0/5

Are these 2 calls to the ‘Henry Hotline’ the same person?

Updated: Two callers to the Henry Hotline on TEN's Breakfast sounded way too similar. What's going on?

TEN’s new Breakfast show features a viewer feedback number called the “Henry Hotline” (why isn’t it the Breakfast Hotline?).

On Friday it featured two back to back calls talking about whether it was ok to mock our political leaders.

Both calls by a very opinionated man agreed our pollies are fair game.

“Of course we can. (If) they act like a bunch of children then why don’t we mock them?” said the first. “This whole thing makes you lose faith in government completely.

“I wonder if they’re glad if they actually can make us vote?”

The second said, “Of course we can openly mock them. They’re there to be mocked. They give us reason to mock them. Watching Rudd and Gillard fight like a pair of toddlers over a toy car is embarrassing. They’re there to be mocked.

“Aren’t they glad that voting is compulsory?”

Not only did the two calls agree on the same point, their tone and delivery was freakishly similar.

You’d almost swear they were the same person…..

The second caller even had a generous parting comment.

“Good show by the way,” he said.

Updated: TV Tonight understands some callers are making multiple calls to the line and an error occurred last Friday.

“All calls into the Henry hotline are genuine viewer calls,” a TEN spokesperson said.

24 Responses

  1. @way2go Actually, I think they were focusing on big TVs when designing the graphics. The weather ticker is completely unreadable on a regular-sized TV.

    It doesn’t surprise me that they had to use the same person calling twice, given they had less than 24 hours notice for the first episode. But they stil lshouldn’t have used them back-to-back.

    And Paul Henry’s presence and personality isn’t the problem with this show – it’s how completely bland and superfluous Andrew Rochford is. How exactly does he keep getting on TV?

  2. Agree that the set is absolutely atrocious. It is too busy and very jarring to the eye. Agree without any doubt that the two calls are the same person, so it could have been a production staff member “plant”. Or, as someone else pointed out, the calls sounded pre-recorded as there was no interaction with the hosts. It could have been a viewer calling twice wanting to give themselves a better opportunity to make it on air. Whatever it is, it is a bad look and very amateurish.

  3. I believe them when they say they were genuine calls. I mean, if they were actually plants/fake calls, I’m sure the production staff wouldn’t have been so daft as to use the same person. It’s not that hard to find one other person around the office.

  4. i actually didnt mind it, none of them are as nearly as annoying as koshie, or karl, and actually enjoyed it, the set could do with some decluttering, and they need to fix the damn spacing and alignment of the overlay, pissed me off every time i looked at it, its disgusting, sunrise or today would never put up unrefined rubbish like that, the design, colours and animations are awesome, but its the details that make the difference, especially on huge HD tvs

  5. Not even on air for a week and they’ve been sprung.
    Talk about desperate.
    Still I guess with no one actually watching the show, they had to get a phone call from somewhere/anywhere!

  6. 1) this isnt a story
    2) Henry Hotline sounds better than “breakfast hotline” seeing he is the central person on the show

    ps. logging into this website is so annoying. Miss the old site where comments were easily done.

  7. same person. listen to the call without the hosts butting in, listen to the caller as 1 single call. there is your answer. and yes the show is very dull, the set is shocking, there is no news reader or sports reader…. yawn!!!! ive been watching for last 2 hours and there has been no news update its all about the politics…. where is the Circle?

  8. Sounds to me like both those calls were recorded. There was no interaction between the hosts and the caller. It seems like a very unwatchable show – the set looks like a messy 90s loungeroom, the guy in the middle looks like he’s the third wheel between two people who actually want to be chatting to each other and the graphics are like a children’s network’s

  9. Same person.. he probably rang the second time thinking his call had a higher chance of being featured if he dropped a compliment at the end.

    I love the hotline.. Paul actually implied a caller was over weight by the sound of their voice lol…

  10. Against my better judgement, i switched over last week to check it out – i think it is a mistake to focus the attention on Paul Henry, by the program makers. Viewers will be divided, numbers dwindle and two co-hosts with otherwise good reputations and images will be momentarily tarnished. Rochford and Robinson are props, and look uncomfortable and the three have no chemistry together. That lack of gel, although might improve with time. is tough with an unlikeable focal point, as the chief selling point of the program, and the ‘point of difference’ to the other 3 morning shows.

  11. Sounds like they’ve been sprung using a “plant”. They wouldn’t be the first, several talkback radio stations have been in trouble for doing the same thing.

Leave a Reply