Sunrise host David ‘Kochie’ Koch is forced to cut off a guest during a VERY awkward live cross

David ‘Kochie’ Koch has been hosting Channel Seven’s Sunrise for almost two decades, so he knows how to handle the occasional live TV gaffe.

And on Thursday, the veteran presenter was forced to take matters into his own hands when there were technical difficulties on the breakfast show.

The 64-year-old was forced to cut off a guest during an awkward live cross, after there were delays during the interview.

Kochie, ever the professional, handled the situation well.  

He was preparing to interview the Chief Executive of the Australian Retailers Association, Paul Zahra, about how businesses were going during the coronavirus pandemic when the live feed started to lag.    

‘Paul, good to see you again. Harvey Norman has done so well in the past few months. Is it the same across the retail sector?’ Kochie asked. 

Paul was seen on screen waiting to talk to Kochie on air, clearly not having yet heard Kochie’s question.   

‘Oh. Alright, a bit of delay here with Paul, by the look of it… Paul is it across the country?’ Kochie went on. 

Eventually Paul heard the question, but Kochie had to cut him off.  

‘Okay, I think the delay is a bit too awkward there to ask anymore questions,’ he said. 

Kochie knows what he’s talking about, having first started his media career as a finance journalist. 

He has been co-hosting Sunrise since 2002 and now presents the show with Samantha Armytage. 

In October, it was reported that Sunrise was still the leading breakfast show in Australia.   

The numbers have seen a boost after hosts Samantha and Kochie returned to the couch five days a week.

In the week ending October 9, the popular breakfast show beat their Channel Nine rival, the Today show, every day of the week.

On Monday, October 5 for example, Sunrise racked in 230,000 metro viewers to Today’s 183,000.