The Fox FM‘s Fifi Box hates a surprise and, as a mum and breakfast radio host, is careful about how she spends her evening hours. And yet her close friend, the Hit Network‘s Carrie Bickmore and her co-hosts Brendan ‘Fev’ Fevola and Nick Cody managed to organise and keep secret her epic birthday party on the weekend, for months.
Fifi described the Disney-themed karaoke celebration as “the best night” of her life but did fess up to fainting while putting her heart and soul into Let it Go, from the movie Frozen.
Carrie spent weeks secretly planning the elaborately themed night featuring Fifi’s favourite themes. She also had to keep Fifi convinced that she needed a ‘gathering’ for her special day, as well as the secret.
Fifi contributed to turning the night unexpectedly chaotic after accidentally setting her wig and dress on fire with sparklers, then fainting mid-karaoke.
Carrie joined the team this morning to discuss the big night:
Fifi: I don’t usually get to say this on a Monday but I’m having a comedown from my big weekend! I can’t be more grateful for this because I would never throw a birthday party or celebrate. I rarely go out – I have the girls [daughters] at home. My beautiful and wonderful friend, Carrie Bickmore, got me an absolute beauty!
Fev: Well, we all knew what was going on for months! We also know you don’t like surprises. So, we literally had to keep that a secret, and it was awful.
Fifi: Carrie put so much effort into it, and it was amazing what she was able to pull off. When she got to my place, she said she had a costume for me to put on for a photo. She kept saying I had to put a wig on, and I said, ‘This is so embarrassing!’, and she said, ‘No one you know will see you.’
There was a moment during the night where I looked around me, where I thought, ‘I could not love this more!’ That’s how well she must know me. It was Disney, singing karaoke, with my beautiful friends… it was the best night of my life! It nearly went very pair-shaped though because I kept fainting and setting myself on fire…
Nick: … What?
Fifi: I was in an Elsa dress and Elsa wig, and I was in a full polyester costume. They gave me a drink with a sparkler in it, and as I threw it back, the sparkler caught my wig and started burning (laughs). When my birthday cake came, my dress started to burn! They also played all my favourite songs back-to-back, and I give it everything. I was giving every song everything I have but I have no stamina. I was singing Frozen’s ‘Let It Go’ and I sang with every pocket of oxygen. A minute into it I said… ‘I think I’m going to faint!’, and then I fainted. And then, I was down.
Fev: Not many people ran to you…
Fifi: I think everyone thought I was joking! Two of my friends are nurses and they just laughed and watched. I ran out of oxygen, I passed out.
(To Carrie) I have thanked you personally but now I’m thanking you publicly! That was the best night of my life, hands down.
Carrie: I have no voice so the only disappointing thing of the night is I couldn’t karaoke. I have to say, I have never had someone try and cancel so many times on a night out – at least three times! That’s how much you hate going out. There are some things I know about you. One is that you hate talking to people – so I thought karaoke meant you could be the star of the show and sing all night. I also know you love Disney, so tick, I nailed that! Third of all, I know how much of a drama queen you are, so when you were twirling around to Let It Go, I saw the dramatic fall happen and I thought, ‘Oh my God!’ It was half an hour in! And then, you were the last woman standing… I was so impressed.
Fifi, Fev & Nick can be heard on Melbourne’s 101.9 The Fox from 6-9am weekdays, on LiSTNR and nationally across The Hit Network during The Happy Hour from 6pm to 7pm.