Glamorous TV newsreader’s ‘last-minute dash’ to Sydney on NYE sparks spicy rumour: LUCY MANLY reveals why one surprising yacht guest had all the socialites talking

‘Welcome 2025 with a last-minute trip to Sydney for a night on the water! Bucket list item checked off. So spectacular and so much fun.

‘Thanks @stulaundy44.’

And so, with 27 words and a few champagne and fireworks emojis, bubbly newsreader from 7News Queensland Samantha Heathwood set the eastern suburbs rumor mill into overdrive on New Year’s Day.

Posing against the beautiful backdrop of the harbour, Samantha’s Instagram post announcing her eleventh-hour rush to Sydney caused group chats in the Emerald City to explode just in time for the midnight fireworks.

The rumor on everyone’s lips: would Sam have reunited with her old flame, the Playboy publicist and former Bachelorette star Stu Laundry?

The caption certainly hinted at it, but when I called Stu he quickly clarified that he and Sam were just good friends.

Sam’s friends joke that Stu is her “backup guy” when she has boyfriend problems

“She’s a partner, but in terms of dating, she’s out of the age range,” the hospitality maestro said, referring to his penchant for dating younger women.

And why would Sam, who is in her early 40s, share such an eyebrow-raising post announcing where and with whom she spent her New Year’s Eve?

We hear the glamorous reporter had just had a minor argument with a friend and wanted to send a clear message.

Stu wouldn’t be drawn to the details of Sam’s private life, but he did say with a laugh, “Look, I’m happy to be the knight in shining armor for any girl who wants to escape to Sydney for some comfort.”

Friends of the TV presenter have been known to joke that Stu is her ‘back-up man’ when she has problems with her boyfriend.

And it’s not the first time the brave pub baron has stepped up to give Sam a shoulder to cry on.

The single mother of two boys previously revealed how Laundy stepped in after an ex-boyfriend dumped her on the day her ex-husband remarried.

‘I really liked this guy and I saw a future with him, but he broke up with me over a text message. It was really awful and it was Stu who said, “Oh crap, we better keep you busy for the weekend or you’re going to cry,” she said at the time.

After the post, Stu quickly clarified that he and Sam were just good friends

Sam was a guest at Stu’s 50th birthday party at Arturo’s Rooftop in Woolloomooloo in 2022

Birthday boy Stu is pictured at his party with a glamorous guest

The then Nine News regional presenter said the man in question returned a week later and apologized, and the pair tried to make it work one last time, but to no avail.

Born in Toowoomba, Sam married at the age of 27 before going through a divorce she described as ‘horrific’.

Following the breakup of her marriage, she was linked to The Bachelorette star Sasha Mielczarek following his divorce from Sam Frost, who chose him as her winning suitor.

But unfortunately their first date in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley hit a stumbling block when Sasha turned out to be slightly smaller than Sam expected.

• Read Lucy Manly’s society column, The Group Chat, every Friday, exclusively for Mail+ subscribers