"Stay calm" and "Keep your head in the game" are worthy goals, but they are easier said than done, especially when faced with what is many people's greatest fear: bugs.
But KTLA reporter Rachel Menitoff kept it together during her evening segment when a flying cockroach joined her for the live broadcast.
The cockroach landed on her chest as she was mid-sentence, crawled along her collarbone and over a lock of hair, and finally disappeared—down into her shirt.
Impressively, Menitoff did not miss a beat and continued her evening report as if she hadn't noticed anything amiss. Other than speaking a little faster and her eyes widening a bit, there was no other sign that anything out of the ordinary was happening during her report.
You can watch the segment here:
After the report, Menitoff said she knew the cockroach was on her, but she also knew the show must go on.
"I knew it was on me. But I knew if I took notice of it, I wouldn't be able to continue on with the report."
"So I said to myself, 'Just get through this moment, and then kind of shake it off.'"
That was exactly what Menitoff did, too: she completed her segment about the news and then set down her microphone before shaking her arms, venting her shirt, fluffing her hair, and jiggling her body, making sure that nothing else was on her.
Menitoff was also very aware of the irony of the moment.
"Ironically, the story was about the extreme heat in the valley, and these cockroaches are attracted to the heat, the warm temperatures, and our camera lights."
"So, it was sort of the perfect environment for the roaches."
Menitoff's colleagues were impressed by her focus. Anchor Megan Henderson summarized:
"That's our Rachel Menitoff. She kept her cool."
"There's no way I would have been able to keep going."
Viewers were impressed that Menitoff kept it together.
Everyone was impressed by Menitoff's steely nerves. Rain, shine, or flying cockroaches, she'll be delivering the news!
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