Chef Ainsley Harriott has contributed some great memes to the internet during his distinguished broadcasting career, but the presenter brought back an absolute classic for his first post on Instagram’s new text-based Twitter rival Threads on Thursday.
The iconic catchphrase “Why hello Jill” – especially beloved by Radio 1 presenter Greg James – went viral back in 2018 after Harriott made a surprise appearance in a member of the public’s house during a segment of This Morning.
Jill Hatton, who was selected to receive a number of surprises as part of Mother’s Day, looked stunned when hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford cut to her in her living room, and seemed equally as shocked as TV personality Alison Hammond sat on her sofa and explained all the amazing gifts she would be receiving.
But that wasn’t the moment which would become known across social media. It actually came in the form of what Hammond said after the TV crew brought a brand new TV into her house.
Hammond said: “There’s going to be more, because we’ve only got Ainsley Harriott. here, who’s going to do a treat dish for you. He’s going to cook you a lovely treat in your very own kitchen – here he is.”
Shaking a frying pan in his hand as he enters the room, Harriott can be heard saying, in a wonderful sing-song voice, “Why hello Jill!”
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
And for those wondering, a follow-up segment of This Morning which aired in December 2019 saw Langsford confirm to James that Jill was doing “very very well” – and check in on the viral sensation who confirmed people were saying it to her in the street “for a long time afterwards”.
The saying was even referenced by Ant and Dec in a series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! last year, when ex-Lioness Jill Scott appeared as a campmate in the Australian jungle.
Now, Harriott did his own take on the meme on the Instagram app by posting “why hello, Threads”, delighting users on the platform.
“This is the content I’m here for,” replied one.
Another commented: “Worth following just for that.”
“Best thread I’ve seen so far, hands down,” declared a third.
And of course, James himself was thrilled with the meme’s resurgence, attaching a screenshot of the Thread to his very first post on the platform, which was a picture of a naked Harriott on a sofa, with grapes covering his privates.
Harriot isn’t the only one to make a pretty epic entrance on the new social media app, either, as Good Morning Britain presenter and former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls’ first post was exactly what you expect it to be.
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
