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Lisa Wilkinson on her most uncomfortable on-air encounter.

It takes a particularly brave group of humans to venture into the world of live television. But particularly so when said television is recorded in the very early hours of the morning and routinely includes speaking to actors, world leaders, musicians and other A-listers from around the globe.

Luckily for Australia, though, Today host Lisa Wilkinson is one of the aforementioned people, but according to the 57-year-old, even she has had her bad days throughout her 10 years at the Channel 9 breakfast show.

It's now been 10 years since Lisa Wilkinson joined the Today team. Source: Instagram.

“I just thought ‘I can’t keep doing this’," Wilkinson told news.com.au earlier this week when discussing her worst interview, which was with former US Vice President Al Gore.

“[He] came on the program around the time that he was promoting An Inconvenient Truth about climate change,” Wilkinson said, explaining that things were already set for disaster before they went live.

Listen: Mia Freedman talks to Lisa Wilkinson about her career at Today. Post continues... 

First, Gore's PR team demanded Wilkinson and her Today co-host submit their planned questions for Gore ahead of the interview, something the veteran presenter and editor now describes as the “first and only time” they've agreed to such conditions.

Then on the day of the interview, Wilkinson says Gore arrived onset with an "extremely full-on" security detail - something that may seem normal to a Vice President but was unprecedented for two Aussie TV hosts.

Wilkinson told news.com.au, "I tried really hard to just stick to the script but about halfway through, the interview was so boring. And I just thought ‘I can’t keep doing this’".

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So, Wilkinson did what all great presenters do and went rogue, asking Gore for his thoughts on recycled toilet paper, something that went down like a lead balloon.

lisa wilkinson al gore
Al Gore in 2007. Source: Getty.

“He looked at me like I was from another planet, and asked me to repeat the question,” Wilkinson said.

“It was like he didn’t even know what it was — he just had no idea what I was talking about... it was completely awkward.”

The lesson, Wilkinson said, is “Never interview anyone who tells you that you can only stick to the questions.”