Charlotte Foster
TV

Sunrise hosts on high alert

The hosts of Sunrise are reportedly concerned about a "rat" in the Channel Seven studios, after off-air footage went viral of 7News reported calling Novak Djokovic an "a**hole".

Natalie Barr and David Koch, who are based in the Sydney offices of the Seven Network, are said to be worried that a "rat" could also leak their private conversations, according to the Daily Mail.

“Nat and Kochie would be wondering how many times they've had a private chat about something or someone, and will now be forced to watch every single word they say from here on in,” the source claimed, adding that “there’s a lot of backstabbing… in TV”.

“Everyone on TV knows there's banter off-air, and when the cameras are on it's a whole other picture.”

The leaked 7News video went viral last week, as Channel Seven reporters Rebecca Maddern and Mark Amor discussed whether Novak Djokovic should be detained in Australia, after arriving for the Australian Open with an improper visa and vaccination exemption. 

In the footage, Rebecca remarked, “Whatever way you look at it, Novak Djokovic is a lying, sneaky, a***hole,” as photos emerged of the tennis champion attending events in his native Serbia after testing positive for Covid-19. 

“It’s unfortunate that everybody else stuffed up around him. To go out when you know you’re Covid-positive - well, I don’t think he was even Covid-positive…”

Mike also labelled Djokovic an “a***hole”, saying: “You’ve got a bulls**t f***ing excuse and then he fell over his own f***ing lies, which is what happens right?”

After investigating how the footage emerged, the source of the leak was identified as an employee at the closed-captions company that works with Channel Seven, Ai-Media. 

“As a result of the investigation, Ai-Media has identified that an employee working remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak was responsible for the unauthorised distribution of the content,” the company confirmed in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

“Appropriate action has been taken with regard to the employee responsible.”

Image credits: Sunrise

Tags:
TV, 7News, Sunrise, Natalie Barr, Kochie