- Australian presenters Mel Grieg and Michael Christian apologise for stunt
- Two interviews on Australian TV about death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha
- Greig: 'When I heard it was the worst phone call I have ever had in my life'
- She adds: 'I care about the family and want their privacy to be respected'
- Show has been cancelled and station bans all hoax calls by presenters
- 2Day FM boss: Staff tried to call hospital five times before hoax was aired
- But hospital denies show contacted senior managers or press officers
- Post-mortem exam due to be held this week and date set for an inquest
- Keith Vaz: 'Hospital must do more to support nurse's distressed relatives'
Two Australian DJs who made a hoax call about the Duchess of Cambridge's
pregnancy today came out of hiding to claim they were 'gutted, shattered
and heartbroken' after the nurse they tricked was found dead days later.
Mel Greig, 30, and Michael Christian, 25, who work for Sydney radio station 2Day FM, said they were devastated and wanted to apologise to the family of mother-of-two Jacintha Saldanha.
'The first thing I asked was: "Was she a mother?"' an emotional Miss Greig said. 'If we played any involvement in her death then we’re very sorry for that. We couldn’t foresee what was going to happen in the future.'
Their interview came as the radio station's company Austereo said they tried to contact King Edward VII Hospital five times before putting the hoax call on air - although the hospital has now separately said that they 'did not speak to senior management' or their press office.
The 'incredibly sorry' pair have been in hiding since Ms Saldana, 46, who worked at the hospital in Marylebone, central London, was found dead - 72 hours after the hoax call.
Today, they gave two interviews in Australia - to Clare Brady on Channel 7's Today Tonight and Tracy Grimshaw on Channel 9's A Current Affair - and both interviewers adopted a sympathetic approach.
Following public outcry - and even death threats made against the duo - Ms Brady repeatedly asked them how they were feeling and at the end of the interview remarked that they had been 'very brave.'
Mel Greig, 30, and Michael Christian, 25, who work for Sydney radio station 2Day FM, said they were devastated and wanted to apologise to the family of mother-of-two Jacintha Saldanha.
'The first thing I asked was: "Was she a mother?"' an emotional Miss Greig said. 'If we played any involvement in her death then we’re very sorry for that. We couldn’t foresee what was going to happen in the future.'
Their interview came as the radio station's company Austereo said they tried to contact King Edward VII Hospital five times before putting the hoax call on air - although the hospital has now separately said that they 'did not speak to senior management' or their press office.
The 'incredibly sorry' pair have been in hiding since Ms Saldana, 46, who worked at the hospital in Marylebone, central London, was found dead - 72 hours after the hoax call.
Today, they gave two interviews in Australia - to Clare Brady on Channel 7's Today Tonight and Tracy Grimshaw on Channel 9's A Current Affair - and both interviewers adopted a sympathetic approach.
Following public outcry - and even death threats made against the duo - Ms Brady repeatedly asked them how they were feeling and at the end of the interview remarked that they had been 'very brave.'
'I just hope that people are caring for you guys too,' the presenter added. 'I feel for two DJs who like to put a few smiles on faces and it’ll be a while before we hear the two of you laugh.'
Ms Saldanha was found dead on Friday morning after the hoax call in which the presenters posed as the Queen and Prince of Wales.
The duo recounted how they found out about news of Ms Saldanha's
death at nurses’ housing in central London, with Miss Greig telling Ms Grimshaw: ‘It was the
worst phone call I have ever had in my life’.
The DJ added: ‘There's not a minute that goes by that we don't
think about her family and what they must be going through. And the thought we may have played a part in that is gut wrenching.’
She said she wanted to 'reach out' to the
nurse's family to 'give them a big hug and say sorry' - and Mr
Christian added: 'I don’t think that anyone could have predicted what
could’ve happened.'Ms Saldanha was found dead on Friday morning after the hoax call in which the presenters posed as the Queen and Prince of Wales.
The DJs - who were not paid for
today's interview - were attempting to reach Kate, 30,
who was admitted to hospital with severe morning sickness after it was
revealed she was pregnant.
Ms Saldanha put the call through to
Kate’s ward at the King Edward VII Hospital, where an
unnamed colleague gave details of the Duchess’s treatment for severe
morning sickness.
The pair said they believed they would never get past the switchboard and wanted to be hung up on.
Instead, to their astonishment, they fooled experienced nurse Jancintha Saldanha into putting them through to the nurse treating the Duchess of Cambridge.
In a transcript of the duo's pre-recorded interview with A Current Affair, screening on Australian TV, a tearful Miss Greig, who impersonated the Queen in the hoax call, said: 'I've thought about it a million times. I want to reach out to them and just give them a big hug and say "Sorry".
'I hope they're OK. I really do.'
Mr Christian said he hoped Ms Saldanha's family get the love, support and care that they need.
The pair escaped a tough grilling, with Ms Brady questioning them in a soft and sympathetic fashion. At one point she said to Miss Greig: 'I feel in you Mel, that you're all but frozen, is that correct?'
Miss Greig's mascara was running down her face as she tearfully recounted the events that have resulted in both of them being inundated with savage comments about their behaviour.
They are both receiving counselling in case they attempt self harm. Miss Greig added that hearing of the nurse's death 'was the worst phone call I have had in my life.'
Miss Greig went on to say: 'There is not a minute that goes by where we don't think about her [Ms Saldanha's] family and what they must be going through.
'The thought that we may have played a part in that is gut wrenching.'
She said phoning the hospital was such a silly idea and not for a second did they expect to speak to Kate or anyone else at the hospital.
Miss Greig vowed to face Ms Saldanha's family if she was called to give evidence at a London inquest into the death of the nurse. 'If that’s going to make them feel better then I’ll do what I need to do, absolutely,' she said.
After the prank call had ended, they said, it was referred to a background team – ‘people above us’ whom they did not identify – who would provide them with a ‘yea or nay’ as to whether the recording could go to air.
Mr Christian said of the family: ‘I just hope they get the love, support and care that they need. I can't imagine how they feel right now. We're shattered and I just know it was never intended to be anything there was no malice, no intent.
'We just hope they're OK and that our deepest sympathies are with all of them through what is an incredibly tough time.’
He added: 'The joke was 100 per cent on us. The idea was never, let's call up and get through to Kate or let's speak to a nurse. The joke was, our accents are horrible, they don't sound anything like who they're intended to be.'
The radio station's owner, Southern Cross Austero Media, said it had suspended advertising on 2Day FM until further notice, ended Miss Greig and Mr Christian's Hot 30 show and suspended prank calls across the company.
Meanwhile, the boss of the radio station said today that his staff had tried to call King Edward VII Hospital five times before the hoax was aired.
Rhys Holleran, chief executive officer of Austereo, said his team had attempted to contact the hospital to discuss what had been recorded before it went out on the radio.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the tragedy showed 'just how passionately nurses care about their duty'. 'I think the tragedy here was partly because that individual nurse did feel so awful about what had happened,' he told Sky News.
Mr Hunt said he felt the issue was not with codes of practice at hospitals - where he said confidentiality is 'sacrosanct' - but that it would be clear once inquiries were concluded whether there were wider lessons to be learned for the NHS.
