Lisa Wilkinson’s Today show secret: ‘Never told anyone this’

Lisa Wilkinson had a major on-air gaffe during her Today show days alongside Karl Stefanovic — and we all totally missed it.

It’s the Australian TV industry’s big night, and with all the biggest names in show business descending upon The Star on the Gold Coast, I thought I’d put them all in the hot seat.

Celebrities had two options — spill a secret of their own, or dob in a co-star, with a flip of a coin deciding their fate.

And they didn’t hold back.

The Project co-hosts Carrie Bickmore and Lisa Wilkinson on the red carpet at the 2019 Logie Awards. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England

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The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson has shared a surprising secret about her days at the Today show, admitting she once had a major on-air gaffe — and no one ever knew.

It was mostly Karl Stefanovic’s antics going viral back in the pair’s heyday but Wilkinson told news.com.au on the red carpet at this year’s event that she’d once actually fallen asleep while they were on air.

Wilkinson, who co-hosted Nine’s breakfast program alongside Stefanovic for 10 years until jumping ship to Ten in 2017, said the brutal early hours had finally gotten the better of her one day during the show.

“I’ve never told anyone this,” she explained. “There was one morning, Karl was in the middle of an interview, and I was off-camera and I was just sitting there, and I thought ‘if I don’t close my eyes for 10 seconds, I’m going to be in real trouble here’. So I put my head down and tried to make it look like I was reading scripts on the computer, and then I felt myself go … and I jerked myself awake. So, yup, I have fallen asleep on air.”

Wilkinson revealed the early starts sometimes took their toll on air. Picture: Renee Nowytarger/The Australian

Her Project co-hosts were just as willing to share secrets on the Logies red carpet this year (when prompted by news.com.au) — with Peter Helliar dobbing in Gold Logie nominee Waleed Aly for an embarrassing mistake earlier this month.

“Waleed actually missed the start of the show a few weeks ago. We went to air, and he wasn’t on,” he told news.com.au, adding that Aly was, er, on an extended stay in the bathroom.

“He didn’t have his watch on, so he just completely mistimed it.”

Aly himself confirmed the story to news.com.au.

“We’d finished rehearsal and I’d left my phone on set, so I didn’t have the time. I walked out, and the show had started and I had no idea. I’m just strolling up, and the security guy goes ‘I can’t believe how relaxed you are’ and I thought, ‘that’s a weird thing to say’. And I said to the makeup woman, ‘How long we got?’ And she said, ‘Are you serious? The show’s started!’”

They weren’t the only secrets shared by celebs on the red carpet — you can watch all the other juicy moments in the video player above.