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Sunrise's Sam Mac shares truth about co-stars: 'I annoy them'
Over the past five years, Sunrise's resident weatherman, Sam Mac, has made a name for himself not so much with his meteorological prowess but his cheeky sense of humour and fondness for practical jokes.
He's been known to switch branded microphones with rival reporters during live TV crosses and, more recently, he wore a blue scarf seven different ways throughout a single morning — without referencing it once.
'They're annoyed
The 40-year-old finished up with the scarf tied around his head, leaving his co-hosts Nat Barr and David 'Kochie' Koch in stitches.
But do his gags always get a giggle out of his Sunrise colleagues?
"I'm sure there are many examples where they're annoyed," Sam — full name Sam McMillan — tells Yahoo Lifestyle with a laugh.
"Look, I get indifference sometimes from the other hosts. But thankfully, they're generally very supportive," he adds.
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Sam admits to wholeheartedly embracing his role as the 'annoying little brother' to the likes of Kochie and Nat, as well as her predecessor Samantha Armytage. And he has a pretty good excuse for getting up to mischief, really.
"We have to do a lot of TV," he explains. "You know, I've done something like 25,000 minutes of TV on Sunrise, so we have to fill a lot of space.
"The scarf thing, for example, that was fun because we hadn't done that before. That was just something that's silly, it didn't mean anything."
An accidental weatherman
Sometimes it's the ridiculous situations Sam finds himself in as the program's roving weather reporter, that are unintentionally funny.
From bungee jumping, to swimming with sharks, and having his nose hairs waxed, there's not much Sam hasn't done on live TV.
He's even dedicated an entire chapter of his new book, Accidental Weatherman to showcasing his Sunrise stunts.
While Sam and his producer, affectionally known as the 'Human Emoji,' are always looking for new stuff for him to do during his segments, there are a few things that are off-limits, such as skydiving.
"I said no to that twice. I'm not saying I would never do that, but the two times that I was asked, I said no," he says.
"I also said no to dressing up as a woman. It just felt a little bit '90s, a bit Footy Show, not really my style."
The Sunrise shuffle
A lot of Sam's time is spent out on the road, reporting from yet another location around the country (he's visited 800 so far) and chatting with everyday Aussies, which he finds most rewarding.
"The best part of my job is I find people that I've never heard of and that the audience has never heard of, and we share something that's pretty cool," he tells us.
"If someone messages me on Instagram and says you've got to meet, you know, the guy who has a parrot on his shoulder while he walks down the street, then we're gonna try to find this guy."
But Sam's time away from the studio doesn't mean he's any less a part of the Sunrise family, which recently went through a reshuffle with the departure of long-time host, Samantha Armytage in March.
The program's newsreader, Nat Barr stepped into the role shortly after and the transition has been rather seamless, says Sam.
"Shuffling is just part of breakfast TV. So no, it doesn't feel that different. You know, I miss Sam [Armytage], I think Sam was wonderful on the show, and we're friends and it's a big loss," he says.
"But at the same time, Nat can do the show and she has done the show so many times [...] She's always been the newsperson and now she's in the host seat and I think it's breathed a little bit of freshness into the show as well."
Accidental Weatherman by Sam Mac is out now.
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