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News reporters stunned to learn interview subject is stuck in a tree

Television weather reports are usually light hearted affairs.

It was not to be this day for two US news anchors who thought they were having a breezy telephone chat with a man whose car was swept away by floodwaters near Austin, Texas, US.

The hosts did not know how to act when they discovered Kerry Packer was still in a tree. Photo: Screenshot
The hosts did not know how to act when they discovered Kerry Packer was still in a tree. Photo: Screenshot

Kerry Packer told KVUE he had been driving when suddenly water pushed his car off of the road and into the woods.

But then he dropped this line. And the news anchors’ faces dropped with it.


“So I’m up about 20 feet in a tree right now,” Packer said.

The news program wanted to interview the man about a video of his car being overcome by floodwaters. Photo: Screenshot
The news program wanted to interview the man about a video of his car being overcome by floodwaters. Photo: Screenshot

“What?! You're still up the tree?” came the presenters' startled response before asking if the man was safe.

“Thankfully this is the nicest tree here. It’s a little cold, but I did Boy Scouts for 20 years, so I know how to keep my energy up and keep warm, so I’m doing fine,” Packer responded, rather unperturbed by his situation.

Packer remained in the tree for several hours until he was rescued.

It is not the first time live television has left presenters scrambling to react to unexpected situations.

John Howard ducks flying shoe

Australia's favourite debate show Q&A has also seen more than its fair share of unexpected incidents, although no one has actually punched on as yet.

In 2011 an audience member famously threw a shoe at former Prime Minister John Howard during a live discussion. The famously unflappable Mr Howard remained famously unflapped. The same could not be said of the mortified host, Tony Jones.

Sunrise's weather presenter does it again

Just a few weeks after Edwina Bartholomew (and her viewers) saw a lot more than they wanted to at nudist camp, a uni student from Bathurst's Charles Sturt University campus has come very close to losing his dressing gown on live TV.

An invitation to students to wake up early for a chance to read the morning weather saw one criminal justice student make the dash wearing very, very little.

The breakfast show audience got a lot more than they bargained for during a live broadcast from a Queensland nudist camp this morning.

Sunrise was broadcasting its weather from a caravan park in Queensland when one camper left many of us choking on our toast.

Presenter Edwina Bartholomew asked the group of clothe-less campers to cover their goods with some specially handcrafted signs before waving at the cameras.

One woman didn't quite get the memo.

Seconds into the live cross, one of the bare-bottomed participants accidentally dropped her 'We love Sunrise' placard to reveal her assets to the nation.

Whoopsie!

TV wannabe bombs reporter's live cross

When this man noticed that a live TV broadcast was being filmed close to his home, the temptation was just too much to handle.

Hilarious vision shows the moment the man, believed to be living in the Netherlands, flees out his door in a bid to appear in a live cross being filmed for a news program.

As the report continues, his amused friends speculate on whether or not the wannabe television star will make it to the courtyard before filming ends.

The group then erupts into cheers and laughter when they spot their friend running ecstatically behind the news reporter.

The man walks behind the reporter for a second time with his arms raised victoriously, as if he has just won the race of his life.

While members of the public are a big peril in live television, there are plenty of other things that can go wrong.

Ben Ross breaks his arm on live television

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Audiences around Australia were shocked to see former rugby league player Ben Ross break his arm on live television last week.

Grant Denyer passes out

It must be tricky doing breakfast television. Waking up at such an early hour would make anyone wipe the sleep from their eyes, but former Sunrise presenter Grant Denyer took it a bit too far – passing out cold during a trip in a stunt plane. The vision went viral around the world.