Consider BBC reporter Ben Thompson, who battled to keep his obvious snake phobia hidden while live on television.
The 41-year-old journalist was conducting a programme when he alerted viewers that he was about to deliver a topic that he plainly did not want to cover.
Addressing viewers directly, he said: ‘[If you’re scared of] snakes, look away now – I’m not quite sure how I can tell you this next story because I hate snakes.’
‘So I’m going to do it like this,’ he added, before placing his script in front of his face.
‘What you can see there is actually a Florida duo, they’re known locally as The Glades Boys, capturing what is, the longest ever recorded Burmese python in the US state.
‘It weighs 125lbs, 19 feet in length and is now, officially, a record-breaking catch.’

When the camera returned to Ben, his head was still down and the paper was covering his face.
‘Has it gone yet?’ he then asked producers, before being reassured it had and then moving on to an ad break.
Those who saw the video afterwards rallied behind Ben, saying they understood his fear.

‘This would absolutely be me,’ one person posted on Twitter.
‘A very endearing, human moment,’ someone else wrote.
Another simply added: ‘Yikes!’
After the incident went viral on social media as more and more people saw Ben trying to do his job while plainly nervous, he was quick to poke fun at himself.
‘ICYMI: inform, educate AND entertain they said,’ he joked on Twitter.
Ben has had a busy week after gaining notice for his attempts to play the flute live on air while appearing on BBC Breakfast.
During a conversation about the instrument’s burgeoning popularity as a result of pop sensation Lizzo, Ben decided to try it out on TV.
Despite his best attempts, the presenter was unable to get a single note out, forcing Sally Nugent to cut him off and move on since they “had a news broadcast to deliver.”