People watching BBC News last night copped it from the presenter as she flipped them off.
As they switched to the studio to cover headlines, the camera cut to longtime chief presenter Maryam Morishi sitting there, with her middle finger up and a cheeky smirk, head tilt and eyebrow raise combo.
She instantly flips to straight-faced TV news mode as if nothing happened. It truly is great TV.
Maryam later apologised to viewers, explaining that it was all a joke aimed at her coworkers.
“Yesterday, just before the top of the hour, I was joking around a bit with the team in the gallery,” she explained in a post on X.
“I was pretending to count down as the director was counting me down from 10-0 including the fingers to show the number. So from 10 fingers held up to one.”
“When we got to 1, I turned my finger around as a joke and did not realise that this would be caught on camera.”
“It was a private joke with the team and I’m so sorry it went out on air! It was not my intention for this to happen and I’m sorry if I offended or upset anyone. I wasn’t ‘flipping the bird’ at viewers or even a person.”
“It was a silly joke that was meant for a small number of my mates.”
Don’t worry Maryam, it’s a silly joke we’re all oh so glad to witness.
New Zealand’s very own Matty McLean had a similar news blooper earlier this year, except the ‘fuck’ came in verbal form instead of a hand gesture.
The scene opens on TV1’s ‘Breakfast’ with Matty standing up, back to the camera, fiddling around with his microphone pack (I hope) before saying: “Ah f*ck, my thing’s fallen out.”
In a world full of tough times, it’s good to know there’s always a quality news blooper around the corner.
