Project clean up: Lisa Wilkinson’s last visit to Nine
AFTER more than a decade at Channel 9, yesterday Lisa Wilkinson signed in as a visitor when she went to her old offices. Overnight, the veteran reporter left a heartfelt message for her Today audience.
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AFTER more than a decade at Channel 9, yesterday Lisa Wilkinson signed in as a visitor when she went to her old offices.
Overnight, the 57-year-old left a message to her Today audience with a throwback photograph of herself with former co-host Karl Stefanovic behind the desk.
“It’s been a helluva week. I’m only sorry that I never got the chance to say goodbye to you all...the incredibly supportive, engaged, opinionated, clever and wonderfully diverse audience of Today,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the fun years we shared, and for welcoming me into your homes each morning. It has been an absolute privilege.
“This pic is from Karl’s and my very first publicity shoot way back in May 2007. Look at us, we were babies!”
Wilkinson, who dramatically jumped ship from Today to Channel 10s The Project last week, is understood to have been cleaning out her desk at the Willoughby network headquarters.
A source at the network told The Daily Telegraph Wilkinson has visited her old workplace a couple of times this week to tie-up loose ends.
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“She has been in a few times during the week to clean out her desk and other things,” the insider said.
Yesterday a Channel 9 spokeswoman said the network would not comment on the former employee’s presence at the offices.
Friends of Wilkinson say she is extremely happy with her decision and despite the intense attention on her move she is in good spirits.
“Lisa seems really happy since she made the decision, it is like a weight is lifted,” the source said.
The friend said the TV veteran had grown tired of the gimmicks which the show had become known for.
“She was not a fan of the direction the show was going in,” they said.
“The constant attempts to go viral and things like the four mascots, they all annoyed Lisa who has always focused on the news element of the show.”
The news comes after Karl Stefanovic said the show will be fine without his former co-host.
Wilkinson will enjoy a two-month break before joining the panel in January 2018.
Confidential understands she will be a predominant element in the show’s new Sunday night episode, which will not require her to fly to Melbourne.
The Sunday edition of The Project is taped in Sydney as the Melbourne studio is used for Have You Been Paying Attention.
