Sky News reporter thanks her 'backing dancers' as Notting Hill Carnival story is hijacked

The brightly-coloured costumes and vibrant music are back - Notting Hill Carnival has returned after a three-year break, as people flocked to the capital to west London to celebrate African-Caribbean culture and music.

And attendees are having a whale of a time if this Sky News report is anything to go by...

Sky News correspondent Maddy Ratcliffe was reporting from where the festivities were taking place and soon enough had some help from carnival-goers who summed up the party atomosphere.

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"Two years of lockdown restrictions and now the world's second biggest festival, the biggest in Europe..." she explained while three women dressed for the carnival could be seen behind Ratcliffe during the broadcast showing off their dance moves.

While Ratcliffe remained ever the professional and continued on with her report (though moved momentarily when a woman began to twerk on her).

"...in fact on the streets of Notting Hill making the streets shake already with all the sounds and celebration Caribbean culture."

The journalist added that the festival doesn't officially start until 10 am, but that didn't stop the party from beginning early as demonstrated by the partygoers in the segment who soon returned in the shot, got up close to the camera and scream "Notting Hill!"

"We can already hear the sound systems and smell the jerk chicken," Ratcliffe added as the group continued to cheer and more people moved into the shot. "So spirits are already very high here as you see."

Some stats were also detailed in the report, with an expected 2m people on the streets along with thousands of police.

"People are ready to party after two years off," Ratcliffe concluded, which viewers saw for themselves.

"Partygoers heading to Notting Hill Carnival took Sky's @MaddyLRatcliffe by surprise when they photo-bombed her live report from the London festival," the tweet of the report read.

Proving to take the unplanned (and entertaining) interruption all in her stride and having a good sense of humour about it, Ratcliffe responded with a tweet thanking the photobombers.

"Thank you to my backing dancers, I couldn't have done it without you," she tweeted, which has received over 15,000 likes.

It's the first Notting Hill Carnival in three years after 2020 celebrations were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic but there were some free live-streamed events at the time. There was also no carnival last year either due to the uncertainity surrounding coronavirus.

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