Move over Logies, the Australia Unites: Red Cross Flood Appeal was officially television’s night of nights for 2022.
On Saturday night, Network 10, Nine Network and the Seven Network united for a telethon raising more than $25 million for those affected by the recent floods.
It was all hands on deck across the studios and the call centres from both staff and network talent.
Jock Zonfrillo ignored toilet breaks, manning the phones for five hours straight and needing nothing but chocolate and a cup a tea to keep him going; a red cross volunteer at the Brisbane call centre took a donation of $1million dollars and asked if they wanted to pay for that via their credit card; Matty J ended up in fiancé Laura’s dress, undies and all, and best pash went to Grant Denyer and Ben Fordham.
And what was it all for? To get those dollar dollar bills ya’ll!
The star-studded broadcast saw Australian music royalty, celebrities and popular news and entertainment personalities from across all three networks forget all that ratings war hoo-ha. The only number they were interested in was the dollars.
But it was the extraordinary support and generosity of Australians that saw more than 18,000 calls received (Zonfrillo answered at least 13,000 of them) and more than 340,000 visits to the Red Cross website during the broadcast, culminating in a massive $25,249,796 worth of pledges.
100% of the $25 million plus raised during the telethon will go in cash grants to help people impacted by the floods.
High fives all round to all the departments who helped bring this sensational night together.
