Natasha Exelby grilled about ABC gaffe as she returns to work

IN her guest role as KIIS FM’s newsreader, Natasha Exelby was quizzed about her infamous blooper on the ABC. And she didn’t sound thrilled.

NATASHA Exelby sounded less than keen to discuss her infamous TV gaffe this morning as she appeared on KIIS FM as a guest newsreader.

Exelby is reading the news on the Sydney radio station each morning this week while Kyle and Jackie O are on leave.

The news presenter was introduced to listeners this morning by music announcer Gordie Waters who tried to get Exelby to open up about the incident.

“People would know you, Natasha, from the famous ABC blooper that kind of went viral,” he said.

Exelby responded with, “hmmmm,” forcing Waters to press on.

“What were you thinking about when you were looking at that pen?” he asked her.

“Not a lot, I suppose,” Exelby said, clearly trying to move on.

“Look, it’s all good here today, they’re keeping me away from the pen jars, so, just focusing on the news,” she said.

But Waters continued and gifted Exelby with a ‘welcome to KIIS present’ which was ... you guessed it ... a pen.

“I will treasure that,” Exelby said, before revealing a fun fact about the pen she was busted ogling on the ABC.

“The pen I was actually fiddling with has been all around the world, it was a special gift from the Ipswich mayor and I’ve taken it all through the Middle East and Syria and everywhere.”

It’s been just over a week since Exelby was caught off guard during a live news broadcast on ABC News 24.

News Corp reported on Monday, April 10 that ABC bosses failed to see the funny side of the blooper and banned Exelby, who was a freelancer hired by the broadcaster, from any future on-air roles.

The alleged decision by the ABC to bench Exelby sparked outrage from viewers and led to a tidal wave of support for the presenter.

The following day ABC News Director, Gavin Morris, denied that Exelby had been banned from appearing on air.

“No one would ever be punished for a blooper and, while it isn’t appropriate to publicly discuss confidential details of people’s personal work arrangements, this has not happened to Natasha,” Morris said in a statement.

“Media reports that Natasha has been ‘banned’, ‘barred’ or ‘fired’ are untrue. Natasha is a freelance journalist who works as a contributor. She has been rostered for various shifts and has been assured since yesterday that we want that to continue. While she is not currently doing any on-air shifts, this will be subject to normal performance management.”