Today reporter Brooke Boney’s cringeworthy attempt to find a ‘viral singer’ among Sydney commuters backfires – as one man awkwardly says ‘Sorry, I don’t understand English’
Brooke Boney made a cringeworthy attempt to discover an unknown singing talent during a segment on the Today show on Wednesday.
The entertainment reporter, 31, asked unsuspecting commuters at Sydney’s Central Station to finish the lyrics of popular songs.
But many people seemed reluctant to sing on camera or just weren’t very good.
Awkward! Brooke Boney challenged unsuspecting commuters to finish the lyrics of popular songs at Sydney Central Station on Wednesday morning. One man shut her down, saying he couldn’t speak English
In the segment, Brooke challenged an elderly man to finish the lyrics to That’s Amore by Dean Martin.
She began singing: ‘When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…’
But the man interrupted her, saying: ‘Sorry darling, I don’t understand English.’
Brooke then challenged another woman to sing The Horses by Daryl Braithwaite.
‘That’s the way it’s gonna be, little darlin’!’ Brooke sang, but the woman was less enthusiastic and gruffly mumbled ‘darlin’ before backing away from the microphone.
‘Too many darts! Too many darts!’ Brooke said, implying that the woman’s throat was sore from smoking cigarettes.
‘Too many darts!’ After one commuter’s throat was too sore to sing, Brooke implied that she had smoked too many cigarettes
The highlight of the segment came when two brothers perfectly rapped It Was All a Dream by hip hop legend The Notorious B.I.G.
Dylan and Damien Ahangama, 12 and eight, are buskers who regularly cover rap songs (minus the swear words) at Pitt Street Mall in Sydney.
They had previously been interviewed on Today Extra last year, so their appearance on Brooke’s segment was likely staged.
Featured artists: Dylan and Damien Ahangama, 12 and 8, regularly busk at Pitt Street Mall in Sydney by covering popular rap songs. They performed a personalised rap while Brooke danced along
The Today show’s producers were likely trying to replicate the recent viral success of Charlotte Awsbury, who shot to fame when she perfectly covered Shallow by Lady Gaga during a ‘finish the lyrics’ challenge on the London Underground.
After the original video racked up more than 1.2 million views – not including the many reposts – Charlotte was invited on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Charlotte, who is a professional singer, has now racked up almost 700,000 followers on Instagram, including Ariana Grande.
Inspiration: Today Show producers tried to replicate the viral success of Charlotte Awsbury, who has shot to fame when she perfectly covered Shallow on the London Underground. Charlotte is pictured with Ellen DeGeneres’ on her show