'My instinct is this was an isolated incident with very exceptional circumstances and the impression I get from the nurses I talk to is that they treat this kind of thing incredibly carefully and very, very seriously indeed, he added.
It was revealed yesterday that the family of the tragic nurse believe she died of shame.
Ms Saldanha’s brother Naveen said that his devoutly Catholic sister was a ‘proper and righteous person’.
She would have been ‘devastated’ at unwittingly assisting a colleague in breaching medical confidentiality over the condition of the Duchess of Cambridge.
‘She would have felt much shame about the incident,’ he said.
A recording of the conversation with Ms Saldanha was broadcast on the 2Day FM station with the DJs gleefully boasting about their successful hoax. Yesterday they were in hiding as the worldwide backlash against their action grew.
Ms Saldanha, whose husband Benedict Barboza is an NHS accountant, moved to the UK ten years ago from Mangalore in south-west India.
In Mangalore yesterday, her sister-in-law Celine Barboza said the family could not understand what had caused the ‘strong’ mother of two to apparently end her life.
‘We just cannot believe what has happened,’ she said. ‘She was a very strong person and couldn’t have taken this drastic step easily. We would like to get an answer.’
Another sister-in-law, Irene Barboza, said: ‘She used to call us very regularly and was like our fourth sister.
'But she told no one in the family about the prank call that has been blamed for driving her to suicide.’
The nurse’s 49-year-old husband said he was ‘devastated’ by her death while her 14-year-daughter Lisha posted on Facebook ‘I miss you. I love you.’
They and her 16-year-old son Junal were said to be ‘shocked and inconsolable’. The family live in Southmead, Bristol, and Ms Saldanha stayed in nurses’ quarters in London during her shifts at the hospital.
Her mother-in-law, 85-year-old Carmine Barboza, wept as she told of the moment she heard of Ms Saldanha’s death from her son.
‘He was crying and couldn’t speak much,’ she said.
‘I want to know about the circumstances of her death and nobody is giving me an answer.
'She used to stay at the nurses’ quarters and go home to be with her children on her days off, so now I don’t know who will look after my grandchildren.’
She added that the family were desperate to bring Ms Saldanha’s body back to India to perform the last rites in the Catholic tradition.
‘Nobody is telling me any information about her and whether her body is being brought to India.’
A neighbour said: ‘What these Australian guys did is not acceptable. Their prank has killed our beloved Jacintha. Her death should be blamed on them.
‘She must have been embarrassed and under a lot of mental trauma because of those two people, otherwise she wouldn’t have taken such an extreme step of killing herself.’
Meanwhile, the boss of the radio station which made the royal hoax call said early today that his staff had tried to call the hospital five times before the hoax was put to air.
Mr Holleran said his team had attempted to liaise with King Edward VII Hospital before the bogus royal call was played on Australia radio.
Under broadcasting rules in Australia, the permission of anyone ‘caught’ in a radio hoax must be sought before the call can be put to air.
‘We rang them up to discuss what we had recorded – absolutely (before it went to air). We attempted to contact them on five occasions because we wanted to speak to them about it,’ said Mr Holleran.
‘It is absolutely true to say that we did attempt to contact those people,’ he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
He added that he believed his radio station staff had carried out the appropriate level of duty while performing the hoax.
He did not say why the recording still went to air when they had failed to contact anyone at the hospital to discuss the hoax call.
‘This is a deeply tragic, unforeseen circumstance,’ he said. ‘We’re deeply saddened by the events. This is an incredibly tragedy, there’s no getting away from that.
‘When anything’s done, it’s done in a collaborative sense. Our people are very well trained’.
Last week Mr Holleran, said: 'We are confident we haven’t done anything illegal’.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has begun an investigation into the hoax and the furore that has followed in the wake of the apparent suicide of Ms Saldanha.
But a spokesman for the King Edward VII Hospital said of the station's claim they tried to speak to staff five times before broadcast: 'Following the hoax call they did not speak to senior management or the company that deals with our media enquiries.'
Sources say they are 'extremely surprised' at the statement from the station as it indicated the broadcaster was well aware of its responsibility to inform the hospital of what it had done and yet went on to broadcast the call regardless.
'To be honest no-one here is really apportioning blame at the presenters. They are clearly kids out of their depth,' they said.
'But there are serious questions to be asked of station management about why they thought it appropriate to prank call a hospital where there are extremely sick people and to broadcast what were private medical details about one of its patients.'
After visiting Ms Saldanha’s family at their home, MP Keith Vaz said a memorial service was being planned for next week and the King Edward VII Hospital had set up a memorial fund in her name.
Mr Vaz today urged the hospital to hold an inquiry and provide more support to the relatives. 'What is needed, clearly, is an inquiry by the hospital into what has happened,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One.
'The hospital has sent them a letter, which I have seen, but I'm surprised that nobody has made the journey to Bristol to sit with them and offer them the counselling that I think they need.'
He said the family were in 'terrible distress', adding: 'More support in my view needs to be given.'
The hospital’s chairman, Lord Glenarthur, has accused Sydney-based 2Day FM of ‘humiliating two dedicated and caring nurses’ and demanded that it review its editorial guidelines.
The station’s chairman, Max Moore-Wilton, described the events of the past few days as ‘tragic’.
The pair said they believed they would never get past the switchboard and wanted to be hung up on.
Instead, to their astonishment, they fooled experienced nurse Jancintha Saldanha into putting them through to the nurse treating the Duchess of Cambridge.
In a transcript of the duo's pre-recorded interview with A Current Affair, screening on Australian TV, a tearful Miss Greig, who impersonated the Queen in the hoax call, said: 'I've thought about it a million times. I want to reach out to them and just give them a big hug and say "Sorry".
'I hope they're OK. I really do.'
Mr Christian said he hoped Ms Saldanha's family get the love, support and care that they need.
The pair escaped a tough grilling, with Ms Brady questioning them in a soft and sympathetic fashion. At one point she said to Miss Greig: 'I feel in you Mel, that you're all but frozen, is that correct?'
Miss Greig's mascara was running down her face as she tearfully recounted the events that have resulted in both of them being inundated with savage comments about their behaviour.
They are both receiving counselling in case they attempt self harm. Miss Greig added that hearing of the nurse's death 'was the worst phone call I have had in my life.'
Miss Greig went on to say: 'There is not a minute that goes by where we don't think about her [Ms Saldanha's] family and what they must be going through.
'The thought that we may have played a part in that is gut wrenching.'
She said phoning the hospital was such a silly idea and not for a second did they expect to speak to Kate or anyone else at the hospital.
Miss Greig vowed to face Ms Saldanha's family if she was called to give evidence at a London inquest into the death of the nurse. 'If that’s going to make them feel better then I’ll do what I need to do, absolutely,' she said.
After the prank call had ended, they said, it was referred to a background team – ‘people above us’ whom they did not identify – who would provide them with a ‘yea or nay’ as to whether the recording could go to air.
Mr Christian said of the family: ‘I just hope they get the love, support and care that they need. I can't imagine how they feel right now. We're shattered and I just know it was never intended to be anything there was no malice, no intent.
'We just hope they're OK and that our deepest sympathies are with all of them through what is an incredibly tough time.’
He added: 'The joke was 100 per cent on us. The idea was never, let's call up and get through to Kate or let's speak to a nurse. The joke was, our accents are horrible, they don't sound anything like who they're intended to be.'
