Former Project star makes shock return to the show after quitting three years ago
The comedian, who sensationally quit the current affairs series in 2022, appeared alongside series regulars Waleed Aly, Sam Taunton, Sarah Harris and guest star Kate Langbroek.
While fans of the show were happy to see Peter back behind the desk, he was just dropping by to promote his new children's book, Detective Galileo.
Peter admitted he felt a little unusual sitting in a spot on the desk normally reserved for guests.
'I used to be on this side of the desk, and then the last few times on that side, and now back on this side. I'm playing tennis with myself!' he joked.
From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop.
Peter explained that his three sons Liam, Oscar and Aiden 'are 22, 20 and 16' so no longer the target audience for his kid's books.
'I still sit at the edge of their bed and read to them' he joked.
'They are less interested to hear my ideas, but they love it and they are supportive. I try to get in touch with my own inner child rather than talk to my kids about it'.
It's not the first time Peter has returned to the show since his departure.
Last year, he appeared on the desk alongside Michael Hing, Max Rushden and Sarah Harris.
'It's our globetrotting mate, Pete Helliar, on the desk!' the veteran was introduced, before explaining what brought him back to his old stomping ground for a guest appearance.
'I had to come back from Argentina because I've not put in my vote in for marsupial of the year' Peter, who had spent time travelling recently for The Amazing Race Australia, joked.
'The Wi-Fi wasn't good on the Inca Trail. I'm a hairy-nosed wombat guy. They twerk people to death'.
Peter then settled right into the show, presenting stories and joking with the new cast like old friends.
His fans were delighted, with several sharing their thoughts on social media.
'Great! You need to return permanently!' wrote one person while someone else said: 'Should be the co-host'.
Peter earlier revealed the real reason why he quit The Project as the mass exodus from the struggling Channel Ten show continues.
The 49-year-old announced he was leaving the show three years ago, and at the time explained he decided to quit following the departure of his co-host Carrie Bickmore.
'Carrie, you recently said that you are glad you're leaving The Project while you still love it and I still love the show. I really do,' he said.
'[The Project] means a lot to me. It's done amazing things for me. I interviewed Luke Skywalker once... and I look forward to see what the show is in the future.'
Peter also said he's excited to be moving into 'new areas' and didn't want to be 'a creator who leaves meetings to go to another meeting'.
He also told Nova's Fitzy & Wippa that he wants to 'do things with my life professionally and personally'.
'[There are] things I want to do with my life, not just professionally but personally and I've already booked into the ashes in London next year,' he said.
'It's not just 10 years on the project. But before that is like 10 years on Rove Live in the office every day.'
The Project was rocked by two other high-profile exits in late 2022.
Lisa Wilkinson announced she was quitting effective immediately, and long-time anchor Carrie confirmed her departure a month prior.
'I have decided it's time to reprioritise a few things in my life,' Wilkinson began alongside co-hosts Hamish Macdonald and The Bachelor's Laura Byrne.
'And after almost 15 years of the early alarm of breakfast TV, and now another five years here at The Project desk, I'm looking at how I want the coming years to play out both professionally and personally.'
In October that year, Lisa's co-star Bickmore announced her departure from The Project after 12 years on air.
Bickmore had been absent for a three month 'sabbatical' with her family in London earlier this year, before returning to the panel in July, only to quit in October.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
AFL WAG Rebecca Judd finally admits to getting work done after years of denying she's had any cosmetic procedures: 'I'm 42, and I don't have a line on my face'
Rebecca Judd has finally opened up about having cosmetic procedures done after years of denying any work. The AFL WAG released her new podcast Vain-ish on Sunday in which she admitted to getting a salmon sperm facial to maintain her smooth complexion. Rebecca told this week's Stellar magazine, she wants to be 'completely transparent' as she discusses beauty in her new podcast alongside best friend Jess Roberts. 'I'm 42, and I don't have a line on my face. I'm telling you it's not because I get eight hours' sleep a night, all right?' she confessed. She went on to say that 2025 is the year we 'stop gaslighting' women by lying about the procedures we've had done. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the . Rebecca told this week's Stellar magazine , she wants to be 'completely transparent' as she discusses beauty in her new podcast alongside best friend Jess Roberts 'You get to a certain age where it's like, come on, let's be a bit more honest. This is the year where we stop bullsh***ing everyone and we fess up,' she added. Rebecca said 'everyone should be a little honest and have better conversations around beauty, aesthetics and wellness.' However, the WAG said many hide things because they get 'shamed for speaking out'. In the first episode of her podcast, Bec opened up about her own personal journey with cosmetic surgeries and enhancements, admitting to trying treatments such as the Kim Kardashian-approved salmon sperm facial. 'So I've had this treatment twice with my injector Claire McGuinness for, you know, thinning skin around the eyes,' she revealed. Bec added that it was a 'next generation' cosmetic enhancement, coining it as a 'biostimulatory injectable'. The influencer then had a laugh at the thought of using salmon sperm as a facial. 'How would anyone ever think to get the sperm out of a salmon and stick it on their face to make them look younger?' For years, the Jaggad founder has denied having any plastic surgery or cosmetic procedures done, instead pointing to healthy living and expensive skincare as her saving grace. However, more recently Bec has been incrementally dropping more hints about the non-invasive procedures she uses to maintain her age-defying visage. In June, Bec paid a visit to aesthetic nurse and former clinical specialist Claire, who offers a 'conservative approach to facial rejuvenation' using radio frequency microneedling, LED therapies, and injectables. 'Give me Kris Jenner's neck without the surgery,' Bec captioned a snapshot of her neck after what appears to be an 'Exion' treatment. The media personality showed off three rows of distinct red and swollen bumps peppered across her neck after her appointment. Exion, a type of radio frequency microneedling, creates controlled micro-injuries and applies heat to the skin, which can cause temporary redness, swelling, and bumps as the skin responds and repairs itself. The treatment boosts hyaluronic acid, collagen and elastin without needles.
