Fifi’s brush with death
They can be a pretty vindictive lot over at Sunrise, Seven’s breakfast offering. If the weather girl has a nice, relaxing time in Hawaii for a week the price down the line is bound to be a high one – her life, perhaps. Today, they decided it would be highly amusing to position Fifi Box’s head in the vicinity of a stunt bike landing after doing a loop-the-loop. (No crash helmet, naturally. Well, those things are pricey, you know.) Looks like it got even closer than they were expecting – just half a wheel-length. “Ooh – sugar!” exclaimed Mel, as she watched the live coverage with the nation, “That was a little close!” It sure was.
The BBC once tried a show segment where members of the public were trained to do dangerous stunts. After several accidents, it was eventually axed after a bungee rope failed and a contestant fell 36 metres to his death. The stunt hadn’t been staged safely, and massive pressure had been brought to bear on him to go through with it – a combination I’ve always found deeply disturbing.
Fifi Box today found herself in a similar situation. When she signed up for the job of Sunrise weather presenter she didn’t agree to risk her life. And when, under pressure – Box’s slot formerly contained Denyer's Dare* – she agreed to participate in today’s stunt, she assumed it would be safe. Hmmm.
Desperate for ratings, Seven has been pushing the envelope recently. Blind Gerrard Gosens dropped his dance partner on her head recently on Dancing With The Stars. In fact, it was a kind of flipping back movement, so there were a lot more forces at work than just gravity – itself enough to do permanent damage. Not much was made of it – perhaps the result of a nation trying not to seem ‘blindist’. Had partner Jessica Raffa become a paraplegic, though, there’d have been an outcry.
Seems like it’ll take something like that – or a fatality – for Seven to rein itself in.
* I could possibly have worded that differently!
Update: Here’s a YouTube clip of the hairy stunt.
ETA: As picked up on at TV Tonight, Mel says ‘sugar’, not ‘shit’ - amended.
Images: Network Seven
Hello,
This is great stunt, little mistake can cause her life.. I am surprised she didn't move at all..
Is this for real that girl stood there while bike coming towards her???!! Amazing
Bit early to be watching TV anyway. But if I had to it would be Ch.7 over 9.
Thanks, John. Sunrise is a surprisingly influential piece of media. Kev might not have got the PM gig without the introduction to the Nation it gave him. So Ausculture keeps an eye on it, through all the cheap stunts, knee-jerk reactions and dodgy jokes.