Seven Sharp host slips in crude sex reference

He's only in his first week, but Jeremy Wells has already managed to get a crude sexual reference into Seven Sharp.

Wells took over as the TVNZ 1's show’ co-host alongside Hilary Barry this week, replacing Mike Hosking and Toni Street, who left last year.

Many expected Wells, a known news prankster from his days fronting Eating Media Lunch, to take a few weeks before his often x-rated sense of humour shined through on the prime time show.

But last night, in just his fourth night on air, Wells managed to sneak in a sexual reference as he introduced a story about pinball players.

Wells described them as "finger blasters" – which is widely known to be a crude reference for a vigorous sexual act.

The new Seven Sharp hosts have received mixed reviews during his first week on air, with Herald critic Karl Puschmann calling Monday night’s debut “a little undercooked”.

“Seven Sharp feels a little like they don't know what they want it to be and are still trying to figure out how to make this bold experiment work,” he wrote.

While fellow critic Alex Casey said it was “really lovely to see a woman on Seven Sharp who is able to say more than two words before getting interrupted by a man boasting about his new astroturf”.