Natasha Exelby reveals what really happened after infamous ABC blooper

Ex-ABC newsreader Natasha Exelby has spilled on the shocking aftermath of her viral 2017 gaffe to her I’m A Celeb campmates.

Natasha Exelby’s viral on-air gaffe made her an unlikely star, but it wasn’t as well received by her bosses at the ABC.

The former newsreader was caught daydreaming and playing with a pen while live on air in 2017, generating headlines across the world.

Two years after the incident, Exelby — who’s now appearing on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! — opened up about the shocking aftermath in a conversation with her campmates on Monday night.

Wait for it …

… There it is!

“They (ABC) took me off air; they said I couldn’t go on air again,” she revealed, adding that her next six weeks of on-air shifts were just “cut out” — and she was offered “producing shifts” instead.

Despite the brutal fall-out, Exelby admitted she feels better about the whole thing now.

“It’s worked out OK for me … I’m here,” she said.

Exelby discussed the incident with her campmates on Monday.

Last year, the journalist spilled to news.com.au about what actually happened the night of the infamous broadcast.

“It was late on a Saturday night, I think it was the 11.30pm bulletin,” Exelby said.

“I had some things going through my mind at the time and then it happened so quickly. I was next to the sports presenter, Meredith Sheehan, who I’d never met before then but strikes me as a lovely creature. And after it happened I felt pretty sick and Meredith just said, ‘It’s a Saturday night, don’t worry, no one will be watching.’ I thought to myself, ‘It just takes one.’”

The footage spread like wildfire on social media and Exelby told news.com.au that “not in her wildest dreams” did she think it would travel so far and wide.

“I turned my phone off because it was going ballistic and as a general rule I don’t ever read stories about myself because it generally leads to chocolate binges,” she said.

“I was pretty embarrassed with what had happened and my mother said something to me that she had never said in my life. She said, ‘Tash, I think you should jump on Twitter because it’s going to make you feel better.’”

At the time, ABC news director Gavin Morris denied Exelby had been penalised for the gaffe.

“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.”