The radio station's owner, Southern Cross Austero Media, said it had suspended advertising on 2Day FM until further notice, ended Miss Greig and Mr Christian's Hot 30 show and suspended prank calls across the company.
Meanwhile, the boss of the radio station said today that his staff had tried to call King Edward VII Hospital five times before the hoax was aired.
Rhys Holleran, chief executive officer of Austereo, said his team had attempted to contact the hospital to discuss what had been recorded before it went out on the radio.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the tragedy showed 'just how passionately nurses care about their duty'. 'I think the tragedy here was partly because that individual nurse did feel so awful about what had happened,' he told Sky News.
Mr Hunt said he felt the issue was not with codes of practice at hospitals - where he said confidentiality is 'sacrosanct' - but that it would be clear once inquiries were concluded whether there were wider lessons to be learned for the NHS.
'My instinct is this was an isolated incident with very exceptional circumstances and the impression I get from the nurses I talk to is that they treat this kind of thing incredibly carefully and very, very seriously indeed, he added.
It was revealed yesterday that the family of the tragic nurse believe she died of shame.
Ms Saldanha’s brother Naveen said that his devoutly Catholic sister was a ‘proper and righteous person’.
She would have been ‘devastated’ at unwittingly assisting a colleague in breaching medical confidentiality over the condition of the Duchess of Cambridge.
‘She would have felt much shame about the incident,’ he said.
A recording of the conversation with Ms Saldanha was broadcast on the 2Day FM station with the DJs gleefully boasting about their successful hoax. Yesterday they were in hiding as the worldwide backlash against their action grew.
Ms Saldanha, whose husband Benedict Barboza is an NHS accountant, moved to the UK ten years ago from Mangalore in south-west India.
In Mangalore yesterday, her sister-in-law Celine Barboza said the family could not understand what had caused the ‘strong’ mother of two to apparently end her life.
‘We just cannot believe what has happened,’ she said. ‘She was a very strong person and couldn’t have taken this drastic step easily. We would like to get an answer.’
Another sister-in-law, Irene Barboza, said: ‘She used to call us very regularly and was like our fourth sister.
'But she told no one in the family about the prank call that has been blamed for driving her to suicide.’
The nurse’s 49-year-old husband said he was ‘devastated’ by her death while her 14-year-daughter Lisha posted on Facebook ‘I miss you. I love you.’
They and her 16-year-old son Junal were said to be ‘shocked and inconsolable’. The family live in Southmead, Bristol, and Ms Saldanha stayed in nurses’ quarters in London during her shifts at the hospital.
Her mother-in-law, 85-year-old Carmine Barboza, wept as she told of the moment she heard of Ms Saldanha’s death from her son.
‘He was crying and couldn’t speak much,’ she said.
‘I want to know about the circumstances of her death and nobody is giving me an answer.
'She used to stay at the nurses’ quarters and go home to be with her children on her days off, so now I don’t know who will look after my grandchildren.’
She added that the family were desperate to bring Ms Saldanha’s body back to India to perform the last rites in the Catholic tradition.
‘Nobody is telling me any information about her and whether her body is being brought to India.’
A neighbour said: ‘What these Australian guys did is not acceptable. Their prank has killed our beloved Jacintha. Her death should be blamed on them.
‘She must have been embarrassed and under a lot of mental trauma because of those two people, otherwise she wouldn’t have taken such an extreme step of killing herself.’
Meanwhile, the boss of the radio station which made the royal hoax call said early today that his staff had tried to call the hospital five times before the hoax was put to air.
Mr Holleran said his team had attempted to liaise with King Edward VII Hospital before the bogus royal call was played on Australia radio.
Under broadcasting rules in Australia, the permission of anyone ‘caught’ in a radio hoax must be sought before the call can be put to air.
‘We rang them up to discuss what we had recorded – absolutely (before it went to air). We attempted to contact them on five occasions because we wanted to speak to them about it,’ said Mr Holleran.
‘It is absolutely true to say that we did attempt to contact those people,’ he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
He added that he believed his radio station staff had carried out the appropriate level of duty while performing the hoax.
He did not say why the recording still went to air when they had failed to contact anyone at the hospital to discuss the hoax call.
‘This is a deeply tragic, unforeseen circumstance,’ he said. ‘We’re deeply saddened by the events. This is an incredibly tragedy, there’s no getting away from that.
‘When anything’s done, it’s done in a collaborative sense. Our people are very well trained’.
Last week Mr Holleran, said: 'We are confident we haven’t done anything illegal’.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has begun an investigation into the hoax and the furore that has followed in the wake of the apparent suicide of Ms Saldanha.
But a spokesman for the King Edward VII Hospital said of the station's claim they tried to speak to staff five times before broadcast: 'Following the hoax call they did not speak to senior management or the company that deals with our media enquiries.'
Sources say they are 'extremely surprised' at the statement from the station as it indicated the broadcaster was well aware of its responsibility to inform the hospital of what it had done and yet went on to broadcast the call regardless.
'To be honest no-one here is really apportioning blame at the presenters. They are clearly kids out of their depth,' they said.
'But there are serious questions to be asked of station management about why they thought it appropriate to prank call a hospital where there are extremely sick people and to broadcast what were private medical details about one of its patients.'
After visiting Ms Saldanha’s family at their home, MP Keith Vaz said a memorial service was being planned for next week and the King Edward VII Hospital had set up a memorial fund in her name.
Mr Vaz today urged the hospital to hold an inquiry and provide more support to the relatives. 'What is needed, clearly, is an inquiry by the hospital into what has happened,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One.
'The hospital has sent them a letter, which I have seen, but I'm surprised that nobody has made the journey to Bristol to sit with them and offer them the counselling that I think they need.'
He said the family were in 'terrible distress', adding: 'More support in my view needs to be given.'
The hospital’s chairman, Lord Glenarthur, has accused Sydney-based 2Day FM of ‘humiliating two dedicated and caring nurses’ and demanded that it review its editorial guidelines.
The station’s chairman, Max Moore-Wilton, described the events of the past few days as ‘tragic’.
But he added: ‘As we have said in
our own statements, the outcome was unforeseeable and very regrettable.’
Although she was not blamed in any way for what happened, friends said Ms Saldanha ‘took it very badly’ and was extremely ‘traumatised’.
Described as popular, quiet and ‘profoundly caring’, she is said to have made clear to her family the depth of her anxiety when the hoax was broadcast.
Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister, described the incident as a ‘terrible tragedy’.
The hospital has repeatedly stressed that Ms Saldanha did not face any disciplinary action and it ‘was working hard to support her’ but the feeling that she had unintentionally broken the hospital rules, bringing shame on her and her employer, may well have pushed her into taking desperate action.
Her fellow victim of the hoax, who has not been named, is also said to have been ‘incredibly upset’.
Yesterday a special Mass was said at St Vincent de Paul Presbytery in Southmead, just 200 yards from Ms Saldanha’s home.
Father Tom Finnegan said: ‘She was a very caring wife, a very loving mother and a gentle friend and neighbour who regularly attended church here.
‘People are saddened – it is still all very raw. She was well known and well liked in the community and she will be a loss. She felt especially privileged to work in the hospital in London – everyone is deeply shocked and saddened.’
