A TACKY segment by new Night Cap co-host Zach Douglas, offering sordid advice on oral sex, appears to have been too much for producers of the 7HD show to swallow, with the gay corsetier cut from the panel.
Despite being groomed by Seven wunderkind Adam Boland for the late night role, Douglas has been dumped from the line-up in the wake of the jaw-drop moment on last Tuesday's broadcast.
While the former Big Brother runner-up had been criticised for his "frozen" debut performances on the experimental show, which launched on February 12, Douglas turned up the heat too far when answering a viewer's email.
The seemingly harmless question about kissing veered into dangerous territory when Douglas began describing same-sex practises and fellatio.
His explicit comments left the show's more experienced performers - host Matthew White, newsreader Jessica Rowe and roving reporter Monique Wright - scrambling to patch up the wreckage of the segment.
A spokeswoman for Channel 7 told Confidential yesterday there was "no correlation between the incident" and a decision to replace Douglas on the panel.
"Zach found flying between Melbourne and Sydney twice a week took its toll on him and his (corset) business, so he'll now be our entertainment and gossip reporter," the publicist said.
"We feel it's a better fit rather than him as a full-time panellist."
His position will be recast with "different guests each week" until a suitable permanent replacement is found.
It appears that the footage of Zach's outburst has been cut from the Night Cap website. While the vodcasts of the other three episodes all run at least an hour, the episode containing Douglas's gaffe is just 15 minutes long.
Explicit sex advice too much
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