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CRINGEEEEEEE. Picture: Channel 7
SEVEN reporter Edwina Bartholomew endured a couple of particularly awkward moments during her hosting duties on the AACTA Awards red carpet yesterday — and they came courtesy of two of Australia’s biggest stars.
Greeting the night’s biggest winner, Mel Gibson, as soon as he arrived on the red carpet, Bartholomew seemed to catch the Hollywood star off guard — and the results were slightly painful.
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“Mel Gibson, welcome to the AACTAs red carpet! Edwina, pleasure to see you,†she greeted the Hacksaw Ridge director.
“Who are you?†he shot back. Bartholomew, apparently mishearing his question, replied that she was “very very well — but how are you, more to the point? You’re the man of the evening!â€
Mel, meet Edwina. Picture: Channel 7Source:Channel 7
“No, I’m good. WHO are you?†he asked again.
“I’m Edwina.â€
“Edwina. Have we met before?â€
Bartholomew gamely tried to salvage the chat from that awkward start, asking Gibson how he was feeling about his 13 nominations for Hacksaw Ridge.
“Is there one [award] you’re particularly nervous about — Best Picture, Best Director?†she asked.
“Oh yeah, my knees are knocking,†he replied dryly.
It might not go down as an interview for the ages, but at least Gibson stopped to chat — which is more than can be said for Australian acting legend Geoffrey Rush. In another painful exchange, Bartholomew greeted the Shine star as he made his way down the red carpet — only to suffer an epic snub.
“Geoffrey, good to see you,†she said, as Rush first glanced briefly at her, then at camera — then walked across the shot to continue on down the red carpet.
“See how gracious I was? I let him pass by,†she joked.
Geoffrey was in a real RUSH. See what we did there?Source:Channel 7
To their credit, Seven kept both hilariously awkward moments in their red carpet wrap-up — showing viewers that the life of a red carpet correspondent isn’t all glitz and glamour (and in fact, is usually the exact opposite).
And Bartholomew herself was first to poke fun at the less-than-successful interactions, with a pair of Instagram posts acknowledging her foibles.
One highlight of her AACTAs experience was “Mel Gibson asking who the hell I was,†she wrote in one post, while in another she gave her own embelished retelling of the exchange:
E: Hi. I’m Edwina.
M: Hi. How are you?
E: I’m well.
M: No. Not how are you. Who the hell are you?
He may not know who she is, but we’re guessing Edwina won’t forget her encounter with Mel Gibson in a hurry. The Sunrise presenter today contacted news.com.au via Twitter, defending both stars and pointing out that Rush in fact spoke to her co-host and Sydney Confidential reporter Jonathan Moran a bit further up the red carpet: