Ben Fordham’s awkward radio moment costs him $1k

2GB host Ben Fordham has been forced to pay a listener $1,000 after an awkward radio blunder.

2GB radio host Ben Fordham was forced to pay a listener $1,000 after an awkward blunder today.

While hosting the station’s 2GB For Me competition, Fordham accidentally declared a caller named Kathy the winner of $1,000 despite her not answering the phone correctly.

The competition requires listeners to answer the phone within 15 seconds and say “2GB For Me” to win $100 followed by a code word to win $1,000, however Kathy skipped the first requirement and stated the code word “winner”.

“Hang on a moment... Did you say 2GB for me?” Fordham asked Kathy after already announcing that she had won the cash.

Out of pocket... 2GB radio host Ben Fordham in his Sydney studio.

“Kathy in fact has not won $1000 from 2GB because she didn’t say ‘2GB for me’ but I made the mistake so I’ll cover the mistake and I’ll pay the $1000 to Kathy because I’m not going to have a situation where I’ve just told someone they’ve won $1000 then all of a sudden they don’t win $1000.”

Fordham said he was unclear about the rules as the competition had not been done in a long time.

“The reason for my confusion is the competition has changed a few times during the life of the concept, so it’s the first time I’ve done it in some time and so I got a little bit mixed up,” he said.

“Just going forward, everyone needs to know you only win the $100 if you pick up the phone and say ‘2GB for me’ within the 15 seconds. If you know the code word it jackpots to $1000. If you don’t know the code word then it jackpots to $2000 during the Ray Hadley morning show.”