Blunder on ‘Australia’s Next Top Model’

The showpiece finale of the show ends in a toe-curling blunder when the wrong winner is announced on live television.

SYDNEY: The showpiece finale of a popular Australian reality modelling show ended in a toe-curling blunder when the wrong winner was announced on live television.

“Australia’s Next Top Model’s” two finalists had already made their winner’s and loser’s speeches when presenter Sarah Murdoch, daughter-in-law of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, revealed the mix-up.

“Oh my God, I don’t know what to say right now. I’m feeling a bit sick about this,” Murdoch said during Tuesday’s broadcast. “This is what happens on live TV, folks. This is insane, insane, insane.”

A bewildered Amanda Ware, 18, finally accepted the award and made a brief victory sashay down the catwalk, as 19-year-old Kelsey Martinovich took the bizarre defeat gracefully.

“It’s an honest mistake, it’s fine,” she said, consoling the red-faced Murdoch.

Broadcaster Foxtel blamed the error on a “miscommunication” between backstage operators, and offered Martinovich a cash gift and a trip to New York as compensation.

Local media rated the error as one of the most embarrassing moments on Australian TV. “And the next top model is ... no, wait a second,” headlined the Daily Telegraph.

Judge Alex Perry later denied the incident was a publicity stunt to boost the show’s ratings.

“I would stake my life on it,” he told Sydney’s 2DayFM radio.

“There’s no way that she (Murdoch) would do that. I think you saw that the instant that she knew something was wrong, you could see it in her eyes, that wasn’t lying, that wasn’t acting.”

“Everybody wants to tag something sinister on it and say it was done for ratings. I know Sarah and I know the executive producer. It’s just not their style,” Perry said.

Martinovich may have had a short-lived reign as “Australia’s Next Top Model”, but it wasn’t all bad news as Foxtel said she would receive a $19,360 cash prize and trip to New York as consolation, almost matching Ware’s series spoils.

Ware won an appearance in Harper’s Bazaar magazine, a modelling contract, $19,360, a trip to New York and a car.

With additional information from Reuters

Published in The Express Tribune September 30^th, 2010.