Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff: The one thing I don’t understand about Australians

Despite being a former English cricketer, Australians have welcomed Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff as an honorary citizen. 

And as he prepares for another season hosting Australian Ninja Warrior, the 42-year-old has revealed the one thing he still doesn’t understand about Aussies.

Andrew told Woman’s Day that while he was a big fan of the country, he could never quite understand one detail about the local accent.

‘One thing that makes me smile every time is when an Aussie finishes a sentence and their voice goes up at the end of it,’ he said. ‘It never fails to make me smile!’    

The phenomenon Andrew is referring to is known as upspeak or uptalk.

Many Australians have a habit of ending a sentence with a rising inflection, making a statement sound like a question.

This manner of speaking isn’t unique to Australia, however, and in fact became common in Britain in the 1980s and ’90s.

This was because many Brits copied the way the characters spoke on Australian soaps like Home and Away and Neighbours.

In fact, Freddie admitted the soaps had a huge impact on his country when he was growing up.

‘The funny thing is, as a kid, Neighbours and Home and Away were so big at home and everybody watched them. Everyone wanted to go to Australia and meet an Aussie,’ he said. 

‘You’d watch it and think you knew them because you’ve seen Joe Mangel and you think I’ll probably fit right in – it’s interesting.’ 

Andrew is set to return to screens this weekend as co-host of Australian Ninja Warrior, alongside Ben Fordham and Rebecca Maddern.

In a shock twist, this season will see the Ninjas compete head to head for the first time as they try to defeat a game-changing new obstacle: The Power Tower. 

Australian Ninja Warrior starts Sunday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine