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A veteran newsreader has experienced an on-air blunder after accidentally spitting out a throat lozenge during an interview.
Peter Overton, 59, began his career as a reporter in the 1980s and has now worked at Australia’s Nine Network for decades.
He is currently the presenter for Nine News Sydney from Sunday to Thursday at 6pm.
However, on last night’s broadcast he faced the incredibly awkward moment.
Just a few minutes into his hour-long bulletin, Peter went to introduce the network’s political editor for an update but spat out the lozenge in the process.
‘And Nine’s political editor Charles, oh excuse me, Charles Croucher joins me from Canberra. Charles, good evening to you,’ he said.
Acting quickly, he appeared to catch the lozenge in his hand and quickly resumed the news segment.
However, the next morning his colleagues couldn’t help but poke fun at what happened.
‘Proof this morning that we are all human and even the best in the ‘biz can suffer from a blunder,’ one of the presenters on the Today show said.
‘Just ask 9 News Sydney anchorman Peter Overton who was reading the news with the same authority as always last night when this happened…’
After the clip was replayed, another presenter declared ‘great catch’ before they played it again in slow motion ‘to make it even more embarrassing’.
They then spoke to Peter, who explained he’d had vocal cord surgery earlier this year and now always has lozenges nearby, but after misreading the order of the bulletin, realised he’d have to speak while one was still in his mouth.
He then revealed: ‘I didn’t actually know where it landed, so had to spend the next package searching for it and then I found it stuck on the back of my hand.’
Speaking about his recovery from having a polyp removed, Peter said he’d been working with a speech pathologist but was now on the mend.
‘I am going well, and as good as gold,’ he added.
‘Mate, he didn’t skip a beat 🔥🙌🙌 he is the GOAT,’ Melinda commented.
‘This is priceless!’ Jodi shared.
‘It’s the recovery that counts, and his was spectacular!’ Renie added.
Peter previously spoke about how the surgery left him unable to talk for a week.
‘I must admit, it scared the living daylights out of me,’ he said.
‘So, I was operated on three days later and they lasered it off. Then I was in hospital for a day, and then home, and then no talking for over a week.’
He continued: ‘It was interesting being mute. If I went to get the milk, I’d write an email to myself, and it would say I’d have to show it to someone!’
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