Lotto presenter Sonia Gray's horror run of bad luck

Sonia Gray has come through a rough few months 'still smiling'.

Sonia Gray has been burgled twice, had a car accident and was struck down by a mystery illness. She also missed a flight home from Africa.

But the Lotto presenter says she's still smiling after a rough three months.

"I'm stronger than I thought," Gray tells this week's edition of Woman's Weekly. "I thought I would have had a nervous breakdown, but no, I surprised myself.

Gray was filming an episode of TV One's show The DNA Detectives, in which celebs trace their ancestral roots, when her troubles started.

She had 26 kilograms of gear stolen on just her second day in Zimbabwe, then had a car accident when their crew's driver hit a fence post, "totalling" their rental car.

Later on in the trip she got sick: "There is nothing more embarrassing than spewing in public," she tells the magazine.

To make matters worse, she missed her flight home, meaning she had to stay on in Africa for two extra days.

When she returned home, her Auckland house had been burgled.

"That shook me. I was feeling sorry for myself for a while ... It was just the fact that they took all the photos of the kids. They were on a battered old laptop," she tells WW.

Despite her woes, Gray says it was "just bad luck" and her experience on the show, which screens on TV One on Wednesday nights, was one of the best of her life.

- nzherald.co.nz