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Sky News AU
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Former hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore appear on Network Ten's The Project as final episode airs after 16 years
Former The Project hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore made a special appearance for the final episode of the current affairs news program. After 16 years and more than 4,500 episodes, Network Ten announced earlier this month that the nightly show would come to an end without stating a reason. In a statement, a spokesperson said "all good things come to an end" and celebrated The Project for carving out a different way of telling news in the media landscape. On Friday, the final episode, extended to 90 minutes, went to air. Regular hosts Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Sam Taunton and Georgie Tunny, welcomed viewers at home and the in-studio audience with a heavy heart. The show flashed back all the way to 2009 when it first arrived on television screens known at the time as The 7PM Project, before a name change two years later. Highlights of the best moments throughout the years were played, including interviews with A-list celebrities and funny incidents on the panel between the hosts. Later, Wilkinson made a surprise appearance. Speaking in a short recorded video, the TV star who hosted the show between 2018 and 2022, said it had been a "privilege" to be part of The Project family. "In my experience, you will never get a more professional and passionate bunch of people, both in front of and behind the cameras," the journalist said. She recalled one particular "great memory" when Aly interviewed former prime minister Scott Morrison following the Christchurch shooting massacre in 2019. Wilkinson also praised the work of former colleague Hamish MacDonald and Bickmore for breaking news and raising millions for brain cancer, respectively. "And Tommy (Little), Pete (Helliar), thank you so much for every time things got a little heavy there at the desk. Taking the piss! You constantly made us laugh at ourselves and the world. Too often, we needed it! And still do," she continued. "This journalism and these moments are what The Project at its best specialised in, and I'm really sad that a show as important and loved as The Project has been over the years won't be on any screens any more. I mean, 11 Logies and a Walkley, that ain't nothing." Tears flowed and laughter was shared throughout the final show. Celebrities including Dannii Minogue, Jessica Mauboy, Andy Lee, Robert Irwin, Shane Jacobson, and singer Callum Scott also left touching messages for the show. Bickmore stopped by in person during the final 30 minutes, saying she had the "worst memory" but one highlight was spending time with Oprah when she was in Australia. "She took me backstage and spent a couple of minutes for me and it was tough time in my life and she was telling me that she was praying for me," she said. Bickmore then encouraged viewers to buy a beanie to support Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, after her late husband Greg Lange died following a 10-year battle. The final episode wrapped up with long-time host Aly reading out a monologue describing the change The Project had on Australian current affairs and news. "Sixteen years ago, some outstandingly creative people began an audacious TV experiment. Could you straddle the world of news, popular culture and comedy in a single show, a single segment, a single moment?" he asked. "I think that this show reflected the best of this country. It was irreverent and knew when things were serious but always refused to take itself that way. It always gave its best but never presumed to think that it was doing everything right. For God's sake - the show's name is The Project - it's never finished and it reflected our lives. "You love, you cry. You get things wrong. You laugh, and you do all of these things all at once - not in isolation, because that's life. Often we are laughing despite the tragedy around us. It's release and escape and especially, it's connection." Aly went on to thank staff and viewers at home for "letting us into your hearts". "You're the reason the show existed and the reason that this moment is so hard. TV is a meet, and this was... This was the most extraordinary gathering," he said. "...But this impossible show and the people who gathered around it is unlike anything that came before it, and nothing like it will exist again. This show brought people together with sometimes very little in common and made them long-term friends." The Project will be replaced with another current affairs and news program called 10 News+ and has poached journalists from other newsrooms to front the show.
