility that we have, I think it's a great thing we're doing."

The job of being a Wiggle - which means writing and recording your own music and doing your own choreography - is intense and not intense at the same time, he says.

"We all love what we do, and it's such a great supportive team, and it doesn't feel like work."

After hours, Pearce and his Wiggles mentor Anthony Field like to kick back and watch their beloved West Tigers rugby league team together.

"We're just regular people at the end of the day with a family at home. We love to just go to the footie or go down to the local pub together."