ABC star shocks with rogue on-air move

Best New Talent winner Armstrong can now add weatherman to his repertoire after a hilarious stint in front of the green screen map this morning, stepping in for a momentarily-absent Nate Byrne to give viewers their fix.

The charming sports presenter, 32 wasted no time in saving the show from dead air when Joe O’Brien threw to Byrne for the weather, only to realise he wasn’t there for the segment.

“Now for a look at the weather, here is Nate Byrne,” Joe announced after his bulletin as the screen shot to an empty background.

“I think we’ll get to Nate eventually,” he added awkwardly.

“Ha! Do you want me to step in?,” Armstrong was heard saying in the background, before strolling out in front of the weather screen.

Not missing a beat, the popular media personality started off by telling viewers to “get their washing done” in Melbourne which had a “top of 14” and was “pretty clear”.

“Apologies for all the people who want outlook for everywhere else,” he joked before Byrne’s autocue began rolling.

He went on to deliver the segment perfectly until a severe weather warning popped up on screen.

Having some fun with the former AFL star, producers then flashed random excerpts of maps including Vancouver and Norfolk Island in an attempt to throw him off.

But the prank only egged him on further, prompting the footy player to bust out some dance moves to laughs from his colleague.

“Gee whiz, I dunno what’s going on behind me Joe … I’m doing my best though!” Armstrong exclaimed.

O’Brien gushed over Armstrong in his back announcement.

“Tony Armstrong can do everything, he is amazing, he’s at Norfolk Island, he’s at Noumea, Vancouver he’s got it all going on,” he laughed as Armstrong jovially danced round the screen in the background.

The rising media star has become known for his cheeky live moments, recently telling news.com.au not a day goes by without his News Breakfast colleagues shooting him befuddled looks.

“I basically have moments every day where I see Michael (Rowland) and Lisa (Millar) look at me like I’ve come from another planet,” he said, recalling a day he continually quoted cult British comedy series The Mighty Boosh on air.

“I got really into it and at one point I looked over at them and they were looking at me like ‘how is this guy not only on TV, but in the building? There’s something obviously wrong with him’,” he joked.

In the same interview, Armstrong opened up about his mysterious stint on subscriber-only site OnlyFans, which sent fans into a spin last year.

He revealed the profile was a “troll” to trick people into donating money to the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“Once they got into the OnlyFans, they would realise a subscription was for this charity … It was just photos of me with cups of tea or with a book or something. We ended up getting quite a few subscriptions,” he explained.

Asked whether he had permission from the ABC to join the site for the three-week stint, he sheepishly responded that he “found out later that he was meant to.”

“I wouldn’t say I got in trouble … I had ‘a chat’,” he revealed.

His efforts today have clearly more than made up for the small lapse in judgment.

Originally published as Tony Armstrong fills in as ABC News Breakfast weatherman in hilarious live moment