Actor reveals Bananas in Pyjamas costumes' fate after Russian Mafia kidnapping

The incident happened when the ABC marketing head Graham Grassby took the costumes on a promotional trip abroad.

Published on: Nov 30, 2024, 13:06:48 IST

By HT News Desk | Edited by Shivam Pratap Singh

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Australian actor Kenneth Radley revealed that the Russian mafia stole the iconic ABC ‘Bananas in Pyjamas’ costume and asked for a ransom to get it back. He revealed this information during his appearance on the ‘Final Encore’ podcast and then in a subsequent interview with news.com.au.

The Bananas in Pyjamas costumes were stolen by the mafia during a tour. (Instagram)

Radley, who played one of the ‘Bananas in Pyjamas' characters for more than a decade, revealed that the incident happened when ABC marketing head Graham Grassby took the costumes on a promotional trip to places like the UK and the US.

One of the stops of the tour was the Russian capital of Moscow.

“Grahame Grassby was the head of marketing and franchising … and Grahame went all over the world with some banana suits to get photo opportunities at places like London Tower and the White House. He took the suits to Moscow … and the suits were stolen, and there was a ransom note given to Grassby for $100,000 Australian dollars for the return of the suits,” Radley revealed.

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What happened to the suits after the ransom demand?

According to the actor, the note was from the Russian Mafia and when it happened, Grassby got in touch with ABC Sydney. He was then asked by the head of ABC about the cost of making new costumes, which came out to be $20,000 Australian dollars. Grassby was told to offer that amount to the mafia. In case they did not budge, new suits would be made.

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Mr. Grassby got the $20,000 Australian dollars wired from Sydney and went for a meeting with the mafia. According to Radley, he did not make it to the meeting, abandoning the plan, and flew back home with the money. So new suits were made instead of getting the old ones back.

“So the bananas are actually in some gulag in Russia, in some freezing cold jail,” he joked.

Radley’s works in acting include Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge, Rabbit-Proof Fence and The Adventures of Priscilla and Queen of the Desert apart from others in addition to his role in Bananas in Pyjamas.

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