Channel Seven breakfast show Sunrise suffered an epic fail on Monday after hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington struggled to communicate with a contest winner.
The co-hosts rang up a viewer in regional Victoria to inform him they had won 250,000 Qantas Points and a $1,000 bp fuel voucher.
However, the pair quickly became red-faced when Benalla resident Rene had trouble hearing them and asked them to repeat themselves several times.
‘Our producer is calling their number right now. Drum roll please!’ an excited Shirvo told viewers as they connected him to the winner.
‘Hello! Is that Rene?’ Nat asked to which the confused winner responded: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. I’m not sure what’s happening.’
Nat then raised her voice and excitedly told Rene: ‘Can you hear us now? Because you have won 250,000 Qantas points!’
Channel Seven breakfast show Sunrise suffered an epic fail on Monday after hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington struggled to communicate with a contest winner
However, the pair quickly became red-faced when Benalla resident Rene had trouble hearing them and asked them to repeat themselves several times
Unfortunately, he still couldn’t understand the hosts and responded: ‘I’m so sorry, I can’t hear you!’
‘Oh, this is going so well! Just whack your TV on because you have won!’ a frustrated Shirvo said.
A crew member then handed Nat a piece of paper with the word ‘Won’ on it and she held it up to the camera for Rene, who finally understood what was happening.
‘Oh, this is so great! I just wish I could hear you. This is so amazing,’ he told them.
The co-hosts then mimed a plane taking off as they asked him where he wanted to travel to.
After some struggle, Rene told them he wanted to go to Perth to visit his grandchildren.
Nat then made a heart symbol with her hands as she told him he would love it there and held up another piece of paper with the word ‘Congrats’ on it.
‘Let’s hope the pilots have better communication with the tower when they are landing,’ Shirvo quipped after the call ended.
After some struggle, Rene told them he wanted to go to Perth to visit his grandchildren
In August, it was reported that Sunrise has continued its long-running reign as Australia’s number one breakfast show.
The program beat Channel Nine’s Today with a 43.2 per cent share of the metro audience on average throughout 2024 – 2.4 points ahead of its rival.
The victory for Seven is especially sweet since Nine was expected to edge ahead in the ratings war after Today played a prominent role in the network’s coverage of the Olympics.
According to TV Tonight, the latest Total TV figures show Sunrise has averaged a national audience of 389,100 in the calendar year.
Today, hosted by Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo, meanwhile has managed a Total TV audience of 325,300 over the same period.
The national Total TV ratings combine the metro survey with viewers in regional centres and fans catching the show using broadcast-on-demand platforms.
Sunrise also scored 3.1 million viewers via social platforms, with 1.58 million YouTube play backs a month to date.
Weekend Sunrise also produced strong ratings with 383,700 Total TV viewers on average in the year to date against Today’s 287,600.
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