Shock TV exits: The walkouts and axings and that made headlines
They’ve all made headlines with high profile exits from the small screen. From brutal axings to surprise defections and love matches that caused tension. Here are the Top 10 departures from Aussie TV.
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WHAT do Melissa Doyle, Garry Lyon and Stan Grant have in common? They’ve all made headlines with high profile exits from the small screen. With the much-loved Doyle walking away from Channel 7 after 25 years with the network, we count down the Top 10 departures that sent shockwaves through Australian TV.
1. GARRY LYON
The Footy Show never recovered from Lyon’s shock departure in 2016.
At the time, Nine explained Lyon would be taking leave from his various media commitments to focus on his mental health.
However, it soon emerged that Lyon’s relationship with Nicky Brownless (the ex-wife of Billy, his close friend and co-star of 15 years) had created tensions behind the scenes.
Although he was separated from Nicky when she and Lyon began their romance, Billy was blindsided by the relationship, declaring: “You don’t touch another man’s wallet, you don’t touch his wife.”
Brownless has since admitted it took him two years to move on from the hurt and humiliation. Lyon and Nicky are still together.
2. JESSICA ROWE
Back when Eddie McGuire was at the helm of Channel 9, he “boned” the bubbly blonde presenter from the Today Show.
McGuire has always denied using the infamous term, claiming he said he wanted to “burn” her rather than “bone” her from the ailing breakfast show.
The Collingwood president claimed that he was merely trying to find a way to spare Rowe from the barrage of criticism that was being levelled at her for everything from her appearance to her laugh. Either way, after a short and difficult tenure at Today, Rowe was sent packing soon after returning from maternity leave in 2007 and replaced with Lisa Wilkinson.
3. DOUG MULRAY
The long-haired comic was in the middle of a smutty monologue about bosoms on his show, Australia’s Naughtiest Home Videos, when he was ripped off air and replaced with a re-run of Cheers.
Apparently, Nine owner Kerry Packer was having a dinner party with friends when he was told about the program’s sexually explicit material.
Packer excused himself from the table, flicked on the TV and was so enraged by what he saw that he rang the network and demanded: “Get that shit off air!”
Although a discerning viewer might have been delighted to see Ted Danson appear on screen in place of Mulray and his dirty videos, Nine received thousands of complaints about the sudden censorship.
Packer held firm, sacking anyone involved with the show and issuing Mulray with a lifetime ban from Nine.
Ultimately Mulray had the last laugh.
He made the lewd joke, “I am the first Australian in history to be pulled off by Kerry Packer,” on his radio show the next day and eventually returned to Nine to judge the 2005 series Starstruck soon after Packer’s death.
4. KYM VALENTINE
Australia watched Valentine grow up on screen as Libby Kennedy, the screen daughter of Ramsay Street stalwarts Susan (Jackie Woodburne) and Karl (Alan Fletcher).
When the actress was struck down with pneumonia in 2008, the decision was made to recast her role with actress Michaela Banas while Valentine recuperated.
The actress later said she felt humiliated by being replaced on the soap. She also alleged that she suffered sex and disability discrimination because of her ongoing health problems.
She settled the matter out of court and later returned to the show for a short stint in 2014.
5. KERRI-ANNE KENNERLEY
The blonde veteran’s recent dismissal from Studio 10 isn’t the first time she’s felt the full force of the TV axe.
Back in 2011, Kennerley discovered Sonia Kruger was getting her job when she read about it in a newspaper. Unknown to Kennerley, the network had enticed Kruger to leave Channel 7 by offering her the midmorning TV slot in addition to the prime-time role of hosting Big Brother.
A true trouper, Kennerley took it in her stride, just as she has done with Ten’s recent decision to let her go from Studio 10.
At the time she said simply: “Business is business … there is no easy way to affect change.
Everybody’s ego gets dented a bit. I’m no different to anybody else in any other job who
finds themselves moving on. Whether you like it or not is beside the point. Get on, suck it up
and enjoy.”
6. LISA WILKINSON
Within minutes of announcing she was leaving the Today Show, Wilkinson’s camp issued a press release saying she was making the move to Channel 10 to join The Project.
Wilkinson’s departure from Today wasn’t entirely surprising thanks to persistent whispers she had grown tired of keeping Karl Stefanovic in line.
She’d grown even more tired of earning a significantly lower pay cheque than the Gold Logie winner.
When Nine refused her request for pay parity she jumped ship to Ten who – rumour has it – were only too happy to make Wilkinson one of the highest paid people on Australian TV.
Wilkinson’s signing supposedly ruffled feathers at The Project desk, although the cast continue to deny there is any behind the scenes tension.
Wilkinson has promised to tell all about the incident in her soon-to-be-released memoir.
7. HELEN KAPALOS
The Channel 10 newsreader had been at the network for almost a decade when she was given her marching orders shortly before a planned holiday to America.
There was no farewell party with her colleagues or opportunity to say goodbye to viewers on air.
Instead her email account was closed, her security pass cancelled, and she was left to
announce her humiliating departure on Twitter.
Kapalos eventually resurfaced at Seven a year later as the new host of Today Tonight.
She had some tough moments in the TT chair on her short-lived stint as host before she resigned at the end of 2013 to focus on making documentaries and doing special reports.
8. SHANE CONNOR
The actor had been starring as Ramsay Street’s hot-headed builder Joe Scully, screen dad to former popster Holly Valance, for four years when he was sacked from the series due to his addiction to amphetamines.
Connor’s aggressive behaviour and late arrivals on set had caused drama for producers and led to hostility with his castmates.
The actor sued the show’s production company for unfair dismissal, explaining how he had begun using drugs while grieving the death of his brother in 2001.
He was awarded a $230,000 settlement and has continued to act, first on the UK pantomime circuit and more recently in the award-winning drama Wentworth.
9. STEPHEN QUARTERMAIN
OK, technically the amiable sports reader didn’t exit the Ten newsroom.
But when he was sidelined to make way for his old pal Jennifer Keyte it certainly made HIM the headline in 2018 instead of the person reading it.
Quartermain had been reading the nightly bulletin since the 2013 retirement of Mal Walden.
When Ten announced it had poached Keyte from Seven, a “shattered” Quartermain admitted he had been caught completely off guard.
Initially he turned down the offer of reprising his role as sports presenter but later relented and has been working alongside Keyte ever since.
10. TRACEY HOLMES
The journalist was dubbed a “Holmes wrecker” when her relationship with now husband Stan Grant first came to light.
Holmes and Grant fell in love while the Today Tonight host was still married to his first wife, SBS presenter Karla.
There was widespread public outcry over the relationship, akin to the backlash Karl Stefanovic received when he split from the mother of his three children and formed his relationship with Jasmine Yarborough.
As a result of the Grant-Holmes controversy, Today Tonight’s ratings nosedived.
Seven management went into damage control and urged the new couple not to move in together to which Holmes replied: “With all due respect, you’re my employer not my father.”
The couple left the network in August 2000 and moved overseas for several years to
escape the fuss.
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