Shock as stressed Channel 10 newsreader Mark Aiston quits

SPORTS presenter Mark Aiston disappeared suddenly from our screens after the 30-year veteran of local TV quit his post at Channel 10 because of stress-related illness.

Channel 10 Adelaide programming launch at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Newsreaders Belinda Heggen (l) and Rebecca Morse with presenters Jane Reilly and Mark Aiston.

TV NEWS sport presenter Mark Aiston disappeared suddenly from our screens last night as the 30 year veteran of local TV quit his post at Channel 10 because of stress-related illness.

The much-loved broadcaster, who also co-hosts FIVEaa’s brekkie show and runs his own media training business, admits the workload became too much for him to handle this year.

“So I had to make the decision reluctantly, I’ve loved working there for 18 years ... I’ve made a lot of friends and met a lot of good people,” says Mark, who resigned yesterday (Monday) effective immediately.

“It’s just become evident that I can’t do both jobs, which is a shame ... in the end it was a decision that had to be made from a health point of view.”

Mark, who joined Ten in 1996, says he took two weeks leave from both the network and FIVEaa about a month ago as his health worsened.

“I was fairly stressed ... I just needed the time off, I wasn’t 100 per cent well,” he says.

“I’m not too bad now, I’m getting better. I just need to look after myself, simple as that.”

Mark joins a list of Ten presenters who have quit the station in recent years including Belinda Heggen and Jane Reilly.

His decision to quit Ten comes a week before the network is set to axe nine jobs in Adelaide – six of them journalists – as part of a nationwide restructure.

Some 150 positions are expected to go across the country.

Mark, who began his career in 1982 as a racecaller for 5DN, also confirmed his drunken appearance at the SA Media Awards on Saturday night but declined to comment further.