The real story behind the Royal Prank Call.

That was one of the opening lines from teary former radio host Mel Greig when she sat down for an interview with Channel Seven’s Melissa Doyle that aired on Sunday Night.

Greig and her 2DayFM co-host Michael Christian rose to notorious fame in December 2012, after they pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles and called the King Edward VII Hospital in London where Kate Middleton was being treated for acute morning sickness in the early stages of her pregnancy.

A nurse revealed details of Kate’s condition and from then on, a dramatic and harrowing turn of events took place – events that were blasted across global news stations and websites.

In the exclusive interview which aired last night, Mel Greig told how she urged senior managers to alter the recording, so that 2DayFm staff members’ voices could be used instead of the actual nurses. Her suggestions were ignored and the call went to air unaltered.

Three days later,  Jacintha Saldanha – who was the nurse who had put through the call to the ward where Kate Middleton was staying – committed suicide and left a note blaming the 2Day FM hosts.

When asked how she felt when she found out the news, the pain is evident on Greig’s face.

“That’s a very dark place to visit… I felt like the worst person alive, and that feeling has never really gone away.”

Mel Greig and her co-host Michael Christian were taken off air after the tragic turn of incidents. Two months later, Christian returned to radio but Greig on the other hand, had become a target and was force into hiding, where she had 24-hour security. The death threats reportedly became so bad, that people were calling Greig’s mother and also threatening her, telling her she had to die for Greig’s mistake. Her father was also rushed to hospital apparently due to the stress of the events that had taken place.

“They targeted my family. They were innocent victims.  They would ring my mum and say, ‘An eye for an eye … you need to die because she died,’” Greig said.

In the second part of the interview that aired, Greig told Doyle that only minutes after the call was recorded that Greig sent out an email requesting producers to alter the original recording, in a bid to save the nurses who took the prank call any embarrassment.

Southern Cross Austereo has now admitted this is true.

“I just remember myself laughing thinking how funny it was because it had worked. And then smart Mel kicked in soon after that going, ‘hang on this isn’t right’.

“I feel like a failure as a human being,”she said.

“I should have tried harder not to let that prank call air,” she told Doyle. “It never should have aired.”

When played back the recording of the prank call, Greig seems to struggle emotionally listening to it.

“I feel disgusted in myself listening back to it,” she says, with tears rolling down her face.

The fall-out from the prank call included Greig being dumped by the charities she fronted and she has remained unemployed; even community radio stations turn her down.

Her co-host Michael Christian has seemingly managed to avoid the majority of the negative backlash that surrounded the prank call. In June 2013, Southern Cross Austereo awarded Christian the Next Top Jock award.

The inquest into Jacintha Saldanha’s death has now been postponed three times, and 18 months later, Mel Greig is the only person from the radio station who is determined to give evidence in court and apologise to Saldanha’s family. 

Did you watch the interview with Mel Greig on Sunday Night? What are your thoughts?