‘I flashed the king': Lisette Reymer on her worst live news cross

The Spinoff

2 days ago

The TV journalist and now published author takes us through her life in television, including reporting from a warzone and how the Kardashians help her relax.
Becoming a war correspondent wasn't part of the plan when Lisette Reymer took the Europe correspondent job at Newshub. 'Lloyd Burr was the one before me, and he'd done a heap of Brexit and Prince Philip's death, and so I thought I'd be seeing a lot of of Buckingham Palace and Downing Street,' she says. 'It had been so, so long since anyone had been deployed into a warzone, so it wasn't on my bingo card at all.'
Nevertheless, she diligently attended 'hostile environment' training courses and learned how to put on bulletproof vests and report from extremely dangerous situations. 'The whole time I was like, 'well, I'll probably never need this' – but within a few months we were in Ukraine,' she laughs. Reymer ended up travelling eight times to Ukraine for Newshub, her coverage of the war winning a bunch of awards and now explored her new book No, I Don't Get Danger Money.
As for the most memorable stories from her time in Ukraine, Reymer has many to choose from. 'Once there were sirens going off in the middle of the night at 2am and I was super disorientated, couldn't find the bomb shelter, and then saw these cops who I was convinced were going to shoot me because was outside after curfew, and I didn't have any accreditation or jacket or identification on me,' she says. 'I thought I was going to get hit by a missile or shot.'
That was just a 'blip' in a series of wild moments detailed in the book. 'People look at you on the TV and they're like, 'oh, wow, she must be really tired', but they have no real idea that I haven't slept for 20 days,' she says. In Ukraine, Reymer took to watching the Kardashians before bed. 'When I'm covering really intense stuff, I only want to consume light and trashy content,' she says. 'Although Kim losing her diamond earring was quite a high stress moment.'
With that in mind, we asked Reymer to further elaborate on her life in television, including her most embarrassing live cross and her love of Survivor.
My earliest TV memory is… We weren't allowed television as kids on the weekdays – only special occasions. Watching the 6pm news was always a critical part of my day-to-day routine – my parents and grandparents always had a huge focus on the news. On the weekends, I'd always get up really early before Mum and try and convince her to let me watch some TV. Eventually I'd crack her, but by the time I got down there it would just be that pastor preaching on Praise Be and I'd be devastated that I'd missed all the fun stuff.
My first time on television was… My first live cross in 2012, and I was so nervous. I don't know if this was a blessing or a curse, but I had 24 hours heads up that I was going to be doing a live cross the next day. It was about a rugby tournament that was coming to Auckland, and I did the live cross from Aotea Square. I put on this shocking outfit that was a floral explosion of a dress with a white blazer with black trimming, slicked my hair back because it was windy, and probably didn't have any makeup on. I looked a state, and I broke out in heat rash.
The TV moment that haunts me is… There are so many. I've had multiple occasions of being on air with stuff on my face, like mustard or tomato paste because I've been in the middle of cooking and then there's been breaking news. I've definitely run outside in London and straight onto air with half my pasta still on my face. One time I flashed all of Windsor Castle Park during the coronation of the King. My earpiece got stuck on my back, and I couldn't hear anything that the presenters were saying. So while I was talking, I had to pull up my dress from behind and retrieve my headphone. It was horrific – I pretty much flashed the king and all of his party.
My favourite NZ TV ad is… I'm usually a real 'mute the ads' type of girl, but I love that that Lotto one where she finds the ticket under her cast. I want that to happen to me.
My TV guilty pleasure is… I'm really into America's Sweethearts, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader series. It's so good, it follows the cheerleaders of the Dallas Cowboys, and they take their job super seriously. It's super competitive to get selected, and they get makeovers, and there's all this really juicy behind-the-scenes drama. You inevitably find yourself trying to learn the choreography and realising you're not as flexible as a professional dancer.
The TV show I wish I could be involved in is… I'd love to do Survivor because I've been obsessed with it my whole life. I'd just need a bit of time for training.
My controversial TV opinion is… New Zealand needs its own foreign correspondents. They help to bridge the gap between our country and the rest of the world and, crucially, they deliver the important global news through a Kiwi lens.
A show I will never watch, no matter how many people say I should is… I never watched any Game of Thrones. I can't watch anything dark or heavy – even Succession was too moody for me. I just want to laugh, just let me watch Veep. Let me watch Boston Rob blindside someone for the 45th time.
The last thing I watched on television was… I watched the latest season of The Bear last night, and it was good. I loved the first season and I don't think it's quite got back to that, but I'm going to keep watching. I love Chef Carmy.