10 Times People Interrupted Live TV and Paid For It
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VOICE OVER: David Foster
From unexpected guests to deliberate pranks, live television can be unpredictable! Watch as we explore memorable moments when people crashed broadcasts and faced the consequences. From mistaken identities to political protests, these interruptions left both viewers and participants red-faced. Our countdown includes Guy Goma's infamous BBC interview mixup, Simon Brodkin's pranks on Theresa May and Sepp Blatter, Alison Hammond's run-in with Italian police, and Piers Morgan's dramatic GMB exit. Which live TV interruption do you think had the biggest impact?
10 Times People Interrupted Live TV and Paid for It
Caitlin Johnson
Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and today we’re looking at times people got on live TV and it didn’t go well for them.
Piers Morgan
He was SUPPOSED to be speaking on live TV, in contrast to most of the other people on this list, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t rudely interrupt people. In particular, while fronting “GMB”, Morgan was known to often get into spats with co-presenter Susanna Reid, and Reid never took it lying down. In this memorable incident, Reid was conducting a serious interview with Tory Health Secretary Nicky Morgan back in 2016. Though she argued with him and insisted she get to ask her question, he steamrolled right over her and asked something else. Eventually, he’d interrupt “GMB” in the ultimate way by storming off mid-broadcast like a child.
Sepp Blatter’s Windfall
In 2015, at a press conference in the height of the FIFA corruption scandal and allegations its members had been taking bribes to ensure Russia and Qatar won their World Cup bids, somebody played quite the joke on president Sepp Blatter. The man approached the desk with a large stack of cash and began addressing the crowd, though he didn’t have a microphone so it wasn’t easy to hear what he said. The message was clear, though, when, upon being grabbed by security, he threw the money over Blatter and the desk. It turned out that the money was real, about $600, but so were the trespassing charges the man, comedian Simon Brodkin, was hit with.
“I Don’t Work Here”
In this brief clip, BBC anchor Ben Boulos was reporting on skyrocketing inflation in late 2023, and had been sent down to a local market to report on location. However, standing there in his high vis, he was mistaken for a trader by a passerby. The bloke walked past and then stood awkwardly out of frame waiting to speak to him, and we can imagine he was in for a lot of embarrassment if any of his friends or family were watching and saw the mixup. Boulos dealt with it as quickly as he could, but we can’t believe the bloke didn’t notice that he was talking into a giant television camera with a crew around him.
Theresa May’s P45
This was actually another high-profile prank from Simon Brodkin, here disguised as a journalist rather than any of his more well-known characters. Apparently, his trespassing charges after doing a similar stunt with Sepp Blatter didn’t dissuade him, as he turned up to 2017’s Tory Party Conference armed with a printed-out P45. May accepted it without making too much note of what it was, though it was clear as day for the cameras, and continued on with her speech. Meanwhile, though, all eyes were on Brodkin, who kept talking to people on the front row before eventually being escorted out of the conference while they chanted at him.
Italian Police
Alison Hammond was sent to Pisa on the Disney Magic Cruise as part of a promotional deal for “This Morning”, but unfortunately, somebody on the production crew didn’t do their due diligence. They didn’t get the right permits to film outside the Leaning Tower of Pisa and so Alison was nearly arrested on live television. She kept talking despite security getting in the way, though in the end, it was the Italian police who ended up looking ridiculous. They did manage to get the permits so that she could film in secret, after briefly going into hiding to avoid getting a stronger reprimand.
Prince Andrew’s Heckler
During part of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the funeral procession, made up of the all the senior members of the royal family, including the King, were hit with a heckler who’d gotten to the front of the crowds. This was up in Edinburgh, before the coffin had made its way to London for her actual funeral, and nothing like this was able to happen on the day itself. The man in question shouted at Prince Andrew that he was a “sick old man”. He was promptly arrested, though the CPS decided not to charge him. People in the crowd were dead against the funeral being interrupted, even though we’re sure they agreed with the assessment of the Duke of York.
