Channel Nine presenter Danika Mason has apologised after a live cross from the Winter Olympics went viral for her slurred speech. During a Wednesday morning sports update on the Today show, Mason stumbled through her words, making obscure comments about iguanas and the price of coffee in Italy and the US, before lying down to make snow angels.
Today host Karl Stefanovic suggested the slurred speech may have been due to the 'cold air'. Mason apologised during her cross on Thursday morning, saying: 'I shouldn’t have had a drink, and especially in these conditions, it’s cold, we’ve got altitude, and not having had dinner probably didn’t help as well. I want to take full responsibility. It’s not the standard that I set for myself … I’m really sorry.'
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended Mason, telling Nova Melbourne: 'Good on her, she’s over in Italy and she would have been tired. It’s the time difference, it would have been having an impact. Nothing to see here.'
Mason is far from the first Australian presenter to have a live TV blunder go viral. Past mishaps include Sarah Murdoch announcing the wrong winner on Australia’s Next Top Model, Karl Stefanovic’s failed joke with the Dalai Lama, and Andrew Rochford introducing 'Clitty Flanagan'. Other notable bloopers include Lee Lin Chin caught off guard, Belinda Russell mispronouncing 'Lego dot com', and Natasha Exelby missing her cue on ABC.
