KEY POINTS:
Television star Dominic Bowden may face a $20,000 bill after he cancelled on an international travel show just two hours before the plane took off yesterday, leaving staff in Auckland scrambling to find a new presenter.
The crew of Intrepid Journeys, a Jam TV production which features Kiwi celebrities travelling overseas, were "disappointed" to discover NZ Idol host Bowden was cancelling his trip to Sri Lanka - just hours before the crew's flight was scheduled to leave Auckland Airport.
His sudden departure meant his agent was forced to find a replacement, roping in Outrageous Fortune star Shane Cortese at the eleventh hour.
"Cortese has been a complete hero, and stepped up to the plate at the last moment," Intrepid executive producer Melanie Rakena said.
Bowden had committed to presenting the show "quite a while ago", according to Rakena, but pulled out only yesterday, around 11am.
The three crew travelling to Sri Lanka for the 17-day trip were booked on a flight at 1.15pm, and had checked in when Bowden bowed out of the trip.
But there was widespread confusion about where in the world the 30-year-old celebrity actually was.
Rakena had originally heard he was in Taipei; but later said he was meant to be flying from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, where he would meet the crew before flying on to Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Bowden's agent Karen Kay responded he had "moved on" from Taipei, but was on a flight back to New Zealand.
When the Herald on Sunday contacted him, Bowden said he was in Hong Kong, about to board a flight back to Auckland.
Rakena said the reason given for Bowden's no-show was an American job offer.
"We're really thrilled that he's had that opportunity, but it's very inconvenient for us to find out two hours before the flight leaves that he's not going on our trip... I'm sure Dom will do the decent thing and compensate us for the losses. They will probably be about $20,000."
When the Herald on Sunday got in touch with Bowden yesterday he said he was about to board a plane back from Hong Kong to Auckland, and couldn't discuss the matter.
Asked if he had offered to help with the rearrangement of the Intrepid Journey show, Bowden took a long pause before replying, "Yeah. I can't comment to be honest."
Kay, of talent agency Karen Kay Management, confirmed the former kids' television show presenter had pulled out at the last minute.
"[He didn't do Intrepid] because he got offered the chance of a lifetime. I can't be specific about it at the moment, but he got offered a job in America."
Kay let slip that Bowden had been attending meetings over the past week with the William Morris Agency, one of the largest talent and literary agencies in the world, and had been "put up for a lot of big jobs" by them.
The agency represents hundreds of actors, authors, and musicians, including Bob Geldof, The Eagles, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys.
"Dominic feels very bad he's not able to do it... I think Dom has offered to pay the airfare for the new presenter which is a decent thing for him to do," Kay said."
She was confident Jam TV and TVNZ would understand the decision. "He's had a long relationship with TVNZ ... He's always turned up on time and done a fantastic job for them."
