Live TV sometimes fails those involved, and the latest – and frankly, hilarious – example of this was on Saturday morning’s edition of BBC Breakfast.
Hosts Jon Kay and Rachel Burden were left blushing when they introduced a guest, who turned out to be completely the wrong person. And he didn’t mind letting them know about it either.
Jon and Rachel introduced a segment – presumably reading off an autocue – about Leslie Binns, a heroic war veteran who ditched a Mount Everest climb to save the life of a disaster-struck fellow mountaineer.
But instead of seeing Leslie on the sofa, they were greeted by the slightly miffed expression of Dr Todd Landman, a revered professor and expert in US politics.
Dr Landman managed to keep his cool as he told the pair “I think you have the wrong man” before watching their faces drop in absolute horror.
Amazing scenes on BBC Breakfast pic.twitter.com/GqWsoBfsWd
— Sophie Hines (@sophie_hines1) January 7, 2017
Rachel then said, the penny having dropped: “Do you know, it’s ever so funny… I looked at this man and thought, ‘He doesn’t necessarily look like a mountaineer!’”
Dr Landman joked back: “I have many heroic stories to tell but not involving Everest.”
The cringeworthy moment was shared by people on Twitter in their droves, viewers who could not believe what they had witnessed while enjoying their morning coffee.
Just a tiny bit awkward #bbcbreakfast 🙈 @BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/ikgRDZDe3W
— Erin Main (@ErinFMain) January 7, 2017
However, the minor gaffe was taken lightly by everyone involved, as the presenters took to Twitter after the broadcast to have a giggle about it.
That moment when you're supposed to be talking to a mountaineer, an academic sits down next to you, and you go with it anyway @BBCBreakfast
— Rachel Burden (@rachelburden) January 7, 2017
OK, so no-one noticed that... We'll carry on. Wrong guest? Wrong story? Nah. The viewers won't guess. Aaaaagh. @BBCBreakfast @rachelburden
— Jon Kay (@jonkay01) January 7, 2017
And Rachel finally managed to meet the REAL Leslie Binns, too.
Let the real @BinnsLeslie stand up! @BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/0FQcnU3ll8
— Rachel Burden (@rachelburden) January 7, 2017
She joked that they might have even been separated at birth.
Thanks for all the messages. Special appreciation to @BinnsLeslie and @DrToddLandman #separatedatbirth and my Bristol buddy @jonkay01
— Rachel Burden (@rachelburden) January 7, 2017
Dr Landman later shared the moment on his own Twitter page and retweeted posts about it, showing that he took it all in his stride.
One message read: “You didn’t tell us you’d climbed Everest @DrToddLandman, we’ll have to add that to your bio!”
@DrToddLandman :-) you realise you will be asked where your mountaineering gear is as you arrive at every meeting for the next ~20 years?
— Sarah Sharples (@scsharples) January 7, 2017
The incident got people remembering Guy Goma, who famously appeared for an interview on BBC News 24 after being mistaken for somebody completely different, but went ahead with the chat anyway. A modern legend.
I still think he should've done a Guy Goma & just gone for it.... #bbcbreakfast
— Lisa Harte (@Icantreadit) January 7, 2017