It was also revealed yesterday that Miss Greig had been 'close to a breakdown' and a close friend said there were 'real fears that she could self-harm'.
Meanwhile, a newspaper poll in Australia has revealed that more than two-thirds of people do not blame DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian for the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha.
More than 34,000 readers took part in the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper's poll, with 68 per cent saying the blame should not be apportioned to the radio presenters.
It comes as the Australian press accused the UK media of playing a 'blame game' in the wake of the incident.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted an Austereo spokesman as describing the British media backlash as 'ferocious'. She said: 'Australia seems to be much more balanced. In the UK it's like they're on a witch-hunt.'
Miss Greig and Mr Christian pulled out of a third interview for The Project, on the Ten network, because they were unwell, a TV channel spokesman said. Channel 7 and Channel 9, which gave the interviews, are separately owned - by Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment respectively.
This is the full transcript of Clare Brady's interview with Michael Christian and Mel Grieg on Channel 7's Today Tonight - one of two interviews given by the 2Day FM radio presenters
Reporter Clare Brady: 'Considering what we’re about to discuss … do you feel emotionally stable to do this interview?'
Michael: 'Yes'
Mel: 'Yes'
Clare: 'When you heard the dreadful results following the days after the prank, describe for me how you felt.'
Mel: 'Unfortunately I remember that moment very well because I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened and I remember my first question was "was she a mother?"'
Clare: 'When you found out she was, of two children, how did you feel?'
Mel: 'Very sorry and saddened for the family. I can’t imagine what they’d be going through.'
Michael: 'Gutted. Shattered. Heartbroken.'
Clare: 'Does it feel real to you?'
Michael: 'We’re still trying to get our heads around everything. Trying to make sense of the situation.'
Mel: 'It doesn’t seem real because you just couldn’t foresee something like that happening from a prank call. You know it was never meant to go that far. It was meant to be a silly little prank that so many people have done before. This wasn’t meant to happen.'
Clare: 'In hindsight, would you do something like that again?'
Michael: 'I don’t think that anyone could have predicted what could’ve happened. It was just a tragic set of circumstances that I don’t think anyone could have thought that we’d be here.'
Clare: 'Who came up with the idea of the prank?'
Michael: 'It was just in a team meeting before the show.'
Mel: 'Everything’s done as a team.'
Clare: 'Did you have legal advice or senior producers nursing you through this?'
Michael: 'The call to begin with wasn’t about speaking to Kate. It wasn’t about trying to get a scoop or anything. The call was just – I mean we’d assumed that we’d be hung up on and that’d be that.'
Clare: 'When you weren’t hung up on and, let’s be honest, you thought it was a coup at the time, were you quite shocked that you even got that far to talk to the nurse beside Princess Kate?'
Mel: 'Absolutely. And the accents were terrible. You know it was designed to be stupid. We were never meant to get that far from the little corgies barking in the background – we obviously wanted it to be a joke.'
Michael: 'And I suppose, you know the joke was always on us, not anyone else. It wasn’t about trying to fool someone. I mean we just assumed that with the voices that we put on, you know, we were going to get told off and that was the gag – in us.'
Clare: 'Here at the station, at Austereo, do you get any coaching, any training at all as to what you’re allowed to put to air? What you’ve got to tell people on when they’re being recorded and they’re going to be put on air? Have you been taught that during your tenure here?
Michael: 'This phonecall is the same with any phonecall, with any prerecorded segment that goes to air, there’s processes in place and people that make those decisions. I mean our role is just …'
Clare: 'Have you been taught that – sat down in a legal class? (Interrupting)'
Michael: 'There are people that make those decisions for us. Our responsibility is just to…'
Clare: (Interrupting) Did someone listen to that recording and say?'
Mel: (Interrupting) 'It went through the processes of every other recorded bit that we do – from interviews to you know anything at all that gets recorded and passed on to the appropriate people, goes through the process, and we’re told whether it’s yes or no to play.'
Clare: 'What was it, if you can give me a rough, and it probably feels all blurry to you, but the time spent from when you did that call to putting it to air? Was it two hours, three hours?'
Michael: 'In between all of that though it wasn’t as though we were sitting around waiting for an answer. You know there was …'
Mel: 'We go about our work and just keep going.'
Michael: 'Getting other things organised.'
Clare: 'But you were pretty giddy with what you’d pulled off, weren’t you?'
Mel: 'We couldn’t believe that it had worked, absolutely. You didn’t expect it to. We thought a hundred people before us would’ve tried the same thing. We just did not see that actually working.'
Michael: 'But it wasn’t to get something that no one else had. It wasn’t about getting'
Clare: 'But you are aware you were trying to get a medical condition and a medical condition on a Royal?'
Mel: 'But we didn’t actually want that. We just wanted to be hung up on. We wanted to be hung up on with our silly voices and wanted a twenty second segment to air of us doing stupid voices.'
Clare: 'You didn’t think of identifying yourselves at the end of that call?'
Mel: 'That’s where the process comes in. We just record everything and pass it to the team. That’s what we do.'
Michael: 'And again the call itself is – there’s no malice in the call. There was no digging. There was no trying to upset or get a reaction.'
Clare: 'Do you feel now that you’re part of a witch hunt? That someone wants someone to pay here? There’s hackers here threatening to shut down the station and hack into the whole system if you guys aren’t sacked. Does that make you feel vulnerable?'
Mel: 'There’s nothing that can make me feel worse than what I feel right now. And for what I feel for the family. We’re so sorry that this has happened to them.' (Crying)
Clare: 'How do you move on? Is someone caring for you guys? Are you having counseling too?'
Michael: 'We’re getting the support that we need and we’ve got those around us that are helping us but you know, right now …'
Mel: 'I care more about the family. I want to know that they’ve got the support that they need and that the public are, you know, being respectful of their privacy.”
Clare: 'Have you tried to contact the family in any way?'
Mel: 'I don’t think it’s an appropriate time to do that yet. But this is where we want to say that we are thinking of you and if we could call you we would want to reach out to you.'
Clare: 'Or if you could turn the clock back?'
Mel: 'If we played any involvement in her death then we’re very sorry for that. And time will only tell.'
Clare: Have you been reading a lot Mel?
Mel: 'I’ve been advised not to but I’m doing it on the intention of finding out more about Jacintha.'
Clare: 'What lessons can other DJs, and worldwide, learn from your horrible experience?'
Michael: 'These are prank calls. They’ve been around for as long as radio’s existed and they’re done by every radio station.'
Clare: 'But this result is just horrific..'
Michael: 'But no one could have predicted this result.'
Clare: 'What are you guys going to do then? Are you going to pursue your DJ careers?'
Mel: 'I don’t want to think about that right now. There’s bigger, more pressing issues and that’s making sure that family gets through this tough time. You know our careers aren’t important at the moment.'
Clare: 'That Scotland Yard is now involved, and you may be called to an inquest, and that inquest will probably be in London and you’ll see the family face to face – are you prepared for that?'
Michael: 'Right now we’re trying to wrap our heads around what’s happened.'
Mel: 'If that’s going to make them feel better then I’ll do what I need to do, absolutely. If that’s something that they want to do, to get some closure, then I’ll do that.'
