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ABC apologises to ‘Mad As Hell’ Shaun Micallef after show stuff up

Despite calling the ABC ‘idiots’, Shaun Micallef got a birthday apology from the network after he was left Mad As Hell last night.

Staff reporter
2 min read
July 18, 2019 - 9:06PM
News Corp Australia Network
ABC apologises to ‘Mad As Hell’ Shaun Micallef after show stuff up (ABC)

After he called the ABC ‘idiots’ for failing to air the correct episode of Mad As Hell, the network has apologised to Shaun Micallef on his birthday.

Micallef’s show fell victim to an unfortunate mistake by ABC TV programmers last night, who aired the wrong episode in a “technical error”.

The mistake sparked fan fury and Micallef unleashed his frustrations on Twitter.

The ABC ran an apology to viewers at the bottom of the screen last night, confirming the error.

But their apology continued today, conveniently on the host’s 57th birthday, when he appeared on ABC’s 7.30 alongside Leigh Sales.

Sales poked fun at the popular presenter as she introduced him, ‘mistakenly’ showing look-a-likes George Clooney and Australia’s finance minister Mathias Cormann on screen instead.

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ABC TV issued an apology on air during Mad As Hell last night. Picture: ABC
ABC TV issued an apology on air during Mad As Hell last night. Picture: ABC

“Can we fix that, please? As I was saying, Shaun Micallef… No, that’s now the finance minister. Not sure why it’s that hard for us to put up the correct thing for one of the network’s major stars. I do apologise,” Sales said.

Last night, as the stuff-up aired, Micallef fired off an angry tweets directed at the ABC, expressing his disappointment.

He said viewers missed out on a “good episode” of the popular news satire program.

“They’re playing the wrong one. #idiots #madashelltv”

“Nice and topical. Maybe they’ll play it next week,” he joked.

Micallef said he managed to contact the ABC and organised for the correct episode, that was filmed Tuesday, to be uploaded the network’s iVIEW platform.

Earlier today Sales joked she stood in “in solidarity” with the frustrated presenter and promised tonight’s episode of 7.30 would air last night’s episode instead.

That didn’t happen, instead Micallef was allowed to be Mad As Hell as he liked on her program.

“If I can express a concern, there’s been a lot of this sort of thing happening. I don’t know if you have seen the footage of the moon landing, they have shown it over and over again. It was pretty old to begin with,” he said.

“And why should the ABC feel embarrassed about showing a repeat of your show, when this whole network is built on repeats of Spicks and Specks?” she joked.

“How many heads should roll over this? Where does the buck stop? Ita Buttrose? The communications minister?”

“I think the buck stopped at the ABC, several years ago, just generally. I take full responsibility for this,” he said, adding the ABC had allowed him to present an episode of Mad As Hell live tonight as an apology.

“The chances of anything going wrong are quite limited,” he said.

Sales offered to educate Micallef on what could go wrong on live television.

“I think a part of me died when I turned it on and saw the previous week’s show… There’s worse things that can happen,” he said.

Originally published as ABC apologises to ‘Mad As Hell’ Shaun Micallef after show stuff up

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/television/abc-apologises-to-mad-as-hell-shaun-micallef-after-show-stuff-up/news-story/904c626cce51d9ddec0e0727acd51d86