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Shirtless Tonga Guy Was Cut From The Closing Ceremony Primetime Coverage & People Want Answers
While some people tuned into the 2018 Winter Olympic closing ceremonies to bid adieu to the events, the rest of us watched primarily for a chance to spot shirtless Tonga guy at the Olympic closing ceremonies, in all his oily, muscle-y glory. And yet, to the great sadness of his fans who watched the ceremony at primetime, his shirtlessness was nowhere to be seen.
Pita Taufatofua — who was the flag bearer for Tonga at the the start of the Olympics in PyeongChang — was spotted on the closing ceremony, where he sported a jacket to protect himself from the freezing South Korea weather. (Good for him; bad for us.) But then, he came back out shirtless and got the crowd going once again. Unfortunately, during the primetime coverage of the closing ceremony that aired on Sunday night, everyone's favorite athlete from Tonga seemed to be conspicuously absent in his shirtless state from our screens.
Taufatofua first entered our hearts and minds back in 2012 when he carried his nation's flag at the Olympic closing ceremony in Rio, wearing nothing more than a necklace, a skirt, and some oil. So people were obviously thrilled when he did the same on Feb. 9, at the beginning of the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang. He was easy to spot, not only because omg it's Shirtless Tonga Guy, but also because he's always the only athlete repping Tonga.
Oh, and he's super talented. According to Merrit Kennedy on NPR, "Taufatofua competed in taekwando at 2016's Rio Olympics and was similarly a crowd favorite when he appeared shirtless at that opening ceremony. He is the first athlete from Tonga to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The Pacific island nation, located near Fiji and American Samoa, has a population of about 106,000." And clearly, Taufatofua is their guy when it comes to sports.
For the 2018 Winter Olympic closing ceremony coverage, he was much more covered up. And almost blended in with all the other athletes. And people had questions.
He wearing a coat, which is entirely out of character for him and opening/closing ceremonies, but then — amazingly — he made a wardrobe change as was back in his classic uniform: shirtless. As you'd imagine, people were thrilled once they saw him shirtless again. @Smoland_G tweeted: "THIS IS THE MOST PRECIOUS MOMENT !!!!!!!!!"
However, not everyone got to witness the glory that was his wardrobe change during the closing ceremony in PyeongChang. He was actually cut from the primetime broadcast, so viewers watching Sunday evening didn't get to see his much-talked about wardrobe change that everyone who watched the early morning livestream had the honor of witnessing — and tweeting about.
Naturally, Twitter figured out what was going on and was fuming over the news that his shirtless cameo was cut from primetime Olympic closing ceremony coverage. Here's what people had to say about missing out on the most precious moment of the Winter 2018 PyeongChang Olympic closing ceremony:
Come On!
Come on is right.
While primetime viewers didn't get the shirtless Tonga guy of their dreams that early viewers had, the full broadcast is available to stream, thankfully. So, if you really can't wait until the next Olympics in two years to get your shirtless Tonga guy fix — and I don't blame you if that's in case — then you're in luck.