Today Show sports reporter Danika Mason opens up about viral Winter Olympics live cross five months later

Australian TV sports reporter Danika Mason thought she would be sacked following her viral on-air blunder in which she slurred her words and appeared drunk during a live segment at the Winter Olympics.

In February, the 35-year-old Today Show reporter struggled to form sentences and went off topic during a live cross to Karl Stefanovic and Jayne Azzorpardi from the Italian Alps.

Rather than reporting on the Games, she went on a tangent about the price of Italian coffee and made snow angels for the camera.

The next day, Mason apologised to her viewers and admitted she shouldn’t have had a drink without eating dinner before going on air.

Five months later, Mason has opened up about the aftermath of her mishap — which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese even saw.

“I obviously knew straight away I had screwed up,” she told Triple M Rocks Footy NRL on Thursday.

“The next 24 hours, I was just in a spiral. I was just thinking the world’s worst — well, this is my job gone; this is gone.

“The rugby league community that was calling me was insane.

“I remember Joey — Andrew Johns — he rings me and Kate, his wife, is in the background; he’s like ‘even Kate found it funny ’, and I was like, ‘Oh God’. He was incredible; he kept FaceTiming, checking in.

“But I can’t watch it back.”

Mason also revealed that former Today host Stefanovic supported her during her emotional breakdown.

“He was great,” Mason said. “He rang me and talked me through and said, ‘What are you going to do?’

“I said, ‘I’m going to come out and apologise, you can’t take people for fools’, and he was like, ‘Perfect, we’ll be here for you’.”

Stefanovic was abruptly dismissed from the Nine Network in June after his independent podcast featured an interview with British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

During Mason’s gruelling apology, she admitted she “misjudged a situation”.

“Guys, just before we do go, I just want to take a moment, if that’s okay, just to apologise,” she said at the time.

“I also wanted to thank everyone who has reached out. I’m just a little bit embarrassed. I totally misjudged a situation. I shouldn’t have had a drink, and especially in these conditions.

“It’s cold, we’ve got altitude and not having had dinner probably didn’t help as well.”

Mason shared some uplifting news earlier this month, announcing her pregnancy.

She will be going on maternity leave later this year when she and fiance Liam Knight welcome their first child.

“So Liam and I are expecting a little girl, due in December, so off-season will be a little bit busier this year,” she told Today viewers.