>
The Project’s new star host is ‘struggling’ with the grueling weekly commute from Sydney to Melbourne as the talk show’s revamped lineup doesn’t pan out.
Channel 10 insiders have told Daily Mail Australia that the “newness” of traveling to Melbourne, where The Project is filmed from Sunday to Thursday, is “wearing off a bit” for Sarah Harris, a single mother with two young children.
The popular Studio 10 host joined the primetime panel after the surprising departures of talk show regulars Carrie Bickmore, Pete Helliar and Lisa Wilkinson in late 2022.
But the new lineup, which includes former ABC sportscaster Georgie Tunny and former Triple J announcer Michael Hing along with host Waleed Aly, is off to a rocky start.
Sarah Harris, who left Studio 10 to join The Project, travels from Sydney to Melbourne to record the left-leaning current affairs show.
The defection of Chris Brown (with Sevens boss James Warburton) to a rival network follows the surprising departures of Carrie Bickmore, Pete Helliar and Lisa Wilkinson.
Last week, The Project was overtaken by Channel 10’s 5:00 pm newscast four nights in a row.
The dismal start to the left-leaning current affairs show has added to internal unrest at Channel 10 after a terrible year of falling market share and the shock defection of Chris Brown to Channel Seven this week.
It is also speculated that his co-host I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Julia Morris will follow him out the door.
Sydney Pyrmont headquarters are abuzz with rumors that Sarah’s time away from her sons Paul, 6, and Harry, 4, is ‘taking its toll’.
“The novelty is wearing off a bit,” said a Pyrmont veteran who asked not to be named.
Harris, who split from husband Tom Ward in 2021, is believed to have recently re-signed Ten to a new long-term contract.
She has been contacted for comment.
Harris (seen on Studio 10) is believed to be on a long-term contract with Ten
And then there were none. Chris Brown, the last of The Project regulars to depart, following Pete Helliar, Lisa Wilkinson and Rachel Corbett.
The Project plunged to a five-city metropolitan audience of just 238,000 on Wednesday night, barely cracking the top 20 free shows of the day.
In fact, Ten failed to crack the top 10 at all, with its highly publicized prime time offering Australian Survivor drawing just 369,000 to peak at number 13.
By comparison, Nine’s Married At First Sight is getting a daily average of around 790,000.
Ten staff members are now asking if a management shakeup is needed to turn things around.
Directly in the line of fire is Ten’s head of content and Paramount Australia and New Zealand’s executive vice president, Beverley McGarvey, who has overseen Ten’s drop from the third most-watched network in the country to number four (behind ABC). .
“At what point does something get done at the top?” a Ten source told Daily Mail Australia, adding that the chain’s decision to remove the pin from The Living Room, one of Brown’s flagship vehicles, upset several chains on stable air.
The Living Room, which also starred Barry Dubois, Miguel Maestre and Amanda Keller, was unceremoniously fired last November after 11 years on the air, a move that left his on-air team baffled.
Ten’s decision to pull the pin out of The Living Room, one of Brown’s star vehicles, “upset” a large section of the network’s on-air stable.
Keller has admitted that she was “disappointed” by Ten’s decision to drop The Living Room.
At the time, Keller expressed disappointment, saying that he would “hope, pray, and assume” that the show would return to the air in 2024.
This week he confirmed that Brown likely walked after being fired from The Living Room, saying the decision to leave the show was a “risk.”
“I said at the time, this is the risk they take as a network. None of us have contracts, they haven’t rested the show or kept us under contract,” Keller said today on WSFM’s Jonesy & Amanda.
Not surprisingly, Brown’s exit has sparked rumors of more to follow, with Morris, his co-host of I’m a Celeb, Get Me Out of Here, currently rumored to be in talks with Seven.
Brown’s departure has sparked rumors that Julia Morris, his co-host of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, is also in talks with Seven.
Beverley McGarvey, Head of Content at Ten and Executive Vice President of Paramount Australia and New Zealand
Morris is understood to remain under contract with Ten until after I’m A Celebrity airs in July.
Morris management has been contacted for comment.
Ten this week issued a statement this week about Brown’s surprising departure:
‘Chris Brown has brought warmth and compassion to Australians as a resident vet at Bondi Vet, treating animals large and small.
He has delivered a multitude of uplifting, inspiring and hilarious stories with Amanda, Barry and Miguel on the couch in The Living Room and Chris, along with Julia Morris, is signed to the next season of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. ! that he will return to the screens and return to the South African jungle in April.