Clare: 'You have had a lot of support. There’s a poll out today of 11000 people and two thirds have said they feel you’re not to blame for this horrible result. And then you’ve got the other side of horrible Twitter saying "many lives ruined", "shame on you", "you’ve got blood on your hands". How do you balance that – the support and the absolute hostility?'
Michael: 'I think that, you know, what’s important right now is you know, that the family of Jacintha are getting the support and the love that they deserve. And I mean that’s what’s important here. You know, it was, it is nothing more than a tragic turn of events that no one could have predicted and, you know, for the part that we played, we’re obviously incredibly sorry and you know …'
Clare: 'I feel in you Mel that you’re all but frozen, is that correct?'
Mel: 'I’m just so devastated for them. I’m really feeling for them.'
Clare: 'It’s a shocking turn of events.'
Mel: 'I just couldn’t … If we had any idea that something like this could be even possible to happen, you know, we couldn’t see this happening. It was meant to be a prank call.'
Clare: 'Do you feel sick now that you were saying ‘this is the highlight of my career’ and you were excited about getting the call through, to get to this moment?'
Mel: 'We couldn’t foresee what was going to happen in the future.'
Clare: 'When you did call them and you were talking – first to Jacintha and then the second nurse – did you think in the days after ‘oh those poor nurses, wonder how they’re feeling’? Because I know I did, but I’m an overly cautious person – I think everything through and through and through. Did you think for them at all, or were you just in that giddy sense?'
Michael: 'The call itself was not malicious and no harm was intended on Jacintha, or the other nurse, or Kate, or Prince William, or anyone. It wasn’t – from start to finish – there was no harm intended. And obviously, you know, we’re incredibly sorry for the harm that we may have helped contribute (to).'
Clare: 'You’ve been very brave for talking and I just hope that people are caring for you guys too, because it’s going to take (a lot). I feel for two DJs who like to put a few smiles on faces and it’ll be a while before we hear the two of you laugh.'
Michael: 'Thank you.'
This is the full transcript of Tracy Grimshaw's interview with Michael Christian and Mel Grieg on Channel 9's A Current Affair - the other interview given by the 2Day FM radio presenters
Tracy: ‘You're under enormous pressure at the moment, are you up to doing this?’
They both nod
Tracy: ‘If it gets too much let me know and we'll take a break. I think we should go back to when he prank call was first made, whose idea was it?
Michael: ‘It was just the team sitting down before the show, just had the idea for a simple, harmless phone call. When we thought about making a call we thought it would go for 30 seconds. We were going to be hung up on and that was it as innocent as that.’
Mel: ‘We thought 100 people before us would have tried that. We thought it was just such a silly idea. Our accents were terrible. Not for a second did we expect to even speak to Kate let alone have a conversation with anyone at the hospital. We wanted to be hung up on.’
Michael: ‘The expectation was we never thought we would even get to Kate. It wasn't even about, can we speak to her, it was about us, let's just call and we'll get hung up upon and that was it.’
Tracy: ‘So when it became clear that when you were put on hold and when the call was going to be put through, did you have any second thoughts at that time? Did you think, wait a minute this is going a bit further than we expected?’
Mel: ‘I still expected us to be put through to some kind of complaints area. That she would have realised from that point, we were going to be transferred and told off and hung up on. I didn't expect to get through to anyone at any stage.’
Michael: ‘I mean I don't think anyone could have expected or foreseen what was going to happen. It was completely innocent. We just assumed we would be cut off and that would be it.’
Tracy: ‘At that point when the second nurse was giving you a lot of detail, personal information about the Duchess, did you think maybe we need to stop it here?’
Michael: ‘We just, I mean, we didn't think it would have the outcome, the set of circumstances could never be predicted by anyone. At every single point it was innocent on our behalf. It was just something that was fun and light-hearted and a tragic turn of events that I don't think anyone could have predicted or expected.’
Mel: ‘Prank calls have been around for years. We've done many a prank call before. It's the same thing, you prank someone, you record it, and then it goes to the other departments to work out what they want to do with it. It's been done for years. It was routine for us. There wasn't anything different.’
Tracy: ‘What are the guidelines here at 2Day FM for prank calls, you know, where you draw the line on what's acceptable and what isn't.’
Mel: ‘It's not up to us to make that decision, we just record it then it goes to the other departments to work it out. I don't know what they then do with it, we just do what we do which is make those calls.’
Michael: ‘There's a process in place for those calls or anything that makes it to air. And you know, that's out of our hands, this was put through the filter that everything was put through before it makes it to air, so we did that phone call and that was it on our behalf.’
Tracy said: ‘What sort of filters did it go through.?
Michael said: ‘The same filter everything goes through. We don't get to make those decisions. We don't get to make those calls. That's done by other people and these processes haven't changed. It's always been the same. Our role is just to record and get the audio and then wait to hear if it's okay or not okay and act upon as we're told.’
Tracy said: ‘Is it your sense as presenters the buck stops way beyond you? Is that your view?’
Five-second pause
Mel: ‘I don't think anyone could have foreseen where this would go. No-one could have predicted this at all. It's just really tragic.’
Tracy said: ‘How did you hear about Jacintha Saldanha's death?’
Ten-second pause, during which they both break down in tears
Michael: ‘We both found out at about the same time and we think it was’
Mel: ‘It was the worst phone call I have ever had in my life.’
Tracy: ‘Who called you? How were you told?’
Michael: ‘There were, err’
Mel: ‘I don't even remember, to be honest. I don't know.’
Michael: ‘There were a group of people and they all told us about it and they were there for us, most importantly, and were there first and foremost to make sure that were okay, and I'm still trying to make sense of it all. It's still, it's not anything that anyone could have every imagined was going to happen and we're still trying to work our way through it all.’
Tracy: ‘What was your immediate reaction?’
Michael: ‘Shattered, gutted, heartbroken and obviously, you know, our deepest sympathies are with the families and the friends of all those affected. And you know, Mel and myself are incredibly sorry for this situation and what's happened and we hope they're doing okay and they're getting the love and support they need right now. Personally I'm gutted.’
Mel: ‘There's not a minute that goes by that we don't think about her family and what they must be going through. And the thought we may have played a part in that is gut wrenching.’
Michael: ‘Prank calls are made every day on every radio station in every country around the world. They have been for a long time. No-one could have foreseen no-one could have imagines this would happen. We just hope that her family and friends are as good as they can be and they're getting the love and support they deserve and naturally we're shattered. We're people, too.’
Tracy: ‘When you do a prank call, who's the joke supposed to be on? Is it supposed to be on you or the people you are joking?’
Michael: ‘The joke was 100 per cent on us. The idea was never, let's call up and get through to Kate or let's speak to a nurse. The joke was, our accents are horrible, they don't sound anything like who they're intended to be. And the joke...’
Mel: ‘The entertainment value was in us, in our silly accents, that's where it was meant to end. It was just meant to be us being silly and getting hung up on.’
Michael: ‘The phone call itself was there was no malice on our behalf, it wasn't to agitate, or to offend, or to dig, at all. It was just the joke was our accent and the same phone call would have been made 100 times that morning. And we were expecting the same result as the 100 calls that had gone before us.’
