‘I do have pants on': The Project says goodbye with teary and funny final episode
In the end The Project delivered what it always promised: news done differently.
Axed after 16 years and more than 4000 episodes, Friday night's 90-minute farewell was tear-stained yet joyful, a celebration of everything that made The Project truly different: it gave a voice to 'everyday Australians' without ever being condescending. There was no gotcha journalism, just thoughtful reporting and campaigning that made a difference. It had celebrities and musicians, and a roll-call of Australian talent, many of whom found a home on show. I cried, they cried, and I can only imagine the party going on there now.
Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Georgie Tunny and comedian Sam Taunton helmed the desk for the final night, with special appearances from original The 7.30pm Project hosts Carrie Bickmore, Dave Hughes and Charlie Pickering, who videoed in from New Zealand.
Bickmore, who only left two years ago, recalled receiving an enormous bunch of flowers from Oprah Winfrey (her son later broke the vase they arrived in), meeting Brad Pitt while she was bare foot on a boat, and thanked the viewers for all 'the feedback I've received on my looks'.
She also reflected on the enormous support her charity Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, which she started in 2015 after her husband Greg died of the disease. 'I wanted to raise a million dollars,' she said. 'I would not have raised over $25 million if it wasn't for you guys at home. When we started, I just wanted to raise awareness and now we have a brain cancer centre with people in clinical trials.'
Hughes – perhaps the only person who didn't get teary – also recalled being so nervous on the day they met Brad Pitt, that he introduced himself as, 'Hi, I'm Dave, I'm friends with Eric Banana.' Pickering, meanwhile, said the first episode in 2016 was like 'building the plane while you fly it … somehow we figured it out. '
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Regular co-hosts Tommy Little, Susie Youssef and Rachel Corbett popped by. Hamish Macdonald and Lisa Wilkinson also dialled in, with both praising The Project's ability to make genuine change, with Wilkinson naming the uncovering of the 'toxic workplace culture at Parliament House' as a personal highlight.
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