The aftermath of Tova O'Brien's explosive interview with former MP Jami-Lee Ross has been "utterly overwhelming" for the Newshub political editor, her no-nonsense grilling of the disgraced politician vaulting O'Brien to viral fame.
Ross has faced a fair share of controversy throughout his political career, from his highly-publicised fallout with the National Party to his most recent endeavour, co-leading the minor party Advance New Zealand alongside known conspiracy theorist Billy Te Kahika.
The party has faced criticism for spreading falsities about the COVID-19 pandemic during its campaigning, with its Facebook page even being removed for repeated violations of the platform's misinformation policy.
Appearing on Newshub Nation's election special on Sunday, Ross was lambasted by O'Brien for "whipping up fear and hysteria among vulnerable communities", the political editor dismissing his attempts to compare COVID-19's mortality rate to that of influenza epidemics.
"I don't want to hear any of that rubbish," she interrupted, cutting him off again when he tried to protest. "If you're going to come on the show and say things that are factually incorrect, I can do that actually."
She later informed the former MP that this appearance would most likely be his last for Newshub.
The segment - which has amassed more than 10.2 million views on Newshub's Twitter alone - has been internationally lauded, with veteran journalist Glenn Greenwald praising O'Brien's sharp line of questioning as a "masterclass in interviewing".
Speaking to The AM Show on Tuesday, O'Brien reflected on her newfound fame, calling the response "phenomenal" but "overwhelming".
"In terms of the interview, utterly overwhelming. It's been phenomenal. It's hard to quantify this stuff. My sister who lives in the States says she's got friends texting her and sending her the interview - not knowing that it's me, her sister - that was a bit bizarre," she shared.
"And then when Piers Morgan was slipping into my DMs last night, you know that something's up. But it's kind of hard to quantify numbers like that. I didn't realise there were that many [views]."
British columnist and political commentator Owen Jones shared the interview on his Twitter, calling it "amazingly savage". Morgan, the outspoken anchor of Good Morning Britain, later retweeted Jones' post with the simple caption: "Fabulous".
Presenter and journalist Jacob Tapper, the Chief Washington Correspondent for CNN, tweeted that O'Brien "has some fans in the US" following the interview.
O'Brien doubled-down on her comments on Tuesday, reiterating that Ross is "definitely gone from politics".
"He won't be getting back into this place, no way, no how. What he ends up doing beyond this is hard to know, because he has only ever really lived and breathed politics his entire career," she said.
Advance NZ had a horror night on Saturday, registering just 20,841 votes in the general election and failing to get a single candidate into Parliament.
Ross, who held the Botany electorate as a National MP until 2018 and as an independent politician until Saturday, announced in September that he would not be contesting the seat in the 2020 election. The seat was won by National's Christopher Luxon.
