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Home / Entertainment

TVNZ’s Hilary Barry hits back at viewer’s ‘too much skin’ complaint

Pierre Nixon
By Pierre Nixon
Breaking News Reporter, Christchurch - NZ Herald·NZ Herald·
15 Mar, 2024 06:02 AM2 mins to read

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What households are doing to cut costs, concerning photos emerge of heavily taped Latam wing and time to grab your coat as chilly weather hits the country in the latest NZ Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald

Seven Sharp host Hilary Barry has been the victim of yet another intolerant complaint by a viewer for her on-air fashion choices.

In an Instagram post, Barry said a viewer complained about a dress she wore while hosting the popular 7pm entertainment show because she was showing “too much skin”.

But Barry has had the last laugh, telling her followers she plans to wear the same dress again while hosting the show on Friday night.

Seven Sharp host Hilary Barry sits alongside Jeremy Wells, wearing the same dress that previously outraged a viewer. Photo / Hilary Barry
Seven Sharp host Hilary Barry sits alongside Jeremy Wells, wearing the same dress that previously outraged a viewer. Photo / Hilary Barry

“John from Rangiora complained when I wore this dress last night that I was showing ‘too much skin’ for prime-time viewing. So f*** him, I’m wearing it again tonight,” the Instagram post read.

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A screenshot of the complaint read: “Please Hilary, look at your dress code to reflect that you are on prime time viewing. Too much skin showing is not acceptable in my opinion.”

The complaint received by Seven Sharp host Hilary Barry. Photo / Hilary Barry
The complaint received by Seven Sharp host Hilary Barry. Photo / Hilary Barry

It’s not the first time Barry has come under criticism for her choice of attire while hosting Seven Sharp.

In 2021, Barry appeared in a soft pink halter-neck top that exposed her shoulders, but even that chaste flash of flesh was too much for one critic.

“Hilary,” the outraged New Zealander wrote, “that top is hardly appropriate for the role of a TV presenter.

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“Come on, you can do better than this.”

“Perhaps you could be more specific?” Barry countered, only to be met with radio silence.

In 2020, the 51-year-old presenter also hit back at a viewer who had had a “gutsful” of seeing her cleavage and made a complaint to the show.

During an episode of the current affairs programme, Barry’s co-presenter Jeremy Wells read out an email from a viewer named Barbara with the subject header “Hilary’s cleavage”, in which she claimed to have been “assailed’ by Barry’s preference for plunging necklines and choice of chesty clothing.

Reading aloud from the email, Wells said: “It’s a fact of nature that women’s breasts are sex objects and should be kept private except for the beach or at an evening do.”

To which Barry responded: “They’re just boobs and half the population have them. Barbara has them.”

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