Hugh Jackman injured as Oprah TV show stunt goes wrong

Live television showed Jackman sliding down a cable from the top of the Sydney Opera House towards a giant outdoor stage, but he failed to stop, crashing into the stage's light rigging and hurting his face

“That was so much fun, until the end,” joked Jackman,  famed for his tough Wolverine role.     

Jackman, later sporting a small bandage under his eye,  told Oprah Winfrey that the excitement of sliding down the cable  caused him to brake too late.     

“I came down waving to everyone, looking over Sydney  Harbour, saw my dad, the kids and you (Winfrey), went to pull  the brake and then boing,” he said.     

Entertainment reporters at the scene said Jackman was hit  in the eye.

Television showed Jackman holding some ice on his  face and taking a swig of red wine. It was reported that  Jackman suffered a black eye.     

But Jackman was well enough to give Winfrey a lesson on  eating Vegemite, a black yeast breakfast spread many  Australians love. He spread some onto a biscuit and offered it  to the TV chat show queen.     

“I like it,” declared Winfrey, before eating some more and  washing it down with a glass of one of Australia’s best and  most expensive wines, the Penfold’s Grange.     

Winfrey, with 302 specially flown American guests in tow,  is in Australia producing two TV chat shows, with Australian  guests such as Jackman, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Keith  Urban and Olivia Newton John.      

Winfrey’s American guests have also filmed their travels  around Australia to the Outback and the Great Barrier Reef.  Their video journals will be part of the shows that will air  later in the United States.     

Australia has spent more than A$3 million ($3 million)  bringing “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to Australia as a way to  boost tourism. The TV show is watched by 40 million Americans  and screened in 145 countries.