The final episode was broadcast days before the opening ceremony of the real Games. In this episode, the three stars and Bell were forced to stand in for
The Seekers at the closing ceremony rehearsal to sing "
The Carnival Is Over". The Seekers did indeed perform this song, but at the closing ceremony of the
Paralympics some weeks later. In one moment, the actor
John Howard appeared on a video message intended for overseas release and read an apology to
Aboriginal people for
crimes committed against them by the Australian government. In the episode, a group of overseas countries threatened to boycott the Games unless the prime minister, also named
John Howard, gave a public apology to Aboriginal people. The message was accompanied by John Clarke's saying "that's not the Prime Minister", to which Gina Riley replied, "He never said he was. He said he was John Howard." The confusion between the two men has become a frequent joke in Australia. In an interview after the real Games John Clarke commented that most of the shows were inventions by the writers. He went on to say that if they had used some of the things that had happened at SOCOG, people would have criticised them for being unrealistic. ==Reception==