Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott set eyes rolling just seconds after accepting his award when he bragged about skolling beers in a ceremony that also honoured an alcohol education advocate.
Daily Mail Australia has been told the disabled tennis champion further ruffled the feathers of other participants when he bragged about flying into Canberra on a swank private jet.
In accepting the award, Alcott praised last year's winner Grace Tame with a whimsical tale involving a very Australian antic.
Dylan Alcott enjoys a beer while flying into Canberra on a private jet to accept his award on Tuesday
Alcott told a story about skolling a beer last year
Dylan Alcott (pictured playing at the Australian Open on Sunday) has been named the 2022 Australian of the Year for his inspiring work with disabled Aussies
'I remember when I won the US Open trophy I skolled a beer out of my trophy and you put it up on Twitter saying "If I got to pass the mantle over to this guy I'd be honoured, but the only thing is we have to skol a beer together",' he told the audience.
'Gimme a couple of days and then we can do it. Just not yet.'
While Tame appeared to shout from the crowd 'I deny that', she did indeed post a video of Alcott downing the beer after his win last September.
'There’s no better way to celebrate a Golden Slam than slammin’ some liquid gold!' she tweeted at the time.
The awards ceremony, a near boozeless event held in Canberra on Tuesday evening, had kicked off with the harrowing story of the effects of alcohol on regional Australia.
Alcohol education advocate Shanna Whan had been awarded Australia's Local Hero for 2022 for her charity work changing the conversation around alcohol consumption in rural Australia.
The audience heard the 47-year-old almost lost her life to alcohol addiction in 2015 when she began her work spreading the message that it is 'always OK to say no' to a beer.
Included in the video accompanying video package was the tale of an ordinary Aussie farmer who had fallen to the perils of the demon alcohol.
'Alcohol use is the silent pandemic we are not discussing, and it's a pandemic that is exploding exponentially with COVID-19 no matter your postcode,' Ms Whan said.
Last year's award winner parises Alcott for his drinking efforts after his US Open win
Paralympian Dylan Alcott and his sex expert girlfriend Chantelle Otten
While Alcott has been widely applauded for his his heart-wrenching story about how he became the person he is today, Daily Mail Australia has been told his skol comment when down like a 'lead balloon'.
'His speech was totally tone deaf,' one former award winner told Daily Mail Australia.
'Going on about having beers when the local hero who just won was an alcoholic who is trying to change the culture of regional Australians drinking too much beer,' the
