High Steaks: ‘I’m still there, and he’s not’: Seven star Michael Usher opens up on tough year

Michael Usher opens up on his time at Channel 7, the tumultuous past year, and rumours about a strained relationship with the channel’s ex-news boss. Watch the High Steaks interview.

Michael Usher admits 2024 wasn’t his favourite year.

We are sitting at a window table at Darlinghurst Italian trattoria Verde and the frank admission comes nearly as soon as he takes his seat.

Verde is a favourite of Usher’s and it is clear Usher is a favourite customer. He is greeted warmly by management and wait staff, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was greeted warmly by the kitchen.

We were warned that Michael would know everyone there but the reality is even more impressive. He rattles off recommendations without so much as a glance at the menu, and is thrilled when he sees the T-bone is the steak special.

“It is fantastic,” he enthuses. “Do we have to have steak for High Steaks?”

Michael Usher at Verde Restaurant in Darlinghurst. Picture: Jonathan Ng

I tell him we can order whatever we like and he suggests I try the T-bone anyway, it’s that good. He isn’t wrong.

He tells our host that we will share the calamari and the prawns, I will have the T-bone and he will have the short rib.

Lunch at Verde Restaurant in Darlinghurst, included slow braised beef short rib with honey glazed carrot mash and Riverine T-bone with a side of homemade chips and a tossed leaf salad. Picture: Jonathan Ng

A conversation occurs about wine so quickly, I don’t even know what we will be drinking, but it was a bold red that was the perfect accompaniment to our meal and to the bold conversation we are about to have.

Because Michael Usher is not backwards in coming forwards when it comes to conducting an interview, nor is he – after a little warming up – when being interviewed.

We blitz through his early career in Western Australia, where he cut his teeth in TV news reporting, including charming anecdotes about watching the newsreels that would come into the overnight desk where he was originally working as a camera assistant. He would pore over them, admiring the skills of reporters and anchors from the US.

His move to Nine in Sydney and his years as a foreign correspondent covering the rise of terrorism from September 11 all over the world as a reporter for 60 Minutes.

TV journalist and host Michael Usher reporting on location in war-torn Iraq. “Those early 2000s were a pretty crazy time for bad things happening."

“My friends used to joke about it. They said, what have you got, some like inside knowledge or some other sense that you just turn up at bad things?” he jokes.

“Those early 2000s were a pretty crazy time for bad things happening. I mean, once September 11 happened, and once America and the coalition of the willing entered into its war, and then it triggered that generation of terrorism, we were all affected by that. It was popping up everywhere, sadly.”

His career has been so fascinating it is over an hour before we get back into why 2024 wasn’t his favourite year.

Former Channel Seven news boss-turned Perth Bears CEO Anthony DeCeglie, with whom Usher butted heads.

In April last year, Seven became a surprise participant in Bruce Lehrmann’s ultimately unsuccessful defamation case against Channel 10 when a former producer on Seven’s Spotlight revealed the program had paid Lehrmann thousands of dollars and other benefits to get his story. The fallout from the expose included the demise of Seven’s news boss Craig Macpherson and the rise of former newspaper editor Anthony De Ceglie.

De Ceglie, once seen as Seven owner Kerry Stokes’ golden child, moved quickly and, at times, savagely, installing a comedy segment and an astrology segment, and sacking several news personalities.

Variously over the course of the year, Usher’s name was mentioned in gossip columns as someone in the firing line.

“There’s always a motive behind a leak. So, who hates you and who wants to make you look bad? I get it. I know why people leak. I’ve been the recipient of leaks and written good stories from them. But there’s always a motive,” he said.

The “disruptive” changes within the newsroom and the leaks led Usher to have what he describes as “robust” conversations with De Ceglie.

“The early advice I gave him was that I’m always really, really mindful of our viewers and the audience. They really trust what we do, and they stay with us for a reason. And fast changes disrupt us and our viewers and don’t rush decisions. Take a step back, think about it, learn, observe, make better decisions down the track,” he said.

Despite his advice being ignored, Usher remains gracious about De Ceglie’s reign.

“Anthony had a mandate for change. And he tried it. It didn’t work. And he wound them back as quickly as he could,” he said. “I get giving it a go and giving it a chance. I like that energy. It’s a good positive energy. But if you stop listening, it becomes a problem.”

And he can easily explain that grace too: “Well, I’m still there and he’s not.”

Michael Usher on Dancing with the Stars. It was Usher’s children who encouraged him to participate in the program. Picture: DWTS/Seven

Somewhere between the most delicious calamari I have ever eaten and the T-bone, the conversation wanders to Usher’s personal life.

He has always been an intensely private person and won’t even give me his partner’s surname. I doubt he would have told me her first name if I hadn’t already known it, but there is no denying the steely newsman softens when it comes to talking about corporate lawyer “Georgina”, who has sat in the audience in the latest audacious career sidestep Usher has taken – appearing on Dancing With The Stars.

They met through mutual friends six years ago and, despite his high profile, she has remained low profile.

“She is the most private woman I could have found to partner with. And for me to be so public, it’s an interesting relationship. She’s deliberately quiet in her professional life, and loves and enjoys that very much. So in that sense, it’s a real mismatch, but in so many other ways it’s not.”

Georgina has been particularly fond of watching him on DWTS, as have both the couple’s children. It was Usher’s children who encouraged him to participate in the program.

“They’re all in their late teens and early-20s, and they’ve got their own lives and things like that, but they’ve really got on board with this,” he said. “I think there’s something about seeing Dad a bit vulnerable, a bit stupid.”

But even with the ceaseless support of his family, Usher isn’t without his misgivings.

“I’m still a bit anxious about it, to be honest, even as it’s going to air, and I worry a little about it being thrown back on me the next time I go to do something really serious,” he said. “If someone wanted to turn it into a negative, they can. Do I care? A bit. But not enough to have not done it, and I’m really, really glad I did it.”

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Originally published as High Steaks: ‘I’m still there, and he’s not’: Seven star Michael Usher opens up on tough year