The Awkward Mix-Up That Left Erin Andrews Feeling Guilty For Days

Working in live TV is far from the easiest thing in the world. When you don't get a second take, any mistake you make on camera becomes permanent. It's especially difficult when you're out in the field and have to contend with things beyond your control. And according to veteran sports broadcaster Erin Andrews, one particular on-air mix-up involving an NFL player left her feeling guilty for days — so much so that the long-time Fox Sports host ended up calling the player to personally apologize.

Andrews opened up about the awkward encounter during a February 2024 episode of her and fellow Fox Sports host Charissa Thompson's "Calm Down" podcast. "I had a situation where a certain player was coming up behind me and I didn't know ... he thought I was going to interview him, and we had to get off air." Andrews said. "It ruined my day for three straight days. I ended up having to call him. ... And I was just like, literally, 'I need you to know you're, like, one of my favorite players, and I was doing that 'cause we had to get off air, not because I didn't want to talk to you."

Andrews says she and Thompson get emotional over mishaps like that only because "we love our job, and we love what we do so much." Thompson herself commented that their employers are typically understanding when that sort of thing happens, so long as they're willing to learn from those mistakes.

Erin Andrews has been with Fox Sports since 2012, and has served as one of the brand's main NFL sideline reporters since 2014. However, that's far from the whole story when it comes to her sports journalism career. A decade before becoming one of Fox Sport's top football reporters, Andrews landed a job at ESPN in 2004. She left ESPN for Fox eight years later, and would go on to cite a lack of upward mobility as the primary reason she decided to jump ship.

"I knew I was never going to get 'Monday Night Football.' That role was just never offered to me. ... And I just said, you know, 'What's next? I have this opportunity at Fox, the NFL seems glamorous, cool. It's something I haven't done,'" Andrews said during a November 2022 appearance on "The Sports Media Podcast." "I remember Coach K saying to me, 'How many Alabama-LSU games are you going to do? When is it time for you to move on?' And I remember calling Chip Kelly the night that it was announced that I was leaving ESPN. ... I was just bawling, and I was like, 'I don't know if I've made the right decision; I hope I don't regret this,' and he's like, 'Don't look back; just look forward.'"

In addition to her work in sports broadcasting, Andrews is known for her five-year stint co-hosting "Dancing With the Stars" with Tom Bergeron, who had a fiery exit from the show.