{"id":434069,"date":"2026-02-19T11:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/434069\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:47:08","slug":"winter-olympics-tv-presenter-embarrassed-as-she-apologises-for-drinking-alcohol-before-broadcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/434069\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Olympics TV presenter ’embarrassed’ as she apologises for drinking alcohol before broadcast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian sports presenter Danika Mason has issued an apology after footage of her appearing to slur her words during a live broadcast from the Winter Olympics in Italy spread rapidly across social media.<\/p>\n

The Channel Nine reporter acknowledged she had “misjudged the situation” by consuming alcohol before going on air, accepting full responsibility for the incident.<\/p>\n

Mason, who is well known for her National Rugby League coverage, made the admission during a subsequent appearance on the Today breakfast programme.<\/p>\n

“I want to take full responsibility, it’s not the standard I set myself,” she stated, describing herself as “embarrassed” by what had occurred.<\/p>\n

The incident attracted widespread attention, prompting even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to comment publicly.<\/p>\n

During Wednesday’s live cross to the Today programme, Mason delivered a rambling report that left viewers bewildered.<\/p>\n

She made peculiar references to iguanas and discussed coffee prices, telling the studio: “Literally like the price of coffee over here is actually fine, it’s more the price of coffee in the US that we’re gonna have to get used to. <\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

Australian sports presenter Danika Mason has issued an apology after footage of her appearing to slur her words during a live broadcast from the Winter Olympics in Italy spread rapidly across social media<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

“I’m not sure about the iguanas, where are we going with that one?”<\/p>\n

Her eyes appeared glazed as she continued with her sports update, confusing the UK and the US while stumbling over her words.<\/p>\n

Host Karl Stefanovic could be heard laughing throughout the segment, later offering an unprompted defence: “Look the cold weather is a thing, right. You can’t actually move your lips.”<\/p>\n

\"Danika<\/p>\n

Danika Mason works for Channel Nine in Australia<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Returning to the Today programme on Thursday morning, Mason addressed viewers directly after completing her sports report.<\/p>\n

“I want to take a moment, if that’s OK, just to apologise,” she began, thanking those who had sent messages expressing concern about her wellbeing.<\/p>\n

“I’m OK, probably just a little embarrassed,” she continued, before explaining the circumstances that had contributed to her state.<\/p>\n

“Look, I totally misjudged the situation, I shouldn’t have had a drink, especially in these conditions, it’s cold, we’ve got altitude, and not having had dinner probably didn’t help as well.”<\/p>\n

Her colleagues rallied behind her, with host Jenny Azzopardi noting “we know how hard you work, Danika” whilst Stefanovic described her as a “legend”.<\/p>\n

The viral clip divided opinion among Australian viewers, with reactions on social media ranging from supportive to scathing.<\/p>\n

\"Danika<\/p>\n

Danika Mason has been backed by the Australian Prime Minister<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

“Good on her, nothing wrong with this. You can tell she’s having an absolute ball over there,” wrote one user on X, whilst another took a harsher view: “If it’s not a health issue, she should be sacked on the spot – very unprofessional.”<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Albanese weighed in on Thursday, dismissing any suggestion of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

“Good on her. She’s over in Italy and she would have been tired,” he remarked, citing the time difference as a factor.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister declared himself “pro-Danika” and concluded: “Nothing to see here.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian sports presenter Danika Mason has issued an apology after footage of her appearing to slur her words…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,50,2331,217,56,54,55,61757],"class_list":["post-434069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-sport","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-winter-olympics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}