"Idiots": Shaun Micallef is Mad As Hell after ABC airs wrong episode
Shaun Micallef has joined in viewers’ confusion after ABC aired an old episode of Mad As Hell by mistake on Wednesday night.
Fans tuned in to the program on 8.30 pm to catch the latest episode, only to be met with a re-run of last week’s show.
Viewers quickly noted the mistake and pointed it out on social media. The hashtag #madashell became Australia’s top trending topic of the evening on Twitter, beating out other shows’ tag such as #MasterChefAU and #TheDrum.
What's with the repeat? I have no life and been looking forward to this for a week!!!! #madashell @ABCTV
— Chris Watson (@theaveragemuso) July 17, 2019
Was #MadAsHell meant to be a repeat? pic.twitter.com/HQ0DXjldi0
— Neil McMahon (@NeilMcMahon) July 17, 2019
It’s officially a stuff-up. #MadAsHell #auspol pic.twitter.com/zsfAjpAyVV
— Sandra K Eckersley🔹 (@SandraEckersley) July 17, 2019
On a positive note, @ABCTV airing the wrong episode of #Madashell means it has overtaken Masterchef in Twitter trends probably for the first time in ever. And it was an intense Masterchef too with the final 5 cooking in George Calombaris' restaurant. It's quite an achievement! pic.twitter.com/Lk66tgimaU
— Ryan Smedley (@Smedsta) July 17, 2019
Host of the show Micallef confirmed that the public broadcaster aired the wrong episode. “My wife is ringing the ABC switchboard. I rang ITV. Hopefully we’ll at least get the right one up on iView,” Micallef tweeted.
“It’s a good episode, too. Nice and topical. Maybe they’ll play it next week.”
My wife is ringing the ABC switchboard. I rang ITV. Hopefully we'll at least get the right one up on iView. It's a good episode too. Nice and topical. Maybe they'll play it next week. #madashelltv #idiots https://t.co/FzYRHuuISv
— Shaun Micallef (@shaunmicallef) July 17, 2019
#madashelltv I've just heard from the ABC and they've just confirmed that they're playing the wrong episode. Thank God. I thought I was going crazy...
— Shaun Micallef (@shaunmicallef) July 17, 2019
Towards the end of the show, an apology was added to the bottom of the screen saying that the old episode was played “due to a technical error”.
A follow-up statement by ABC TV apologised for “any disappointment caused by the technical issue”.
According to TV Blackbox, the error occurred after an ABC staffer mislabelled the episode. The mistake was not found out until the broadcast commenced and complaints started coming in from viewers.
Despite the mishap, the show’s ratings did not suffer for the night. Mad As Hell won its slot with 495,000 metro viewers, ahead of Channel 10’s new comedy-drama series My Life is Murder on 482,000.
The correct episode is now up on ABC’s streaming service iview. TV viewers will also be able to catch the fourth episode of the show’s tenth series on Thursday at 9pm.