Logies host Gretel Killeen was tried, convicted and executed via Twitter last night — and some of her most voracious critics were inside the ceremony.
Killeen, formerly the host of Big Brother, was torn apart on the micro-blogging website for her wooden delivery, flat jokes and new pixie haircut.
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Gruen Transfer host Wil Anderson led the charge from inside the ceremony, repeatedly tweeting his dissatisfaction with the host's performance.
"Gretel doing a sketch in heaven ... and yet we are in hell," he wrote after Killeen was lowered on to the stage dressed as an angel.
He also called Killeen a "Lego person" and said that if his own Logies appearance wasn't funny, it would be a case of "the pot calling the Gretel black".
Anderson wasn't the only Twittering celebrity sticking the knife into Killeen. Chaser members Julian Morrow and Dominic Knight also made fun of the host's on-stage troubles.
"Gretel's really good at live television. Unfortunately this is on delay," Knight wrote.
Ordinary Logies viewers were even less forgiving.
"Gretel mentions Twitter — if only she knew what was being said [about the] Logies," one user wrote.
"If Gretel had hosted Big Brother as badly as she's hosting the Logies we might have gotten rid of her a long time ago," another said, echoing the sentiment from hundreds of other comments.
MTV presenter Ruby Rose, however, lent her support for the besieged Logies host.
"Think Gretel deserves FAR more laughs from the audience ... come on guys ... she's f****** funny," Rose wrote on Twitter.
Media analyst and Mumbrella blogger Tim Burrowes said he had seen Twitter light up in a similar fashion several times before.
"When Hugh Jackman was presenting the Academy Awards I was stuck at work and wanted to know how it was going. It's not as if Twitter is entirely negative — the tweets were about three-to-one in his favour," he said.
"Although [negative comments] can be pretty devastating for the presenter, it's the thing that television needs. It's something that does help people come together."
Burrowes speculated that Anderson may not have realised how many people were responding to his comments on Killeen's performance.
"Wil Anderson was having a very different experience in the ceremony to you or I sitting at home. I suspect he may not have realised quite how widely his voice was being heard," he said.
"Because it was on a delay of about half-an-hour, he was tweeting things that people hadn't yet seen. "
Burrowes said awards ceremony organisers were unlikely to ban celebrity tweets at future events.
"You can see that the temptation would be there, but it would be a PR disaster," he said.
"They may even have a representative joining in the conversation live. Twitter gets to its most vicious when its users think the person being talked about isn't listening."
Killeen told hundreds of guests at Melbourne's Crown Entertainment Complex that she was surprised to land the Logies gig.
"I have to tell you also it came as a surprise when I found myself saying yes," she said.
"I think we all know hosting the Logies is a little bit like volunteering to be the target for a game of brandings.
"But then I thought, wait a minute, this is a nice celebration — this is TV's night of nights."
She also described the presenting job as "daunting".
A number of celebrities, including members of the Chaser, Andrew G, Dave Hughes and Max Markson, provided regular updates from inside the event.
The Nine Network's TODAY show interviewed comedian John Safran, who said he'd noticed Twitter's influence over the Logies audience.
"Everyone was Twittering around me. It’s like no one was paying any attention at all," he said.
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