Why Dennis Conner walked out on Paul Holmes interview - Cameron Bennett

Paul Holmes and Dennis Conner. Photos / HOS and Bastiaan Beentjes

The man who orchestrated broadcasting legend Paul Holmes’ prickly interview with American sailor Dennis Conner has lifted the lid on his role in one of the most iconic moments in New Zealand television history.

Cameron Bennett, now among the country’s best-known journalists in his own right, was the producer tasked with securing the four-time America’s Cup-winning skipper Conner for the debut episode of Holmes in April 1989.

In a fascinating new interview with re_covering – a Media Chaplaincy podcast produced for RNZ talking with New Zealand’s top journalists – Bennett revealed how the yachtsman came to be on the show, and the “universal outrage” that followed in its wake.

“We wanted to have a king-hit of an opening show, of course, as there was a lot of buzz around [Holmes]. We had other stories, but not that real king-hit for Paul,” he told re_covering host Rev. Frank Ritchie.

“We thought, what about Dennis Conner?”

‘Dirty Dennis’ Conner, who was in Auckland at the time, was well-known to Kiwis. A fierce competitor, he was accused of cheating for racing in a catamaran at the 1988 America’s Cup, and famously called New Zealand yacht designer Bruce Farr “a loser” and “full of shit”.

With the outrage surrounding his behaviour on our shores, Conner was viewed as the ideal first guest for Holmes.

“Here was this remarkable veteran America’s Cup sailor weighing in, not frightened to say anything at all.”

Bennett was given the job of landing the sailor for a live in-studio interview.

“Conner was promoting a board game, literally a game. And I got access via his agent to [him], as long as we discussed the board game at some point – which we did, actually, but in passing.

“He pulled up at TVNZ, I was there to greet him at the door. We had cameras on standby because this was going to be provocative, and if he was going to walk, we were going to film it.

“He had the look of someone – I don’t know if he’d been at the bar earlier or whatever, but he was kind of relaxed – and in he came. Then all hell broke loose.”

Ultimately, the interview would go downhill quickly. Conner felt blindsided by Holmes’ aggressive set of questions, culminating in being asked if he would apologise for ‘cheating’ and for the unsavoury comments he’d made to competitors.

After enduring Holmes’ grilling, Conner thanked him, told him “I’ve got to run”, and ended the interview prematurely, walking out of the TVNZ studio while the cameras were still rolling.

“Sure enough, he stormed off, rather theatrically… we were startled and amazed and thrilled.

“But this was a man, a veteran of real challenges in life [and] America’s Cup racing – this was water off a duck’s back.”

Veteran TV journalist Cameron Bennett talks about American sailor Dennis Conner's walkout from the Holmes TV show in 1989 to Rev Frank Ritchie, host of the re_covering podcast.

While astonishing, the interview was highly contentious, and drew major backlash from critics. Bennett remembers the “universal outrage” at the newly established Holmes team – not just from newspapers and media commentators, but within the TVNZ newsroom itself.

“It was hostile all-round,” he told Rev Ritchie. “There was no support for what we did, except for the management that stayed with it. But, boy, what a rocky start.”

Despite the criticism that followed, the Conner interview gave Holmes a major publicity boost that set it on its way to high ratings for TVNZ over the next 15 years.

Bennett says the Conner interview fit the brief of “accessible, digestible, short-form current affairs for primetime TV centred around a serious personality”.

And he’s still irked that the walkout is so readily described as ‘infamous’.

“I like to think of it as famous, rather than infamous. It’s not a point of infamy, I don’t think – but it was a very remarkable moment in TV history.”

In a wide-ranging interview with re_covering, Bennett also discussed his years on the ground in warzones as a conflict reporter, his surprise move into Māori storytelling, and his hopes for the future of journalism.

Listen to the full re_covering episode with Cameron Bennett here.