A jobseeker from central Africa has relived an extraordinary slip-up on live television in which the BBC mistook him for a top technology analyst.
Guy Goma, who had gone to the British broadcaster for a job interview, instead was seen by BBC News 24 viewers giving his view on the legal tangle between Apple Computer and the Beatles' Apples Corps.
"When I was on the set already and we started with the presenter I could not stop, it would be the worst thing," Goma said in his latest interview with the BBC, this time to help explain the embarrassing gaffe.
"So at that time I said: 'Okay, keep going and we will see'."
The slip-up began when Goma mistakenly raised his hand after a producer called out the name of the real expert, Guy Kewney.
Thinking it was part of the job interview process, Goma then allowed himself to be fitted with a microphone and positioned in the studio for an interview about the legal battle.
Too late, he realised what was going on.
"That shocked me straight away and I thought: 'Oh dear, what am I doing?'," Goma said.
The May 8 interview caused much hilarity in the media because the uneasy-looking man on the screen bore no resemblance to the white, bearded, ginger-haired technology pundit he replaced.
But he did his best to answer questions from BBC consumer affairs correspondent Karen Bowerman.
"Were you surprised by this verdict?" the interviewer asked him about Apple Computer's court victory. "I am very surprised at the verdict," he replied. "Because I was not expecting that when I came."
Goma, a graduate from central Africa, was given the opportunity on Tuesday to speak to the real Guy Kewney by telephone about what happened. "I just want to say sorry. I came for a job interview," he said.
A BBC spokeswoman said Goma eventually had his interview for the job of a data support cleanser -- he is still waiting to hear if he has been hired.
The real Guy Kewney was good-humoured about being left in reception to watch his namesake answer his questions on television.
"It was one of those moments when you think 'Good God, what is going on?'" he told the BBC, putting the confusion down to the bad weather which led to him arriving late at the studios.
2 comments:
i really do think that is hysterical...would like to have been in both their heads....both thinking the same thing...''what the fuck'?????
I watched that video of him 5 or 6 times last night , it cracked me up !
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