Erin Andrews shared a story during the week of a frightening experience she had with a driver prior to Week 1.
Andrews served as a sideline reporter for the Week 1 game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. She was doing lots of preparation ahead of the game, which included listening to conference calls with the coaches and players involved in the game. Andrews also had an interview with Aaron Rodgers to prepare for.
During her “Calm Down with Erin and Charissa” podcast episode that was released on Wednesday, Andrews shared quite a story (around 4:30 in).
Andrews said she flew to Chicago and then got a car to drive her to Green Bay for interviews. The car service apparently was a nightmare. The door for the first car she had wouldn’t close properly, she said. But things only got worse with her next car.
The FOX reporter says that her driver fell asleep on the road during the middle of their drive. She says she was on a call with FOX announcers Greg Olsen and Kevin Burkhardt, as they spoke with the Green Bay Packers quarterback.
“I’m typing, headphones are working, we’re good. I hear snoring. I know it’s not Greg Olsen, Kevin Burkhardt or Aaron Rodgers snoring. It’s my driver who fell asleep at the wheel. On a highway from Chicago!” Andrews said.
“Timeout. What do you mean he fell asleep at the wheel?” Charissa Thompson asked in response.
Andrews said that her driver was snoring and sleeping.
“Moving. 65 miles an hour. I am so thankful I put my phone on mute, because we’re on a Zoom. I put my phone on mute and I go, ‘ARE YOU EFFING SLEEPING?!’ Wakes up, Clark Griswold, it was awful. So now I have the quarterback of the team I’m trying to work on, I’m trying to take notes. I have full blown anxiety. This is not the way I want to go down. This is not the way I want to die …”
Andrews said that she then asked the driver to pull over and have some coffee to help stay awake.
“After Aaron (Rodgers) gets off (the call), I go ‘pull over at a Starbucks.’ I make him pull over at a McDonald’s. I go in, I get him a coffee. He doesn’t drink it. The entire car ride I am like ‘ahem ahem ahem’ monitoring if he’s sleeping at the wheel,” Andrews said.
Even though it was a frightening experience, all worked out well in the end for Andrews, who is part of FOX’s No. 1 NFL broadcasting team.