Egg Throwing
The year was 2013, and Richard and Adam were performing in that year’s “Britain’s Got Talent” final. It was all very serious until a woman left the orchestra at the back with a box of eggs and started chucking them at Simon Cowell. The performance continued after she was picked up and carried off stage by security, cheering as she went, and Cowell had to take off his egg-covered jacket. In the end, the woman was classical musician Natalie Holt, who was once a “BGT” contestant, and wanted to make a stand against Cowell’s “dreadful influence on the music industry”, in her own words. She did later apologise for interfering with Richard and Adam, and no charges were pressed.
Kicked Out of Question Time
Though it’s not entirely live, being filmed slightly earlier in the day and then given just a bit of editing to trim it down before going out at ten o’clock, this moment stayed in the final taping of that week’s “Question Time”. This bloke was kicked out of the studio by David Dimbleby after he went after pundit Gina Miller, who was giving her opinion on the hung parliament in the 2017 election. He was quickly branded as a pro-Corbyn loony by the press, after raging against Tory policy earlier in the recording, but was so angry he took it out on the wrong person. He didn’t seem to realise that Gina Miller doesn’t actually work for the Conservative government.
Ben Brown Gropes a Passerby
Another incident from the 2017 election, Ben Brown was out on the streets talking to people about Jeremy Corbyn, when a woman stepped into frame. She was trying to give her opinion on the political discussion, but Brown pushed her aside, not seeming to realise he’d done so by grabbing at her chest. She slapped him on the arm and left the frame while he remained totally unfazed, though he was criticised in the media for doing this. You always look ridiculous if you’re interrupting a live broadcast, but Brown came out looking much worse for the accidental groping – though, the entire incident was soon forgotten.
Guy Goma
He didn’t exactly interrupt because it was the BBC’s mix up, but this was still an incident that wasn’t supposed to happen that looked bad for everyone involved. Thinking he was only at the BBC for a simple job interview, Goma was mistakenly led onto set and then introduced as a different man with the same first name, only realising something had gone wrong when he was live on air. The awkward interview went down in TV history as he struggled through a segment about a court case between Apple and the Beatles, though still, no one noticed. In the aftermath, though, Goma DID suffer, because he never got the job. He later reappeared on the BBC and publicly apologised.
Let us know in the comments the funniest live TV interruption you’ve ever seen.
Caitlin Johnson
Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and today we’re looking at times people got on live TV and it didn’t go well for them.
Piers Morgan
He was SUPPOSED to be speaking on live TV, in contrast to most of the other people on this list, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t rudely interrupt people. In particular, while fronting “GMB”, Morgan was known to often get into spats with co-presenter Susanna Reid, and Reid never took it lying down. In this memorable incident, Reid was conducting a serious interview with Tory Health Secretary Nicky Morgan back in 2016. Though she argued with him and insisted she get to ask her question, he steamrolled right over her and asked something else. Eventually, he’d interrupt “GMB” in the ultimate way by storming off mid-broadcast like a child.
Sepp Blatter’s Windfall
In 2015, at a press conference in the height of the FIFA corruption scandal and allegations its members had been taking bribes to ensure Russia and Qatar won their World Cup bids, somebody played quite the joke on president Sepp Blatter. The man approached the desk with a large stack of cash and began addressing the crowd, though he didn’t have a microphone so it wasn’t easy to hear what he said. The message was clear, though, when, upon being grabbed by security, he threw the money over Blatter and the desk. It turned out that the money was real, about $600, but so were the trespassing charges the man, comedian Simon Brodkin, was hit with.
“I Don’t Work Here”
In this brief clip, BBC anchor Ben Boulos was reporting on skyrocketing inflation in late 2023, and had been sent down to a local market to report on location. However, standing there in his high vis, he was mistaken for a trader by a passerby. The bloke walked past and then stood awkwardly out of frame waiting to speak to him, and we can imagine he was in for a lot of embarrassment if any of his friends or family were watching and saw the mixup. Boulos dealt with it as quickly as he could, but we can’t believe the bloke didn’t notice that he was talking into a giant television camera with a crew around him.
