The anchor then turned to him and asked if he was surprised by the verdict in a big legal case. \u201cOkay,\u201d Goma thought to himself, \u201clet me put myself together.\u201d<\/p>\n
What followed that morning in May 2006 was one of broadcasting\u2019s biggest blunders: a case of mistaken identity in which the wrong person was interviewed as an expert on live television. The mix-up became an early viral internet moment and an accidental critique of the high-pressure churn of modern TV journalism.<\/p>\n
Twenty years later, the recollections are fonder. In the run-up to the May 8th anniversary, people are reposting clips of the moment. A book about it is out. And Goma is being celebrated as a folk hero of sorts for anyone who has ever found themselves ill-equipped for a challenge in the workplace.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt captures this sort of anxiety that we all have about being thrust into a role we\u2019re not prepared for, but trying to perform competently anyway,\u201d said Rafal Zaborowski, a senior lecturer on digital culture at King\u2019s College London.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Z247AMYTLFHPVCQYA66E5FTR7E.jpg\")
The moment Guy Goma relalised he was in the wrong interview – on live TV. Photograph: BBC <\/p>\n
Goma\u2019s story began when he applied to the BBC for a job as a data specialist and was called in for an interview. He was waiting in the lobby when Elliott Gotkine, a producer at the British broadcaster\u2019s rolling 24\u2011hour news channel, approached him.<\/p>\n
Gotkine was looking for another Guy \u2013 technology journalist named Guy Kewney, who was scheduled to be a guest on the broadcast to discuss a verdict in an online music case involving Apple, the tech giant, and Apple Corps, The Beatles\u2019 record label.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s some debate about what happened next. Gotkine says he asked Goma if he was Guy Kewney. Goma says he asked only if he was Guy.<\/p>\n
Either way, it seems, there was no time to hash it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on air in five minutes,\u201d Gotkine recalled thinking during a recent interview. \u201cI haven\u2019t got time to hang around and chat. So I take him with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Goma, there were early signs something was amiss: the rush to the interview room. An offer to do his make-up. The moment he recognised his interviewer, anchor Karen Bowerman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that lady,\u201d Goma said, in a recent interview. \u201cBut she started talking already.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bowerman introduced him as Guy Kewney, and Goma\u2019s face contorted. \u201cI was fighting to say something,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
But then, \u201cit\u2019s like something came down to me and said, just relax\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Guy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MINCZVSYCZBKFL7CUK4PZOB4QE.jpg\")
Guy Goma was mistaken for technology journalist named Guy Kewney, who was scheduled to be a guest to discuss a verdict in an online music case involving Apple, the tech giant, and Apple Corps. Photograph: BBC <\/p>\n
The voice in his head, he recalled, was that of his mother when he was growing up in Congo. She taught him to respect others by not making a big deal of their mistakes.<\/p>\n
He gamely tried to answer the interviewer\u2019s first question: was he surprised by the verdict in the Apple case?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very surprised to see this verdict to come on me,\u201d Goma replied, \u201cbecause I was not expecting that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The anchor seemed puzzled, but followed up with questions about whether the case would change consumer habits and if more people would go online to download music.<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly,\u201d Goma said, in capable if imperfect English. \u201cYou can go everywhere on the cybercafe and you can check \u2013 you can easy \u2013 it\u2019s going to be very easy way for everyone to get something to the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bowerman then quickly brought the interview to an end. What was remarkable about the 80-second episode, Zaborowski said, was how Goma performed under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis answers are calm, understandable and maybe in some ways more digestible than we would get from an expert,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After the interview, Goma said he informed the BBC staff they had the wrong man. He then interviewed for the job he had applied for \u2013 but didn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
The mix-up was covered in newspapers across the country. For weeks, paparazzi hounded Goma, he said, and he moved for a time to his brother\u2019s house to avoid them.<\/p>\n
Gotkine, now 50, left his job at the company a few months after the interview aired, and now works as a freelance journalist and conference moderator. Goma (58) has a job working with people with learning disabilities.<\/p>\n
The two lost touch for years but reconnected in 2024, when they decided to produce their version of the story as co-authors of a book called The Wrong Guy.<\/p>\n
On the mix-up\u2019s 10-year anniversary, the BBC posted a tongue-in-cheek clip of it online. (The next year, the network would air a perhaps even more famous blooper, when a professor\u2019s live interview was interrupted by his two children barging into his office.)<\/p>\n
The enduring relevance of Goma\u2019s interview may have to do with how it cracked the glossy, ultra-polished veneer of television news, and the way it reflected \u201chow much televised expertise depends on plausibility of performance and composure\u201d, Zaborowski said.<\/p>\n
Or perhaps, he added, it\u2019s how Goma coped with a high-pressure pop quiz.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that he\u2019s so clearly caught off guard, and so clearly steadies himself, it\u2019s beautiful,\u201d he said. \u201cWith this grace, and this composure, he emerges as an absolute winner from this.\u201d<\/p>\n