Australian TV show Next Top Model announced the wrong winner during the live final of its sixth series.
Kelsey Martinovich was crowned “champion” by public vote and was making an acceptance speech when presenter Sarah Murdoch (pictured left) interrupted her.
A visibly upset Murdoch, who was listening in to her earpiece, said: “I’m feeling sick about this. I’m so sorry, this was a complete accident.”
She then announced that the real winner of the competition was 18-year-old Amanda Ware. “This is what happens when you have live TV, folks,” she said. “This is insane, insane, insane.”
Fortunately for Murdoch, Martinovich seemed to take the news well, saying, “It’s OK, it’s an honest mistake,” as Murdoch asked: “How could this happen?”
Clearly distressed by the error, Murdoch made a series of stumbling apologies as she named 18-year-old Amanda Ware the winner.
“Oh my God, I don’t know what to say right now,” Murdoch said, in front of a crowd of 2 000 people at Sydney’s Luna Park. “I’m feeling a bit sick about this. I’m so sorry about this, oh my God. I don’t know what to say. This is a complete accident, I’m so sorry. It’s Amanda … it was read to me wrong.”
Murdoch, a former model who is married to Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan, said the mistake occurred after the wrong name was fed to her earpiece.
Martinovich was a good sport, hugging Ware and dismissing Murdoch’s apologies. “You won it’s fine…it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s an honest mistake, it’s fine,” she told Ware
Ware won an eight-page spread in women’s magazine Harpers Bazaar, a contract with Priscilla’s modelling agency, an AUS$25 000 Levi’s campaign, an AUS$20 000 cash prize, a new car and a trip to New York. – Sources: The BBC/The UK Telegraph