Tracy: ‘I can see that you're both fragile and I don't want to make this any worse for you but I suppose was there a point in that call where the joke ceased to be on you and it became on the two nurses you had fooled them both. Improbably you had fooled them both?’
Mel: ‘That's why there's a process involved for us to record that and for the team to work out what to do. We did everything we normally do when we make those prank calls.’
Michael: ‘And then that was taken out of our hands.’
Tracy: ‘Did anybody, after the call was finished, did anyone express any doubts about whether it should be put to air? Did you?’
Mel: ‘We didn't have that discussion, we went through the process of what we do. We just handed it on to them and they have the discussion.’
Tracy: ‘Who do you hand it on to? A lot of people want to know what the process is.’
Mel: ‘I don't know the process. I honestly don't know the process.’
Tracy: ‘Presumably it goes to your producer?’
Mel: ‘There's a whole team of people that work with us.’
Michael: ‘And far above’
Mel: ‘We just go on and record other stuff. Other prep, We do that and leave it for everybody else to deal with.’
Tracy: ‘So there's a producer, there's a team, do you mean lawyers? Management?’
Michael: ‘Far above us, and you know I'm 100 per cent honestly saying we're not privy to what happens, with this call. But this call is no different to anything else. Regardless of the content or the context, or what's been recorded, it's the same process and I'm certainly not aware of what filters it needs to pass through and it's passed on and we're told either yay or nay, essentially.’
Tracy: ‘Did you both see it as a bit of a coup? Before any of these terrible consequences, did you thin we've done pretty well here?’
Michael: ‘It wasn't a competition to get a scoop, to get something no-one else had.’
Mel: ‘It was to touch on a hot topic. Every other media outlet in the world wanted to touch on Kate being in hospital. That was our way of doing it to the best of the show's ability and our angle was having those silly little accents and being hung up on. Other people were trying other ways to get what they wanted from the situation and ours was the most innocent thing we could come up with that wasn't meant to go that far. We didn't expect them to put us through.’
Tracy: ‘All right, there are calls now for prank calls to be banned on radio. What do you think about that?’
Mel: ‘I don't want to think about going back on air to be honest. I'm more worried about the family and that's where the focus should be. That they're getting the support they need, that the other nurse is getting the support she needs, that everyone is being looked after in this situation because there are other innocent victims involved as well. The family, her kids.’
Michael: ‘We're still trying to get our heads around the situation and what happens from here, it's too early to tell. We're so upset, and heartbroken and sorry for the situation’
Mel: ‘Sorry for the family that they're going through this’
Michael: ‘And it's not something that we set out to do or could ever have imagined.’
Tracy: ‘Would you like to finish with any sort of message for the family, if they are watching?’
Mel: ‘I've thought about this a million times in my head, I've wanted to reach out to them and give them a big hug and say sorry, I hope they are okay, I really do. I just hope they get through this.’
Michael: ‘I just hope they get the love, support and care that they need. I can't imagine how they feel right now. We're shattered and I just know it was never intended to be anything there was no malice, no intent and we just hope they're okay and that our deepest sympathies are with all of them through what is an incredibly tough time.’
Tracy: ‘Thank you both for your time.’
Culled from dailymail.co.uk
Although she was not blamed in any way for what happened, friends said Ms Saldanha ‘took it very badly’ and was extremely ‘traumatised’.
Described as popular, quiet and ‘profoundly caring’, she is said to have made clear to her family the depth of her anxiety when the hoax was broadcast.
Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister, described the incident as a ‘terrible tragedy’.
The hospital has repeatedly stressed that Ms Saldanha did not face any disciplinary action and it ‘was working hard to support her’ but the feeling that she had unintentionally broken the hospital rules, bringing shame on her and her employer, may well have pushed her into taking desperate action.
Her fellow victim of the hoax, who has not been named, is also said to have been ‘incredibly upset’.
Yesterday a special Mass was said at St Vincent de Paul Presbytery in Southmead, just 200 yards from Ms Saldanha’s home.
Father Tom Finnegan said: ‘She was a very caring wife, a very loving mother and a gentle friend and neighbour who regularly attended church here.
‘People are saddened – it is still all very raw. She was well known and well liked in the community and she will be a loss. She felt especially privileged to work in the hospital in London – everyone is deeply shocked and saddened.’
It was also revealed yesterday that Miss Greig had been 'close to a breakdown' and a close friend said there were 'real fears that she could self-harm'.
Meanwhile, a newspaper poll in Australia has revealed that more than two-thirds of people do not blame DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian for the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha.
More than 34,000 readers took part in the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper's poll, with 68 per cent saying the blame should not be apportioned to the radio presenters.
It comes as the Australian press accused the UK media of playing a 'blame game' in the wake of the incident.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted an Austereo spokesman as describing the British media backlash as 'ferocious'. She said: 'Australia seems to be much more balanced. In the UK it's like they're on a witch-hunt.'
Miss Greig and Mr Christian pulled out of a third interview for The Project, on the Ten network, because they were unwell, a TV channel spokesman said. Channel 7 and Channel 9, which gave the interviews, are separately owned - by Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment respectively.
This is the full transcript of Clare Brady's interview with Michael Christian and Mel Grieg on Channel 7's Today Tonight - one of two interviews given by the 2Day FM radio presenters
Reporter Clare Brady: 'Considering what we’re about to discuss … do you feel emotionally stable to do this interview?'
Michael: 'Yes'
Mel: 'Yes'
Clare: 'When you heard the dreadful results following the days after the prank, describe for me how you felt.'
Mel: 'Unfortunately I remember that moment very well because I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened and I remember my first question was "was she a mother?"'
Clare: 'When you found out she was, of two children, how did you feel?'
Mel: 'Very sorry and saddened for the family. I can’t imagine what they’d be going through.'
Michael: 'Gutted. Shattered. Heartbroken.'
Clare: 'Does it feel real to you?'
Michael: 'We’re still trying to get our heads around everything. Trying to make sense of the situation.'
Mel: 'It doesn’t seem real because you just couldn’t foresee something like that happening from a prank call. You know it was never meant to go that far. It was meant to be a silly little prank that so many people have done before. This wasn’t meant to happen.'
Clare: 'In hindsight, would you do something like that again?'
Michael: 'I don’t think that anyone could have predicted what could’ve happened. It was just a tragic set of circumstances that I don’t think anyone could have thought that we’d be here.'
Clare: 'Who came up with the idea of the prank?'
Michael: 'It was just in a team meeting before the show.'
Mel: 'Everything’s done as a team.'
Clare: 'Did you have legal advice or senior producers nursing you through this?'
Michael: 'The call to begin with wasn’t about speaking to Kate. It wasn’t about trying to get a scoop or anything. The call was just – I mean we’d assumed that we’d be hung up on and that’d be that.'
Clare: 'When you weren’t hung up on and, let’s be honest, you thought it was a coup at the time, were you quite shocked that you even got that far to talk to the nurse beside Princess Kate?'
Mel: 'Absolutely. And the accents were terrible. You know it was designed to be stupid. We were never meant to get that far from the little corgies barking in the background – we obviously wanted it to be a joke.'
Michael: 'And I suppose, you know the joke was always on us, not anyone else. It wasn’t about trying to fool someone. I mean we just assumed that with the voices that we put on, you know, we were going to get told off and that was the gag – in us.'
