Humble Aussie weatherman replaces Scarlett Johansson’s husband as US surfing correspondent

Call him the Steven Bradbury of surfing.

Gold Coast weatherman Luke Bradnam will present Olympic surfing to millions of Americans after a late call-up to replace Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost as NBC’s Olympic surfing correspondent.

Channel Nine’s Bradnam has been enlisted by the US broadcasting giant to cover the finals of the surfing event in Tahiti after Jost had to cut short his assignment on the infamous Teahupo’o reef.

Jost, who is married to Scarlett Johansson, had a crew of eight or nine cameramen and production staff to produce his dispatches from Tahiti, which included his own brush with the razor sharp reef.

But after a two-day break in competition as waves deteriorated, Jost was called home and Bradnam called up along with his Channel Nine cameraman Jack Marriott to cover the rest of the Olympic surfing for NBC.

Channel Nine’s Luke Bradnam has got the call-up for US broadcasting giant NBC.Credit: Nine

Tahiti’s time zone delivers the surfing finals - with medals expected to be awarded on Sunday - into afternoon and potentially prime time slots on the US east and west coast.

And Bradnam will be the man on the ground for one of America’s biggest networks for all of it.

“I don’t muck around mate,” NBC’s newest correspondent laughed from Teahupo’o.

“I got a phone call as the surfing came back on line, it was literally just, ‘Colin’s not able to work it, could you please fill in for us?’

“’What the f---? Sure. Now I’m doing these crosses, they’ve got no idea who I am. I’ve done three crosses already today and I’ve covered the Americans today. One of those was Caity Simmers, the youngster who got knocked out of the Olympics.

“She had tears in her eyes and was quite emotional, so I am taking that side of the job seriously, of course. And then there’s a part of me going, ‘Jesus, can these Americans even understand me?’”

As one of four reporters for host broadcasters on the ground at Teahupo’o, Bradnam has enjoyed one of the biggest days in competitive surfing history covering the three-to-four metre barrels that Australian stars Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing negotiated superbly on Wednesday.

Jost’s reports from Tahiti have covered everything from his own mishaps to the local livestock and poultry, tapping into the comedic chops that have made him a feature of Saturday Night Live for more than a decade.

But Bradnam, who like Bradbury in the final of the 2002 Winter Olympics 1000m sprint won the gold after being the last man standing, wasn’t actually able to place the celebrity in the reporting ranks for several days of competition, before eventually getting to know the 42-year-old.

“I didn’t want to like the guy,” Bradnam said.

“He’s way too good looking, he’s funny, and he’s married to Scarlett Johansson. He’s got enough in life. But I spent two days on the boats with him, I just couldn’t help it, he was just a great bloke.

“No idea where he’s gone, all I know is I’m now doing his crosses... If I don’t get an invite to the NBC Christmas party after this, it won’t be pretty.”