‘We have nothing to play’: The Project brought down by technical issue

THE Project came to a grinding halt on Thursday night thanks to some “massive technical issues”. The hosts were left scrambling to fill 30 minutes live on air.

THE Project came to a grinding halt on Thursday night thanks to some “massive technical issues”, leaving the hosts with not much to do.

Half way through the hour-long live show, host Waleed Aly admitted to viewers the program was not going to plan.

“Guys, I think you’ll all agree the show has been fantastic so far tonight, just going really swimmingly, it’s been incredible,” he deadpanned. “The secret is, downstairs, the hamsters are having massive technical issues.”

His co-host Carrie Bickmore wasn’t as vague about the problems they were experiencing.

“We have nothing to play to air for the next half an hour of the show,” she blurted out.

Filling time, they played out an old package from a few weeks ago where comedian Lehmo met the Cookie Monster.

After a commercial break, a live in-studio interview with basketballer Lauren Jackson was bumped up and dragged out for close to seven minutes.

More ads, and the problem was still hanging around.

“Welcome back. You are watching The Project. Now, we’re having major technical problems here at The Project. In fact, we have nothing to show you at the moment,” Bickmore laughed.

“We here at The Project say that we do the news differently. So, I’m gonna read the news and these guys are going to act out the news. Because that’s all we can do.”

Panellists Peter Helliar and Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald acted out the stories as Bickmore read the bulletin. Aly also offered a Michael Jackson impression.

Ping @walkleys #TechnicalDifficulties #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/nWs5jo6nns

— #TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) March 31, 2016

One prerecorded segment about culling Facebook friends was salvaged and the hosts excitedly threw to it to finish off the show.

The Project’s executive producer Craig Campbell told news.com.au the program’s hosts handled the issue nicely.

“A switch that connects the edit suite to the control room malfunctioned so we couldn’t get our packaged material to air,” he said in a statement.

“We were fortunate to have four amazing performers on the desk to get through it and make it entertaining.”

Viewers took to social media to join in on the night’s unpredictability.

I think the 'Control room' should be out of control more often @theprojecttv! The theatre sports much better than boring clips #TheProjectTV

— Doc (@Doclach) March 31, 2016

When we come back from the ads will we have real content? #TheProjectTV HAHAHAH I love this show!

— Marcus Drew (@Marcus_Scho) March 31, 2016

#TheProjectTV Maybe some funny cat videos? We can all sit here and laugh.... or Fitzy and Pete can do the commentary #solution

— Jason Smith (@JasonSmithkayla) March 31, 2016