BBC TV newsreader Liz Beacon was left embarrassed when her dress burst open just minutes before going on air.
BBC Points West anchor Liz was about to go on air but the zip on her new dress burst open minutes before going on air, leaving her red-faced.
Her colleagues came to her rescue who tried to patch the dress up using gaffer tape and bulldog clips.
The 43-year-old was informed she would be presenting the evening news at the last minute. She rushed to her home to wear her unworn Zara dress.
However, just minutes before going live, the zip on her dress popped and her dress burst open, leaving her embarrassed.
Her colleagues put the dress back together using gaffer tape and bulldog clips as she had no time to change.
Liz, from Bristol, said: “I hadn’t worn the dress before and it was a bit sticky when I did the zip up, but I just thought that was because the dress is quite a tight style anyway.”
“Never in a million years did I imagine it would burst open half an hour later.”
Liz’s skintight black Zara dress was actually a gift from her mother that she bought at the Cabot Circus shopping centre in Bristol.
Liz said: “We go live on air at 6.30pm and at about 6.10pm I felt this pop and thought, I don’t believe this, I think the zip has just gone. I asked the director – another Liz – to come and take a look, and when she saw it, she gasped and said ‘Quick, get me some clips and some gaffer tape’.”
“I had no other options. There is a dressing room here but I don’t store any dresses in there – that will change from now on. There were three people helping me in the end, with fellow presenter David Garmston next to me trying to keep me calm.”
“It was all hands to the pump – a director, a fellow presenter and a cameraman, all trying to help me in the 20 minutes we had before going live. I was still fiddling with it, reaching behind me, trying to make sure the tape was stuck down, as we went on air.”
“I couldn’t relax the entire programme, which is most unlike me! I kept feeling it move, and was completely paranoid that it would ping open again.”
However, the viewers had no idea what happened to Liz’s dress before she went live as her colleagues managed to put the dress back together using gaffer tape and bulldog clips.
Liz contacted Zara’s customer service after the incident for a replacement.
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