Annette Sharp: Today star Alex Cullen yanked from role on embattled show

Today’s newsreader Alex Cullen is coming to terms with his recent demotion on embattled brekkie show, yanked from his news role and replaced by entertainment reporter Brooke Boney.

Today show newsreader Alex Cullen is coming to terms with his recent demotion on the embattled breakfast show.

Cullen was yanked from his news role and replaced by entertainment reporter Brooke Boney, whose role at Today seems to evolve every month.

Alex Cullen has been moved to reading sport on Today. Picture: Channel 9

Cullen was yanked from his news role and replaced by entertainment reporter Brooke Boney.

Jim Wilson was replaced on Nine Radio’s drive shift on 2GB. Picture: Richard Dobson

Cullen is now reading sport on the program – a role which would have been a perfect fit, one might have thought, for Nine’s recent departure, sports specialist Jim Wilson, formerly of Seven.

Wilson, who was replaced on Nine Radio’s drive shift on 2GB this year, quit Nine mid-contract in December after initially being touted as a future host of Weekend Today.

SAILOR TOM TIES KNOT AS CELEB MATES AVOID SPOTLIGHT

The wedding of champion sailor Tom Slingsby to Helena Sauzier, one-time hopeful on TV dating show The Bachelor, drew all eyes on Sydney Harbour midweek — if not all expected guests.

Olympic gold medallist (Laser class 2012) Slingsby, who was last year named Australian Male Sailor of the Year, married Sauzier on a yacht on Sydney’s famous landmark on Wednesday.

Sauzier also doubles as Slingsby’s executive assistant at Australia SailGP, where he is chief executive.

Tom Slingsby and Helena Sauzier on their wedding day.

The wedding comes three months after the couple announced their engagement and two years after the pair hooked up in 2020, the same year Sauzier found minor fame on Channel 10’s Bachelor in Paradise.

Sauzier said after the ceremony: “Standing at the altar with you was more right than anything I’ve ever felt.

“There is no doubt in my mind that we’re going to continue to have the most amazing love story, my chicken!

“You are just my favourite thing on this earth. Here’s to the best married life ever, squishy!”

The bridal party at the celebration.

Sauzier posted a set of photos of the bridal party to social media on Friday.

Notably absent from the wedding was Karl “Karlos ya c---” Stefanovic and cricketer Michael Clarke.

Rugby union star Kurtley Beale, who was last month granted bail by a Sydney court over an alleged sexual assault, which he intends to defend, also wasn’t among the guests.

Stefanovic, Clarke, Beale and Slingsby became friends when they previously crewed for Anthony Bell, who was at the celebrations, in his Sydney to Hobart campaigns.

The trio also didn’t take up the invitation to attend Slingsby’s bucks party – probably wise given the media interest.

Stefanovic, Clarke and Bell haven’t been seen together since last month’s ugly slanging and shoving match between Stefanovic and Clarke and involving sisters Jasmine and Jade Yarbrough in a park in Noosa, Queensland.

A SON FOR JAMIE DURIE

Jamie Durie has welcomed a new baby with partner Ameka Jane — son named Nash David.

Nash is Durie’s third child.

Jamie Durie with daughter Beau, 19 months, and newborn Nash. Picture: Instagram

Durie, 52, and Jane, 35, also have a 19-month-old daughter called Beau, and Durie has a daughter, Taylor, who is in her late 20s, from his days as an exotic dancer with Manpower Australia.

The TV garden designer, who, as revealed here, has leant his name to a luxury accommodation venture that last month bought acclaimed landscaper Paul Bangay’s property Stonefields outside Melbourne for $11 million-plus, said Nash’s birth was “a dream come true”.

“Our family heart is full with three beautiful children.”

Jane, a singer, posted video on Friday of Durie with the new baby.

TRIBUTES FLOW FOR PRODUCER

Friends, family and associates of theatre producer Andrew McKinnon remain in shock following his sudden death during the week.

McKinnon, 70, is understood to have suffered a heart attack while walking through the streets of Sydney on Tuesday.

His company, which he started in 1986, was responsible for touring a diverse range of artists, including Marcel Marceau, the Vienna Boys’ Choir, world famous harmonica player Larry Adler, an imported US production of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess, as well as local stars including David Helfgott.

English actor Miriam Margolyes remembered him fondly.

“There are no words to describe my loss,” she said.

“His belief in me and in my work allowed me to present Dickens’ Women and The Importance of Being Miriam.

“His integrity, taste, generosity were limitless.”

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