Courier-Mail
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Courier-Mail
The Project panellist Steve Price gets emotional in final apper
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News. A long-time panellist on The Project has become emotional while reminiscing on his time at the legendary show. A tear welled up in the eye of Steve Price, a long-term media commentator and television and radio host, appeared regularly on the show for some 15 years and a tear welled up in his eye as he say goodbye on Monday night. The recently axed show will stop airing on Friday and Monday marked Mr Price's final appearance. He appeared as a panellist since the show first aired in 2009 as The 7PM Project before its name was changed to The Project in 2011. When asked by a fellow host how he was feeling about the show concluding, he said he was 'sad'. Steve Price reflected on his Monday night slot on the long-standing program. Picture: The Project 'I don't know what I'm going to do next Monday night,' he said. 'My daughter Kate is here tonight and she was 11 when I started doing this, so she was still in primary school. 'I've been very privileged to sit here. I've always been amazed that an old white guy like me sitting on the end of the bench was ever going to be allowed to stay for more than a week and I stayed here for 15 years.' Price, who also hosts a Friday evening program on Sky News, writes columns for the Saturday Herald Sun and has previously worked in radio. He praised his co-hosts and saluted the people who worked behind-the-scenes on the show. 'The on-air hosts have been fantastic. They've all been very generous and kind to me,' he said. Originally published as Long-standing The Project panellist Steve Price gets emotional in final appearance
Herald Sun
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Herald Sun
The Project panellist Steve Price gets emotional in final apper
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News. A long-time panellist on The Project has become emotional while reminiscing on his time at the legendary show. A tear welled up in the eye of Steve Price, a long-term media commentator and television and radio host, appeared regularly on the show for some 15 years and a tear welled up in his eye as he say goodbye on Monday night. The recently axed show will stop airing on Friday and Monday marked Mr Price's final appearance. He appeared as a panellist since the show first aired in 2009 as The 7PM Project before its name was changed to The Project in 2011. When asked by a fellow host how he was feeling about the show concluding, he said he was 'sad'. Steve Price reflected on his Monday night slot on the long-standing program. Picture: The Project 'I don't know what I'm going to do next Monday night,' he said. 'My daughter Kate is here tonight and she was 11 when I started doing this, so she was still in primary school. 'I've been very privileged to sit here. I've always been amazed that an old white guy like me sitting on the end of the bench was ever going to be allowed to stay for more than a week and I stayed here for 15 years.' Price, who also hosts a Friday evening program on Sky News, writes columns for the Saturday Herald Sun and has previously worked in radio. He praised his co-hosts and saluted the people who worked behind-the-scenes on the show. 'The on-air hosts have been fantastic. They've all been very generous and kind to me,' he said. Originally published as Long-standing The Project panellist Steve Price gets emotional in final appearance
Perth Now
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Project legend's emotional farewell
A long-time panellist on The Project has become emotional while reminiscing on his time at the legendary show. A tear welled up in the eye of Steve Price, a long-term media commentator and television and radio host, appeared regularly on the show for some 15 years and a tear welled up in his eye as he say goodbye on Monday night. The recently axed show will stop airing on Friday and Monday marked Mr Price's final appearance. He appeared as a panellist since the show first aired in 2009 as The 7PM Project before its name was changed to The Project in 2011. When asked by a fellow host how he was feeling about the show concluding, he said he was 'sad'. Steve Price reflected on his Monday night slot on the long-standing program. The Project Credit: Supplied 'I don't know what I'm going to do next Monday night,' he said. 'My daughter Kate is here tonight and she was 11 when I started doing this, so she was still in primary school. 'I've been very privileged to sit here. I've always been amazed that an old white guy like me sitting on the end of the bench was ever going to be allowed to stay for more than a week and I stayed here for 15 years.' Price, who also hosts a Friday evening program on Sky News, writes columns for the Saturday Herald Sun and has previously worked in radio. He praised his co-hosts and saluted the people who worked behind-the-scenes on the show. 'The on-air hosts have been fantastic. They've all been very generous and kind to me,' he said.
The Age
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
The Project is gone – but the battle to attract younger viewers to news continues
When The 7PM Project premiered on July 20, 2009, it promised to do 'news differently'. Its trio of hosts – stand-up comedians Charlie Pickering and Dave Hughes and radio newsreader Carrie Bickmore, who had developed a TV profile on Rove Live – were aged in their 20s and 30s and provided a fresh, youthful alternative to long-standing nightly news shows such as The 7.30 Report (as it was then called) and A Current Affair. Unabashedly pitched at an audience of younger consumers – Millennials then aged in their 20s and early 30s – the first episode featured an interview with MasterChef Australia winner Julie Goodwin, former Australian Idol host James Mathison reviewed storied current affair show 60 Minutes, and Ruby Rose interviewed Sienna Miller for the film GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. It was, as Dave Hughes and Carrie Bickmore recalled in a 2017 interview for 'stressful'. 'I was absolutely terrified before the first episode because we were doing something that hadn't really been done before,' said Hughes at the time. 'It was serious news with jokes slammed right in the middle of it. It was really different and I was certainly concerned that every time I opened my mouth during that first episode that I was going to ruin my career.' Added Bickmore: 'The only thing I remember is when the show ended, breathing out and hearing Dave Hughes say, 'Well, I think I just ended my career'. I remember thinking, 'Shit, if Dave Hughes is saying that, then what hope have I got?'' It all sounds very quaint now, but at the time The Project broke the mould. It was snappy, funny and with its targeting of issues such as domestic violence, sexual assault, protecting Australian wildlife and banning plastic bags in supermarkets, it hit a nerve few other programs did. It connected with a young audience that was hungry for news, who leaned more to the left and who wanted a bit of comedy and celebrity sparkle thrown into the nightly mix. It also was not alone. In 2013, The Project (it changed its name in 2011) was joined by The Feed on SBS and the ABC's Tonightly with Tom Ballard in 2017, with both mixing news reporting with features and comedy on a nightly basis. Along with the satirical group The Chaser and their various shows on the ABC, these programs catered to a growing youth audience that wanted the news and who had, importantly, yet to be distracted by their smartphones.
