Horrifying moment Today reporter fights off large insect live on-air

The Today Show reporter Christine Ahern had a terrifying encounter live on-air on Thursday morning when a large insect crawled up her dress.

The award-winning journalist was doing a live cross in the early hours of the morning when a cricket began creeping up her shoulder.

Christine didn’t notice the bug until her camera operator pointed it out, and she proceeded to scream and shake her body in the hopes it would fall off her. The producer then told her that he managed to knock it off and it had since flown away.

Karl Stefanovic and his temporary co-host Brooke Boney reacted to Christine’s “very brave” encounter later in the show, with Karl joking that she needs to “toughen up a bit”.

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“What’s wrong with her? She’s a Queenslander,” he remarked. “She’s been in Melbourne for too long.”

“You’re scared of sausage dogs, mate,” Brooke clapped back, to which Karl responded, “Yeah but that’s different, they’re savage though.”

“There’s a future for her in Riverdance,” Leila McKinnon joked off-camera.

Fans praise Christine's reaction

After a clip of the moment was shared on social media, fans took to the comments to praise the way Christine handled the situation.

“She’s quite calm I would have been doing a ninja dance,” one person joked, while another added, “Handled that correctly!”.

“The best thing is that reaction isn’t fake I’d be like that if I saw one of those on me,” a third remarked.

“I feel for you Christine, I'd do the same bug dance,” someone else agreed, followed by a different user who said, “My hero well done Christine”.

“Best TV for a while,” one fan declared.

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The hilarious moment comes just a few weeks after Today reporter Andrea Crothers experienced a similar bug-related incident in the middle of a live cross.

Andrea was reporting on the recent floods in Brisbane when a group of mosquitos flew around her eyes and she smacked her hand on her face.

Sarah Abo cracked up laughing while watching the replay, while Karl told viewers: “They’re the dangers our reporters put themselves in to bring you the stories at home.”

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