n live television, things inevitably go wrong. And in the Internet age, TV missteps can take on lives of their own - as with the "QVC Ladder Fall" video clip that has been making the rounds.
In the clip, from a QVC home shopping channel telecast, a caller from California identified only as Renee had just begun extolling the virtues of QVC Item 17183, the Telesteps 12.5 foot aluminum telescoping ladder, when the incident occurred.
"Everybody wants this ladder!'' Renee said. "I live in an apartment with vaulted ceilings," she continued as, on camera, a guest demonstrator climbed to the top of a telescoping ladder - then slipped and fell about six feet to the floor. "Uh-oh," said Renee, who continued with her testimonial as the camera quickly cut from a shot of the demonstrator - identified only as Chris - writhing on his back, to a view of another ladder in another part of the studio. "And that has never happened," Renee said.
The remarkably composed studio host, Lisa Robertson, picked up the thread. "Well, you know it's a very slippery floor up there in front of our doors sometimes, so we're going to make sure he's O.K.," said Ms. Robertson, a former Miss Tennessee who has been with QVC since 1995. "He's moving, he's O.K.," she said. "But he scared me for a moment there."
Someone, somewhere, happened to be rolling tape. And since Sept. 7, when the fall occurred, it has lived on, posted on Web sites and circulating as e-mail attachments.
On message boards as far away as Britain, members of virtual communities debate whether it is real. On radio station Web sites, links are posted to the clip, which has been discussed on various morning drive talk shows. On StupidVideos.com, more than 81,000 people have viewed it.
A QVC spokesman, Brandon Hamm, declined to discuss the incident but issued an e-mail statement: "QVC is a live television network and does not delay or edit its programming. Our customers have come to know and trust in our live television experience."
The statement did address a question that viewers of "QVC Ladder Fall" may have had about the fate of Chris. "The QVC guest did suffer minor injuries,'' Mr. Hamm wrote, "however has returned to his place of employment."
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