Yesterday morning, Josh Huxley answered his phone, uttered the words “I wake up with Today” and won $130,000.
Camera crews captured the whole moment on live television.
But what should have been a happy moment for Josh and his wife, Diane, quickly soured when many viewers claimed the breakfast show’s Block of Cash Giveaway was an elaborate scam.
One viewer, Coralie Allan, claimed that the show was taking paid calls to enter the giveaway well after the competition had closed, and argued the winner had already been chosen well in advance.
"Block of Cash Giveaway has been shown to be a scam as evidenced by the call to Josh Huxley of Halekulani, 10th May, 2017 - where a television crew filmed him answering the phone 'live' in order to win a major jackpot," Allan wrote in Change.org petition.
Many other viewers agreed that the presence of a TV crew outside the Huxley's Halekulani home, on the New South Wales central coast, meant the winner had been predetermined long before the call was actually made.
Now, Josh and Diane are speaking out about the controversy, telling Daily Mail that claims the whole thing was rigged are "absolute rubbish".
"We didn't have a clue about it," Diane said, claiming the first they knew about their potential win was when the phone rang.
"It's a competition where you sit in front of the TV and so we were just sitting there like everybody else.
"Everything that's been said is a load of rubbish - the only reason the door was open is that I was expecting my grandchildren who come down every morning and then all of a sudden there's a camera in my face."
Diane even argued that she never wanted to be on TV, adding, "if I had of known there was a camera behind that door I would never have opened it."
The couple said that the controversy surrounding their life-changing win has put a damper on the happy moment.
"It's hard not to get upset by all the nasty comments...but what do you say to them, because they already think we're full of crap anyway?" Diane said.
"You're up on this big high and all you want to do is enjoy it, but then you get pulled down really quick with all the negativity.
"All I want to do is set the record straight – it wasn't a scam, we were just as shocked and excited as anybody else."
Yesterday, Channel Nine also denied the claims, saying the moment was pure good luck.
"We had a cameraman waiting outside his home just in case, so we could share the magic with viewers if we got a winner - and it was a big IF," the caption underneath the video on the show's Facebook page read.
"It's not the first time we have waited outside the home of someone we are going to call, and often they don't pick up, and the jackpot rolls over to the next call."