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Multicolour menace: these hardy daisies love Australian conditions – and are taking over roadsides
Scattered across Victoria's northwest Mallee region is a sea of yellow, orange and green. To the untrained eye, these plants could be mistaken for wildflowers. But ecologist Fiona Murdoch isn't fooled. 'My daughter is 19 now, but I remember dropping her at the kindergarten bus stop, and a little path of gazania was there, so I went to get rid of it,' she says. 'It spread all the way up the road and to her kinder, and I realised how invasive it was.' Since then, Murdoch, who founded Mallee Conservation and is the secretary of stewardship organisation Land Covenanters Victoria, has made a point of controlling the spread of gazania near her property. 'It's been 15 years of constant vigilance,' she says. Gazanias are brightly coloured daisies native to South Africa and have long been recognised as an environmental weed in Australia. But new research has found they are emerging as a highly invasive plant in grain production systems and grasslands, suffocating crops and costing farmers. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Fast-growing, hardy and aggressive, Murdoch says the plants are similar to gorse and bridal veil creeper. She says they have 'enough resources to continue growing, flowering and to set seeds even if they have their roots in the air'. 'If you pull it out, it keeps going; it doesn't take up herbicide, so it's hard to kill by spraying, and it's allelopathic, so it stops other plants from germinating.' Gazanias are listed as an environmental weed in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, and the sale of them is banned in SA. But the daisy can still be bought online in that state, and nurseries outside SA continue to stock the plant. The Invasive Species Council is campaigning to have the plants removed from nursery shelves. But advocacy manager Imogen Ebsworth says it isn't just a 'rogue nursery problem'. It's a regulatory failure. 'The best solution is to follow South Australia's lead and ban the sale and trade of all gazanias,' Ebworth says. According to the Invasive Species Council, about 75% of Australia's invasive weeds started as garden plants. Ebsworth says until there were stronger national safeguards in place, the circulation of plants that were known weeds would continue. 'We are relying on everyday Australians to either have a botany degree or realise they need to research legally sold plants to find out if they are a weed,' she says 'That's a system designed to fail. 'That's why we need a national strategy – one that includes proper weed risk assessments and a clear, safe list of plants that shouldn't be on sale.' Bunnings, Australia's largest hardware and garden centre chain, told Guardian Australia that it did not sell plants declared as weeds, but added that the list of invasive plants was different in each state and territory. It said it would continue to closely monitor lists for any regulatory changes and update its plant offerings accordingly. Bunnings' director of merchandise, Cam Rist, says it sells a wide range of locally sourced plants across different stores and works hard to create an assortment that caters to customer preferences and demand. 'As always, we closely follow all relevant local biosecurity regulations and the advice of regulators about the plants we sell,' Rist says. Murdoch says garden lovers could consider buying alternatives to gazanias, such as native daisies, which attract and support local wildlife. She says the weed has now spread 'beyond the point of eradication', but that did not lessen the need to inform people about the risk of new plantings. 'It's about controlling high-priority areas,' Murdoch says. 'Adopt a bit of bush and say to yourself, no bit of gazania gets in here. You'll gain so many environmental credits.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
SBS presenter Karla Grant breaks her silence on her shock romance with Married At First Sight star Nasser Sultan
SBS presenter Karla Grant has opened up about her surprising romance with Married At First Sight star Nasser Sultan. The journalist told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday, even though the couple are very different, they still have a lot in common. 'I was taken by surprise myself,' Karla admitted. 'We love travelling, we love going to the movies, we love theatre. There's a lot of things that we have in common that probably people on the outside don't really appreciate.' Karla revealed she is a MAFS viewer and instantly knew who Nasser was when he approached her at an event in 2018. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'He kept on asking me out, but I was always so busy with work and travel. Finally, I said "yes",' she explained. Nasser and Karla have been quietly dating for several months after reconnecting at a party last year. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia last month, Nasser said: 'We've known each other for four years, to be honest. Then we just reconnected at a party and fell in love. 'That was it. It was like love at first sight - just not Married At First Sight!' Gushing about his girlfriend, Nasser added: 'She's gentle, smart, elegant, very well-educated, respected in the industry. And she's not fake. And she's not on Instagram.' Indeed, while Nasser has often courted publicity since starring on MAFS back in 2018, Karla is renowned for her serious work as a presenter and producer for SBS's Indigenous current affairs program, Living Black, and largely shuns the spotlight. The romance between the Walkley Award-winning journalist and the self-confessed reality TV 'troublemaker' may seem unexpected, but Karla herself said it best in a rare public statement. 'Nasser is one of a kind. He's attentive, caring and thoughtful and I see how he is with those who are closest to him. He's always helping his friends,' she said. She continued: 'Our union was very unexpected, but it is growing into something very special.' The relationship marks a fresh chapter for Karla, who was previously married to journalist and broadcaster Stan Grant for 16 years before they split in 2000. Stan famously left Karla for his Seven Network colleague Tracey Holmes, leading to one of the biggest media scandals of the decade. Meanwhile, Nasser has continued to make headlines in his own right over the years - from pulling cheeky publicity stunts to faking romances for tabloid attention. But insiders say his romance with Karla is '100 per cent genuine' and not just another ploy for the cameras. The fact that Nasser, a man who once said, 'write whatever you want about me so long as you write about me,' has kept their relationship low-key until now, speaks volumes. 'I credit her for making me calm. I'm still a troublemaker - don't worry about that' he said. 'And yeah, it's just blown me away, seriously, how this whole thing's happened'.