Theresa May’s P45
This was actually another high-profile prank from Simon Brodkin, here disguised as a journalist rather than any of his more well-known characters. Apparently, his trespassing charges after doing a similar stunt with Sepp Blatter didn’t dissuade him, as he turned up to 2017’s Tory Party Conference armed with a printed-out P45. May accepted it without making too much note of what it was, though it was clear as day for the cameras, and continued on with her speech. Meanwhile, though, all eyes were on Brodkin, who kept talking to people on the front row before eventually being escorted out of the conference while they chanted at him.
Italian Police
Alison Hammond was sent to Pisa on the Disney Magic Cruise as part of a promotional deal for “This Morning”, but unfortunately, somebody on the production crew didn’t do their due diligence. They didn’t get the right permits to film outside the Leaning Tower of Pisa and so Alison was nearly arrested on live television. She kept talking despite security getting in the way, though in the end, it was the Italian police who ended up looking ridiculous. They did manage to get the permits so that she could film in secret, after briefly going into hiding to avoid getting a stronger reprimand.
Prince Andrew’s Heckler
During part of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the funeral procession, made up of the all the senior members of the royal family, including the King, were hit with a heckler who’d gotten to the front of the crowds. This was up in Edinburgh, before the coffin had made its way to London for her actual funeral, and nothing like this was able to happen on the day itself. The man in question shouted at Prince Andrew that he was a “sick old man”. He was promptly arrested, though the CPS decided not to charge him. People in the crowd were dead against the funeral being interrupted, even though we’re sure they agreed with the assessment of the Duke of York.
Egg Throwing
The year was 2013, and Richard and Adam were performing in that year’s “Britain’s Got Talent” final. It was all very serious until a woman left the orchestra at the back with a box of eggs and started chucking them at Simon Cowell. The performance continued after she was picked up and carried off stage by security, cheering as she went, and Cowell had to take off his egg-covered jacket. In the end, the woman was classical musician Natalie Holt, who was once a “BGT” contestant, and wanted to make a stand against Cowell’s “dreadful influence on the music industry”, in her own words. She did later apologise for interfering with Richard and Adam, and no charges were pressed.
Kicked Out of Question Time
Though it’s not entirely live, being filmed slightly earlier in the day and then given just a bit of editing to trim it down before going out at ten o’clock, this moment stayed in the final taping of that week’s “Question Time”. This bloke was kicked out of the studio by David Dimbleby after he went after pundit Gina Miller, who was giving her opinion on the hung parliament in the 2017 election. He was quickly branded as a pro-Corbyn loony by the press, after raging against Tory policy earlier in the recording, but was so angry he took it out on the wrong person. He didn’t seem to realise that Gina Miller doesn’t actually work for the Conservative government.
Ben Brown Gropes a Passerby
Another incident from the 2017 election, Ben Brown was out on the streets talking to people about Jeremy Corbyn, when a woman stepped into frame. She was trying to give her opinion on the political discussion, but Brown pushed her aside, not seeming to realise he’d done so by grabbing at her chest. She slapped him on the arm and left the frame while he remained totally unfazed, though he was criticised in the media for doing this. You always look ridiculous if you’re interrupting a live broadcast, but Brown came out looking much worse for the accidental groping – though, the entire incident was soon forgotten.
Guy Goma
He didn’t exactly interrupt because it was the BBC’s mix up, but this was still an incident that wasn’t supposed to happen that looked bad for everyone involved. Thinking he was only at the BBC for a simple job interview, Goma was mistakenly led onto set and then introduced as a different man with the same first name, only realising something had gone wrong when he was live on air. The awkward interview went down in TV history as he struggled through a segment about a court case between Apple and the Beatles, though still, no one noticed. In the aftermath, though, Goma DID suffer, because he never got the job. He later reappeared on the BBC and publicly apologised.
Let us know in the comments the funniest live TV interruption you’ve ever seen.