Clare: 'Here at the station, at Austereo, do you get any coaching, any training at all as to what you’re allowed to put to air? What you’ve got to tell people on when they’re being recorded and they’re going to be put on air? Have you been taught that during your tenure here?
Michael: 'This phonecall is the same with any phonecall, with any prerecorded segment that goes to air, there’s processes in place and people that make those decisions. I mean our role is just …'
Clare: 'Have you been taught that – sat down in a legal class? (Interrupting)'
Michael: 'There are people that make those decisions for us. Our responsibility is just to…'
Clare: (Interrupting) Did someone listen to that recording and say?'
Mel: (Interrupting) 'It went through the processes of every other recorded bit that we do – from interviews to you know anything at all that gets recorded and passed on to the appropriate people, goes through the process, and we’re told whether it’s yes or no to play.'
Clare: 'What was it, if you can give me a rough, and it probably feels all blurry to you, but the time spent from when you did that call to putting it to air? Was it two hours, three hours?'
Michael: 'In between all of that though it wasn’t as though we were sitting around waiting for an answer. You know there was …'
Mel: 'We go about our work and just keep going.'
Michael: 'Getting other things organised.'
Clare: 'But you were pretty giddy with what you’d pulled off, weren’t you?'
Mel: 'We couldn’t believe that it had worked, absolutely. You didn’t expect it to. We thought a hundred people before us would’ve tried the same thing. We just did not see that actually working.'
Michael: 'But it wasn’t to get something that no one else had. It wasn’t about getting'
Clare: 'But you are aware you were trying to get a medical condition and a medical condition on a Royal?'
Mel: 'But we didn’t actually want that. We just wanted to be hung up on. We wanted to be hung up on with our silly voices and wanted a twenty second segment to air of us doing stupid voices.'
Clare: 'You didn’t think of identifying yourselves at the end of that call?'
Mel: 'That’s where the process comes in. We just record everything and pass it to the team. That’s what we do.'
Michael: 'And again the call itself is – there’s no malice in the call. There was no digging. There was no trying to upset or get a reaction.'
Clare: 'Do you feel now that you’re part of a witch hunt? That someone wants someone to pay here? There’s hackers here threatening to shut down the station and hack into the whole system if you guys aren’t sacked. Does that make you feel vulnerable?'
Mel: 'There’s nothing that can make me feel worse than what I feel right now. And for what I feel for the family. We’re so sorry that this has happened to them.' (Crying)
Clare: 'How do you move on? Is someone caring for you guys? Are you having counseling too?'
Michael: 'We’re getting the support that we need and we’ve got those around us that are helping us but you know, right now …'
Mel: 'I care more about the family. I want to know that they’ve got the support that they need and that the public are, you know, being respectful of their privacy.”
Clare: 'Have you tried to contact the family in any way?'
Mel: 'I don’t think it’s an appropriate time to do that yet. But this is where we want to say that we are thinking of you and if we could call you we would want to reach out to you.'
Clare: 'Or if you could turn the clock back?'
Mel: 'If we played any involvement in her death then we’re very sorry for that. And time will only tell.'
Clare: Have you been reading a lot Mel?
Mel: 'I’ve been advised not to but I’m doing it on the intention of finding out more about Jacintha.'
Clare: 'What lessons can other DJs, and worldwide, learn from your horrible experience?'
Michael: 'These are prank calls. They’ve been around for as long as radio’s existed and they’re done by every radio station.'
Clare: 'But this result is just horrific..'
Michael: 'But no one could have predicted this result.'
Clare: 'What are you guys going to do then? Are you going to pursue your DJ careers?'
Mel: 'I don’t want to think about that right now. There’s bigger, more pressing issues and that’s making sure that family gets through this tough time. You know our careers aren’t important at the moment.'
Clare: 'That Scotland Yard is now involved, and you may be called to an inquest, and that inquest will probably be in London and you’ll see the family face to face – are you prepared for that?'
Michael: 'Right now we’re trying to wrap our heads around what’s happened.'
Mel: 'If that’s going to make them feel better then I’ll do what I need to do, absolutely. If that’s something that they want to do, to get some closure, then I’ll do that.'
Clare: 'You have had a lot of support. There’s a poll out today of 11000 people and two thirds have said they feel you’re not to blame for this horrible result. And then you’ve got the other side of horrible Twitter saying "many lives ruined", "shame on you", "you’ve got blood on your hands". How do you balance that – the support and the absolute hostility?'
Michael: 'I think that, you know, what’s important right now is you know, that the family of Jacintha are getting the support and the love that they deserve. And I mean that’s what’s important here. You know, it was, it is nothing more than a tragic turn of events that no one could have predicted and, you know, for the part that we played, we’re obviously incredibly sorry and you know …'
Clare: 'I feel in you Mel that you’re all but frozen, is that correct?'
Mel: 'I’m just so devastated for them. I’m really feeling for them.'
Clare: 'It’s a shocking turn of events.'
Mel: 'I just couldn’t … If we had any idea that something like this could be even possible to happen, you know, we couldn’t see this happening. It was meant to be a prank call.'
Clare: 'Do you feel sick now that you were saying ‘this is the highlight of my career’ and you were excited about getting the call through, to get to this moment?'
Mel: 'We couldn’t foresee what was going to happen in the future.'
Clare: 'When you did call them and you were talking – first to Jacintha and then the second nurse – did you think in the days after ‘oh those poor nurses, wonder how they’re feeling’? Because I know I did, but I’m an overly cautious person – I think everything through and through and through. Did you think for them at all, or were you just in that giddy sense?'
Michael: 'The call itself was not malicious and no harm was intended on Jacintha, or the other nurse, or Kate, or Prince William, or anyone. It wasn’t – from start to finish – there was no harm intended. And obviously, you know, we’re incredibly sorry for the harm that we may have helped contribute (to).'
Clare: 'You’ve been very brave for talking and I just hope that people are caring for you guys too, because it’s going to take (a lot). I feel for two DJs who like to put a few smiles on faces and it’ll be a while before we hear the two of you laugh.'
Michael: 'Thank you.'
This is the full transcript of Tracy Grimshaw's interview with Michael Christian and Mel Grieg on Channel 9's A Current Affair - the other interview given by the 2Day FM radio presenters
Tracy: ‘You're under enormous pressure at the moment, are you up to doing this?’
They both nod
Tracy: ‘If it gets too much let me know and we'll take a break. I think we should go back to when he prank call was first made, whose idea was it?
Michael: ‘It was just the team sitting down before the show, just had the idea for a simple, harmless phone call. When we thought about making a call we thought it would go for 30 seconds. We were going to be hung up on and that was it as innocent as that.’
Mel: ‘We thought 100 people before us would have tried that. We thought it was just such a silly idea. Our accents were terrible. Not for a second did we expect to even speak to Kate let alone have a conversation with anyone at the hospital. We wanted to be hung up on.’
Michael: ‘The expectation was we never thought we would even get to Kate. It wasn't even about, can we speak to her, it was about us, let's just call and we'll get hung up upon and that was it.’
Tracy: ‘So when it became clear that when you were put on hold and when the call was going to be put through, did you have any second thoughts at that time? Did you think, wait a minute this is going a bit further than we expected?’
