Talking to Duncan Garner for the podcast Duncan Garner: Editor-in-Chief, Santamaria discussed his interactions with former colleagues, his mental health, and the impending legal action against TVNZ.
The Emmy-nominated former Breakfast host last month admitted his exit from TVNZ followed a complaint of him inappropriately touching a colleague in the newsroom.
Santamaria lasted just 32 days on Breakfast before leaving the network last year, which TVNZ originally said was the result of a “family emergency”.
More than a year on from the scandal, Santamaria has dodged media questions, and announced in June he was starting a podcast and website named Balance to “set some records straight”.
Last month, in a statement of nearly 400 words, Santamaria claimed during his brief time at TVNZ that he witnessed an editorial meeting where it was suggested there should be a ‘breakfast hotties’ whiteboard and that a staff member posted on internal messaging a photo of a guest with the caption “certified breakfast hottie”.
He said also that he recalled seeing a male member giving a female member of staff a shoulder massage in full view of the newsroom and alleged that on another occasion, producers were “literally rolling around on the floor outside the studio door laughing loudly and uncontrollably”.
Santamaria’s statement also made allegations about the process of his exit from TVNZ.
He claimed “the Head of HR and the then-CEO [Simon Power] never once spoke to me or sought my side of the story” and that the process relating to the complaint against him “was launched, escalated, and decided without ever requesting or obtaining a formal statement from the complainant themselves”.
TVNZ also at the time rejected the accuracy and portrayals made by Santamaria.
