John Oliver just can’t seem to quit Russell Crowe‘s jockstrap.
On Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight, Oliver revealed that he was the mystery buyer who paid $10,000 for the Cinderella Man undergarment when it went back on the auction block in August.
The revelation came somewhat incidentally during the show’s main story about the U.S. Secret Service. While discussing the stakes of the agency’s “zero fail” mission, Oliver contrasted its place in history with that of his own show.
“I’m pretty confident the historical legacy of this show will be a few hundred thousand dollars for food banks, a koala chlamydia ward, and whatever the fuck is going on with Russell Crowe’s jockstrap right now,” he said.
Then came the update.
“After we auctioned the jockstrap off at the end of last year, in aid of public media, it was apparently put up for auction again in August, where I’m happy to tell you: It sold for $10,000,” Oliver said. “And the reason I know that is, of course we fucking bought it back.”
This is now the third time Oliver has been in possession of the same jockstrap.
The first came in 2018, when Crowe included the wardrobe piece from the 2005 boxing drama in his post-divorce memorabilia sale. Last Week Tonight paid $7,000 for it—far above its original estimate—and donated it, along with several other Crowe items, to the last remaining Blockbuster Video store in Alaska.
After that store closed, the jockstrap found its way back to Last Week Tonight, where Crowe was reunited with it in a pre-taped sketch.
Seven years later, Oliver’s show put it up for auction again last November as part of a fundraiser benefiting public media. It fetched $21,000, with an anonymous Reddit user later claiming to be the winning bidder and admitting, “This is going to be a tough one to explain to my wife.”
By August, the jockstrap had resurfaced at Propstore’s Summer 2026 Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, mounted on a display bust signed by Oliver and carrying an estimated value of $10,000 to $20,000.
At the time, Propstore noted only that the item had been “purchased from [Oliver’s] auction.” Now we know who bought it next.
“Of course we did,” Oliver said Sunday as he pulled it out from under his desk. Addressing the undergarment directly, he then said, “I can’t wait to find out where you’re going to go next.”