Mel: ‘I still expected us to be put through to some kind of complaints area. That she would have realised from that point, we were going to be transferred and told off and hung up on. I didn't expect to get through to anyone at any stage.’
Michael: ‘I mean I don't think anyone could have expected or foreseen what was going to happen. It was completely innocent. We just assumed we would be cut off and that would be it.’
Tracy: ‘At that point when the second nurse was giving you a lot of detail, personal information about the Duchess, did you think maybe we need to stop it here?’
Michael: ‘We just, I mean, we didn't think it would have the outcome, the set of circumstances could never be predicted by anyone. At every single point it was innocent on our behalf. It was just something that was fun and light-hearted and a tragic turn of events that I don't think anyone could have predicted or expected.’
Mel: ‘Prank calls have been around for years. We've done many a prank call before. It's the same thing, you prank someone, you record it, and then it goes to the other departments to work out what they want to do with it. It's been done for years. It was routine for us. There wasn't anything different.’
Tracy: ‘What are the guidelines here at 2Day FM for prank calls, you know, where you draw the line on what's acceptable and what isn't.’
Mel: ‘It's not up to us to make that decision, we just record it then it goes to the other departments to work it out. I don't know what they then do with it, we just do what we do which is make those calls.’
Michael: ‘There's a process in place for those calls or anything that makes it to air. And you know, that's out of our hands, this was put through the filter that everything was put through before it makes it to air, so we did that phone call and that was it on our behalf.’
Tracy said: ‘What sort of filters did it go through.?
Michael said: ‘The same filter everything goes through. We don't get to make those decisions. We don't get to make those calls. That's done by other people and these processes haven't changed. It's always been the same. Our role is just to record and get the audio and then wait to hear if it's okay or not okay and act upon as we're told.’
Tracy said: ‘Is it your sense as presenters the buck stops way beyond you? Is that your view?’
Five-second pause
Mel: ‘I don't think anyone could have foreseen where this would go. No-one could have predicted this at all. It's just really tragic.’
Tracy said: ‘How did you hear about Jacintha Saldanha's death?’
Ten-second pause, during which they both break down in tears
Michael: ‘We both found out at about the same time and we think it was’
Mel: ‘It was the worst phone call I have ever had in my life.’
Tracy: ‘Who called you? How were you told?’
Michael: ‘There were, err’
Mel: ‘I don't even remember, to be honest. I don't know.’
Michael: ‘There were a group of people and they all told us about it and they were there for us, most importantly, and were there first and foremost to make sure that were okay, and I'm still trying to make sense of it all. It's still, it's not anything that anyone could have every imagined was going to happen and we're still trying to work our way through it all.’
Tracy: ‘What was your immediate reaction?’
Michael: ‘Shattered, gutted, heartbroken and obviously, you know, our deepest sympathies are with the families and the friends of all those affected. And you know, Mel and myself are incredibly sorry for this situation and what's happened and we hope they're doing okay and they're getting the love and support they need right now. Personally I'm gutted.’
Mel: ‘There's not a minute that goes by that we don't think about her family and what they must be going through. And the thought we may have played a part in that is gut wrenching.’
Michael: ‘Prank calls are made every day on every radio station in every country around the world. They have been for a long time. No-one could have foreseen no-one could have imagines this would happen. We just hope that her family and friends are as good as they can be and they're getting the love and support they deserve and naturally we're shattered. We're people, too.’
Tracy: ‘When you do a prank call, who's the joke supposed to be on? Is it supposed to be on you or the people you are joking?’
Michael: ‘The joke was 100 per cent on us. The idea was never, let's call up and get through to Kate or let's speak to a nurse. The joke was, our accents are horrible, they don't sound anything like who they're intended to be. And the joke...’
Mel: ‘The entertainment value was in us, in our silly accents, that's where it was meant to end. It was just meant to be us being silly and getting hung up on.’
Michael: ‘The phone call itself was there was no malice on our behalf, it wasn't to agitate, or to offend, or to dig, at all. It was just the joke was our accent and the same phone call would have been made 100 times that morning. And we were expecting the same result as the 100 calls that had gone before us.’
Tracy: ‘I can see that you're both fragile and I don't want to make this any worse for you but I suppose was there a point in that call where the joke ceased to be on you and it became on the two nurses you had fooled them both. Improbably you had fooled them both?’
Mel: ‘That's why there's a process involved for us to record that and for the team to work out what to do. We did everything we normally do when we make those prank calls.’
Michael: ‘And then that was taken out of our hands.’
Tracy: ‘Did anybody, after the call was finished, did anyone express any doubts about whether it should be put to air? Did you?’
Mel: ‘We didn't have that discussion, we went through the process of what we do. We just handed it on to them and they have the discussion.’
Tracy: ‘Who do you hand it on to? A lot of people want to know what the process is.’
Mel: ‘I don't know the process. I honestly don't know the process.’
Tracy: ‘Presumably it goes to your producer?’
Mel: ‘There's a whole team of people that work with us.’
Michael: ‘And far above’
Mel: ‘We just go on and record other stuff. Other prep, We do that and leave it for everybody else to deal with.’
Tracy: ‘So there's a producer, there's a team, do you mean lawyers? Management?’
Michael: ‘Far above us, and you know I'm 100 per cent honestly saying we're not privy to what happens, with this call. But this call is no different to anything else. Regardless of the content or the context, or what's been recorded, it's the same process and I'm certainly not aware of what filters it needs to pass through and it's passed on and we're told either yay or nay, essentially.’
Tracy: ‘Did you both see it as a bit of a coup? Before any of these terrible consequences, did you thin we've done pretty well here?’
Michael: ‘It wasn't a competition to get a scoop, to get something no-one else had.’
Mel: ‘It was to touch on a hot topic. Every other media outlet in the world wanted to touch on Kate being in hospital. That was our way of doing it to the best of the show's ability and our angle was having those silly little accents and being hung up on. Other people were trying other ways to get what they wanted from the situation and ours was the most innocent thing we could come up with that wasn't meant to go that far. We didn't expect them to put us through.’
Tracy: ‘All right, there are calls now for prank calls to be banned on radio. What do you think about that?’
Mel: ‘I don't want to think about going back on air to be honest. I'm more worried about the family and that's where the focus should be. That they're getting the support they need, that the other nurse is getting the support she needs, that everyone is being looked after in this situation because there are other innocent victims involved as well. The family, her kids.’
Michael: ‘We're still trying to get our heads around the situation and what happens from here, it's too early to tell. We're so upset, and heartbroken and sorry for the situation’
Mel: ‘Sorry for the family that they're going through this’
Michael: ‘And it's not something that we set out to do or could ever have imagined.’
Tracy: ‘Would you like to finish with any sort of message for the family, if they are watching?’
Mel: ‘I've thought about this a million times in my head, I've wanted to reach out to them and give them a big hug and say sorry, I hope they are okay, I really do. I just hope they get through this.’
Michael: ‘I just hope they get the love, support and care that they need. I can't imagine how they feel right now. We're shattered and I just know it was never intended to be anything there was no malice, no intent and we just hope they're okay and that our deepest sympathies are with all of them through what is an incredibly tough time.’
Tracy: ‘Thank you both for your time.’
Culled from dailymail.co.uk
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