Chaos as The Project suddenly stops airing as the studio is evacuated due to false alarm

Famous celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has joked about prompting a studio evacuation which forced The Project to suddenly stop airing. Fans of the news show were stunned on Wednesday night as it was cut from programming out of nowhere and began playing an episode of The Dog House just before 7pm. Oliver beamed into the show about 10 minutes after the chaos ended and made a quip about the evacuation. “First up, can I just apologise for the fire alarm? I sent someone in to do some canapes and look what happened,” the chef said. When promoting his Food Hero Awards, Oliver said: “It will probably be on your website, and when you’re not evacuating buildings it will be on your Instagram feed”. A spokesperson for Channel 10 confirmed a fire alarm had gone off in the building and all staff, including presenters and crew, were evacuated. “Due to unforeseen circumstances, please enjoy this screening of The Dog House,” text appearing on the screen read. The Project took to X at 6.50pm to reveal the studio was being evacuated. “We are being evacuated … we think we will back soon?” the post read. Minutes later, The Project again took to social media saying the evacuation was due to a fire alarm in the studio. “Due to a fire alarm in the studio, The Project has had to evacuate the building,” it wrote. “You can see what’s happening Facebook and Instagram Live … or watch an episode of The Dog House!” The Project recommenced airing at 7.09pm. When the show restarted, Sarah Harris said not only did they have to leave, “we had to run”. “We had a bathroom break,” the panel joked. Waleed Aly explained: “There was a fire alert in our building and we had to leave.” Harris interjected: “Not just leave, we had to run.” “Who drew up our fire plan? We met up a kilometre away”. It is understood the issue was with the reverse-cycle air-conditioning, prompting dust to go “flying”. “Everyone was like ‘We’ve got to get out of here’... I was like good joke, but I was told no, go,” host Sam Taunton said. Later in the broadcast after an ad break, he joked: “The Project, delivered differently, sometimes not at all.” During their brief absence from the air, the panel livestreamed to Instagram and Facebook, where footage showed the hosts out on the street. One crew member joked on the video: “The fire alarm has gone off and they’re making us evacuate...Seems like fire safety is coming above infotainment. Which seems crazy to me.” “But keep in mind that it’s the showbiz rules of evacuation, which means it’s children and celebrities first, then normals,” the crew member joked. “So, Waleed and Sarah, they’ve been choppered out of here while we’re taking the stairs.” The crew member can be seen walking down the fire stairs as firetrucks pull up on the street. Aly and Harris can be seen in the footage outside with the crowd, still wearing their microphone packs. “This is how we should do the show,” Aly said. “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 and it’s never happened before in my life.” All workers and crew were led to a nearby park before they were allowed back into the building. A Fire and Rescue Victorian spokesperson told NewsWire staff had responded to a false alarm after a smoke detector malfunctioned. The Project is filmed at Ten’s Melbourne studios in South yarra, with the panel on Wednesday consisting of Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Sam Taunton and Nick Cody. Fans took to social media as they reacted to the sudden change on-air. “Yeah 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,” one user wrote on X. Many made jokes about the panel. “I think Waleed wanted to finish work early to watch the Olympics,” one user said. “It’s @theprojecttv delivered differently. I would love the occasional panel of dogs,” another said, referring to The Dog House being on air instead. Another wrote: “The Instagram live of the project being evacuated is their best segment this week”.