Popular Channel 7 The Great Day Out presenter Sofie Formica calls it quits

CHANNEL 7 darling Sofie Formica has left the network’s Sunday afternoon lifestyle and travel program The Great Day Out after 12 years.

CHANNEL 7 darling Sofie Formica has left the network’s Sunday afternoon lifestyle and travel program The Great Day Out after 12 years.

The network announced today that Formica will not be returning to host Seven’s The Great Day Out in 2019, with her final episode to air later this year.

Sofie Formica has left the network’s Sunday afternoon lifestyle and travel program The Great Day Out after 12 years

It is understood Formica announced her resignation to the network earlier today, which came as a shock to her colleagues.

“I have absolutely loved being able to showcase and celebrate the people and places of south east Queensland for the past 12 years. So many of the business owners and operators we have featured in our stories, have become my close friends,” Formica, 47, said in a statement.

“I remain a passionate story teller, I am interested in people and a variety of issues and I’m excited by the new opportunities that have been created in this fast-changing media landscape.”

Sofie Formica at home in St Lucia, Brisbane, with husband Scott, son Jack, 17, and daughters Jessica, 17, and Emily, 15. Picture: Liam Kidston

Formica first started with Channel 7 in 1989 hosting Saturday Disney and weekday program Now You See It, which made her the first female game show host on Australian TV screens.

She has also acted on Channel 7 soapie Home and Away and guest starred in US TV series Murder, She Wrote.

She was an original cast member of The Great Outdoors before spending the past 12 years with The Great South East, which was renamed The Great Day Out.

Formica has three children — Jack and Jessica, both 18, and Emily, 16 — with husband Scott Wilkie.