Carrie Bickmore cops a warning after going rogue on air
Carrie Bickmore has reportedly copped a tense warning after making a big cash offer live on her radio show.
The radio presenter, along with her co-host Tommy Little, were partaking in a long-running segment called The Time Game, in which listeners call in and try to guess when a stopwatch reaches exactly 5.00 seconds.
The game, which regularly airs on their Hit Network drive show Carrie and Tommy, has never actually been won in the three years that the duo have been inviting listeners to play, with the cash prize rising by $100 each time the game remained unbeaten.
During Wednesday's show, the game was commencing when Carrie decided to raise the stakes for listeners, without previously clearing her rogue idea with the radio powers that be.
The hosts shared that the cash prize has risen to a whopping $10,000, when Bickmore decided to add another $20,000 to the prize money before listener Nick was invited to play.
“Because our show starts at three, I’m timesing it by three: thirty grand on the line today,” Bickmore announced. “I just think it’s what people want.”
Tommy Little seemed stunned at this sudden leap in the prize money on offer, asking his co-host, “Have you been hitting the bottle early?” and noting that their boss was “shaking her head.”
“I’m not looking at her. If I’m not looking at her, it won’t be a problem,” Bickmore said.
Minutes later, with the game still yet to be played, Bickmore revealed that her announcement had sent the show’s bosses into a frenzy.
“There’s been a few meetings that’s been happening off-air in the last 10 minutes with bosses going, ‘You can’t just go saying things on-air that we can’t fulfil.’ I will fulfil it. If they can’t, I will.”
In a spectacular twist, as Nick began to play the game, he called stop just as the stopwatch hit five seconds exactly.
“Oh Nick, I didn’t run this past the bosses at all … I just went rogue and said $30,000 and now I’ve … oh my god, oh my god,” Bickmore said.
“I’m so excited by this, but I’m slightly terrified, because I’m not sure if it’s my money or the company’s money that you’re about to take.”
Thankfully for Bickmore, the Hit Network covered the $30,000 prize money, according to a statement shared to news.com.au.
Image credits: Hit Network