Channel 10 has been forced to deny reports that suggest The Sunday’s Project Lisa Wilkinson is being dumped from her role on the show.
This denial comes after a report from Woman’s Day suggested that just two years after Wilkinson had left Channel 9 for Channel 10, she could be in trouble come contract negotiation time.
According to the report, Wilkinson is after a multi-million contract going forward, but the failing ratings of The Sunday Project make this amount difficult to justify.
However, Channel 10 were quick to deny the rumours, telling Yahoo Lifestyle that the reports from the magazine were “100% untrue”.
There are also whispers from the report that the bad blood between Wilkinson and the original members of the team are playing a major part in the breakdown.
This tension was highlighted by a gaffe from comedian Peter Helliar, who profusely thanked Wilkinson for appearing on “our show”.
“We love having you on our show,” he said at the time on the show’s ten year anniversary episode.
This comment may have revealed more than Helliar intentioned, but Wilkinson was quick to deny the feud in a public post on Instagram.
“So there I was, standing in the queue at the supermarket this morning, right next to the magazine rack, when I saw it: ‘Furious Lisa Flees Channel 10’ right there on the cover of one of the weekly ‘women’s’ mags. (And let’s ignore for a moment the fact that the pic accompanying this headline was of a particularly tender moment from my 10th anniversary at the Today Show at Channel Nine),” the 59-year-old said.
“But honestly, does ANYONE believe this stuff??? The pic above is one Pete took of me on holidays just a week ago. Do I look like someone “fleeing” anything? Do I look furious?”
“Honestly, the number of absolute lies in this story takes my breath away…So please, don’t believe any of it.”
There were also claims that Wilkinson’s first pick for replacement would be current 10 News First weekend anchor and ABC Radio Evenings host Chris Bath, as the veteran broadcast journalist has showcased she can thrive wherever she is placed.
