Saturday Night Live star Jost was initially set to lead NBC's coverage of Olympic surfing and had already settled in Tahiti. However, after a two-day break in the competition due to declining waves, he was unexpectedly called back to the United States .
When a last-minute replacement for Jost was needed, the American network surprisingly chose Bradnam, a weather presenter from Australia's Gold Coast, to take over hosting duties.
Despite Jost having a large team of cameramen and production staff to produce his reports from Tahiti, Bradnam will now broadcast surfing at the games to millions with just his trusted cameraman, Jack Marriott. In typical Australian style, Bradnam seized the opportunity, saying: "I don't muck around mate."
Marriott and his colleague are set to commentate the remaining Olympic surfing events for the esteemed network, with the much-anticipated finals projected to see medals awarded come Sunday.
Speaking from Teahupoo, Bradnam shared his astonishment with the Sydney Morning Herald about being summoned to take over Jost's duties and steer the broadcast for an American audience. Despite his evident excitement, the affable weatherman voiced some concerns regarding how well he might be received by US viewers and whether his Australian accent would resonate with them.
"I got a phone call as the surfing came back on line, it was literally just, 'Colin's not able to work it, could you please fill in for us? ' 'What the f---? Sure," he recounted. "Now I'm doing these crosses, they've got no idea who I am. I've done three crosses already today and I've covered the Americans today."
He further commented: "I am taking that side of the job seriously, of course. And then there's a part of me going, 'Jesus, can these Americans even understand me? '" While Jost famously added a touch of comedy to his segments and even hopped on a surfboard, down-to-earth Bradnam experienced one of the most momentous days in the history of competitive surfing, where he broadcasted the performance of Aussie champions Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing amongst the waves.
The Aussie journalist also admitted he initially had doubts about Jost, feeling the star already had "enough in life", but his opinion changed as they spent more time together. "I didn't want to like the guy," Bradnam confessed.
"He's way too good-looking, he's funny, and he's married to Scarlett Johansson. He's got enough in life. But I spent two days on the boats with him, I just couldn't help it, he was just a great bloke."
He went on to say that he wasn't sure where Jost had disappeared to, but he was now hoping for an opportunity to mingle with the top brass at NBC, saying: "No idea where he's gone, all I know is I'm now doing his crosses... If I don't get an invite to the NBC Christmas party after this, it won't be pretty."
The reason behind Jost being replaced as NBC's surfing correspondent at the Olympics remains a mystery. This development occurred shortly after the announcement that Jost will host a new US game show.
Most Popular
Comments / 0