#TV reporter busted faking muddy rescue effort after flooding

Mud on your face — big disgrace.

A German broadcaster was busted for allegedly smearing mud on her face and clothes to appear as if she’d helped a town ravaged by the recent floods. Her dirty laundry was aired in a Twitter video with over 350,000 views.

In the incriminating clip, which was shot in secret by a bystander, RTL reporter Susanna Ohlen can be seen with her back turned to the camera on a street in the flood-inundated town of Bad Münstereifel. Things got suspicious after the journalist proceeded to scoop mud off the ground and seemingly smeared it on her face and clothes.

The mud mask-uerade allegedly occurred while the sneaky newswoman was covering the nationwide cleanup efforts following the devastating deluges that destroyed several towns and killed 205 people across Germany and Belgium, the Independent reported.

The now-deleted RTL video, which has been preserved on Twitter, depicts a mud-streaked Ohlen imploring the public to aid the cleanup campaign. In it, she can be seen holding a spade and wearing a bucket hat, Wellington boots, thick gloves and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

A since-deleted RTL article had lauded the TV personality for helping to “lend a hand” and “support the local people.”

However, after her disaster relief fabrication came to light, the alleged filthy faker was promptly sidelined by the news service, which issued the following statement:

“Our reporter’s approach clearly contradicts journalistic principles and our own standards,” read the comment about the journo, who had been working at RTL since 2008, the Independent reported. “We therefore gave her leave of absence on Monday after we heard about it.”

Ohlen has since apologized on Instagram for the Brian Williams-esque deception, admitting that she’d made a “serious mistake.”

However, her mea culpa didn’t sit well with ’Grammers, who lambasted her half-baked glob-fuscation attempt.

“Does anyone seriously believe that?” scoffed one critic.

“If you were really sorry, you’d have apologized sooner,” accused another. “You’re only doing it now because the recordings are there.”

This isn’t the first time a public figure has been busted acting inappropriately amid the deluges. A leading German prime minister candidate is in hot water after he was captured laughing on camera while President Angela Merkel delivered a statement on the natural disaster.