The Project hosts forced to dramatically flee as fire alarm sends them off-air: 'Unprecedented'

The Project hosts were forced to evacuate the studio on Wednesday night when a fire alarm interrupted the show and took them off-air. Taking to Facebook and Instagram, hosts Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Sam Taunton and Nick Cody shared video of them being evacuated, with Waleed saying it was "unprecedented" and they "didn't know what to do".

When they left the studio, a crew member started an Instagram Live video showing the hosts and crew evacuating the building. After questioning what was going live to air, the group quickly found out Dog House (a show about dogs getting adopted) was airing in its place. Sarah joked that if their ratings skyrocketed, they'd know why.

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As they continued walking to their evacuation point, the phone was put in front of Waleed, and the host joked, "This is how we should do the show!"

He added, "Can I just clear up – I did not ask for a night off, this is not part of any grand plan, I genuinely have no idea what's happening, it's never happened before in my life. I just want to be clear – rumours will start!"

"Who was cooking toast?" Sarah jokingly asked before adding, "I can't smell smoke or anything?"

"The security guard thought it was just malfunctioning," the crew member filming told her, then asked where Sam went.

"Do you think Sam started it?" Sarah said.

They later found Sam who told them celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was waiting to cross to them live for an interview.

When they finally got back on air and chatted to Jamie, he joked, "First up, can I just apologise for the fire alarm? I sent someone in to do some canapes, and look what happened."

It turns out the fire alarm was indeed a false alarm due to a smoke detector malfunction.

'Strange stuff'

Fans were left very confused when the hosts evacuated, with one X user writing, "I switched to their Instagram page and they were showing a live video out on the street. Strange stuff. Don't think this has happened before."

"WTF just happened? Your show just vanished. Now I am looking at a dog adoption show," another confused viewer wrote.

"Unforeseen circumstances? A bit more explanation deserved. Broken camera? Medical episode?" a third wrote before Ten was able to explain the circumstances.

"Glad everyone is safe!" someone else wrote.

"I was so confused, one minute I was watching, then the next I was watching Dog House Australia!! I couldn’t work out was happening! As long as everyone is safe," one Instagram user wrote.

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"Watched the whole thing through Insta. It was greater than the normal show," another teased.

"At least we now know the show is LIVE!" a third quipped.

"That was more entertaining than the actual show," a Facebook user added.

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