Just when you thought the Bridgerton press train could give us no more, footage of this season's heartthrob, Luke Newton, in a boyband in the 2010s, has emerged (dear reader). And it's exactly as good as you hope it will be.
Luke, who plays Colin Bridgerton, first let the existence of his boyband slip during a Wired autocomplete interview with his co-stars, Nicola Coughlan (who plays his love interest, Penelope Featherington) and Claudia Jessie (who plays his sister, Eloise Bridgerton). The internet had typed in “Luke Newton band” and Luke admitted, “yeah, I was in a boyband and Nicola did a very good prank to me in season three. We were doing a big dance scene and we all have in-ears where we listen to the track. I'm about to dance with Nic at this point, and I just heard the intro to one single that my band wrote, like I dunno, 10 years ago.”
Including the Pitbull Bridgerton crossover we never knew we needed.
“It was the best day of my life,” Nicola interjected. “Then the speakers blared it out all over the ballroom. There were dancers doing a routine. It was the best prank,” Luke continued. And, for anyone wanting to track the footage down, Nicola dutifully filled us in on the details. "It's called Cougar Town, it's about a hot mom," she laughed.
Then, just days ago, Shondaland's TikTok account shared actual footage of the prank with the world. “I found out last year that Luke Newton used to be in a boyband,” Nicola tells the camera. “I was hysterical when I found out and it was the best thing in the entire world. (That's not him, sorry I'm super paranoid),” she said looking around to make sure her co-star wasn't nearby. “I've been wanting to play their song, Cougar Town, at a ball since that time and today is the day it's happening. There's been a lot of planning going into it, he has no idea, I'm very excited,” she said trying to contain her excitement.
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Nicola and a member of the production team talk logistics as Nicola instructs him how to pull up the footage. “What's it called?” the producer asks, “South4 Cougar Town,” Nicola hits back immediately. “There's a video of baby Luke!” the producer says, as the rest of the team crowd round to watch.
After they pull off the prank, Luke tells the camera bashfully, “so, I was in a boyband once upon a time, and that was our song Cougar Town, so yeah… That's great.” Elsewhere, he's seen laughing with Nicola and the rest of the crew who told him it took three days to pull off.
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Luke is joined by three other bandmates in dance rehearsals as they mime to the lyrics: “We're breaking hearts, rocking bars, drinking Breezers ‘til we drop, got my kitty dirty pretty sucking on a lollipop. Tell my boys, make some noise, Cougar Town is blowing up, Cougar Town is blowing up, blowing up, blowing up. So let’s go down to Cougar Town, there's a party going down. Catch a cougar for the round, come get it, get it.”
It's our new favourite internet moment. We're praying for a reunion.
For more from GLAMOUR's Senior Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk
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