Tony Jones walks off set after taunt about Bec Judd incident
Tony Jones is clearly a man of his word.
The AFL Footy Show host walked off set on Sunday after the latest in a long list of taunts about his infamous kiss fail with Bec Judd.
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The veteran Channel Nine reporter is well and truly sick of the jokes after his live TV mishap with colleague Judd in 2016.
In case you don’t remember, Jones and Judd were working together on Nine News in Melbourne when Jones tried to wish his colleague good luck after her final shift before heading off on maternity leave.
However Judd recoiled in surprise when Jones leant in for a kiss, leaving him fairly mortified on live TV.
Earlier this year, Jones said he’d walk off set if the footage was ever played or mentioned again.
“If I see that played one more time at Channel 9, I will walk off the set,” Jones said on 3AW Radio.
“I do not want to see that kiss again.”
And on Sunday he followed through with the threat, walking off the set of the Footy Show after the incident was aired for the umpteenth time.
“What did I say?” Jones said after the footage was aired again.
“I’ll show you how much of a joke this is. I told you. You can’t help yourself.”
Co-host Billy Brownless said: “We thought he was joking, but he’s not coming back.”
Jones eventually came back, but only after management reportedly told him he had to.
Tony Jones blames producer for Bec Judd gaffe
Addressing the gaffe in March, Jones claimed he was stitched up by a Channel Nine producer.
“I’ve put up with that crap for years, and it’s not my fault!” Jones said.
“Our news director, Hugh Nailon, here at Channel Nine at Melbourne. He didn’t organise the flowers. I was supposed to present Bec the flowers.
“And when we realised he’d forgotten to organise the flowers, I said, well I’m going home.
“And then I think John Murphy was the floor manager, he sort of said, you’re gonna stay here, you’ll stay here and play happy families.
“Well that was a real happy family, wasn’t it? So it wasn’t my fault.”
If the 2016 incident wasn’t bad enough, it came three years after Judd had also rejected Jones on air when he jokingly asked if she’d like to come over for a barbecue on the weekend.
Judd, who is married to Carlton champion Chris Judd, also addressed the incident in 2017.
“I think I need to run like a little course for AFL players. The ‘Rebecca Judd how to avoid a kiss on live TV’ workshops,” she said.
“It’s all about the duck and move, so you duck and move away.”
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