‘Lost’: The Project stars Sarah Harris and Waleed Aly awkwardly bid farewell to the axed Channel 10 show

The stars of The Project finally addressed the show’s cancellation on-air in a particularly cold opening on Monday night.

The stars of The Project appeared heartbroken as they opened Monday night’s episode confirming news that the show has been cancelled by Channel 10.

After reports emerged on Friday, Network 10 finally announced its decision to axe the long-running panel show on Monday morning alongside statements from some of the show’s most popular hosts.

Monday night’s episode of the show opened up with Waleed Aly, Steve Price, Sarah Harris and Sam Taunton appearing noticeably more tense than usual while they shared their feelings about their time on the show.

“16 years is an incredibly long time for a TV show and so many people contributed,” said Aly.

Waleed Aly and Sarah Harris opened the show by confirming the news that it has been axed. Picture: 10

“Kim who is operating Camera Three and it is a great shot. She’s doing a wonderful job. This is the way things work. A huge shout-out to our viewers as well.

He continued: “This isn’t goodbye, we will see you again more over the next few weeks, but I know and everyone who has worked on the show know these are the best viewers in Australia. It has been a privilege to serve you.”

A visibly emotional Sarah Harris told her co-stars that she feels nothing but “grateful” for being part of such an Australian TV institution.

“I am so grateful that I got to sit on this desk and play TV with all of you. It has been such a fun thing to do, but it is the people who make a show and The Project isn’t just the people on this desk, it is the cast and crew behind the scenes.”

She continued: “They’re the real stars. I’m talking, producers, editors and cameramen and women and the floor crew, the people in the control room, the director and the hair and make-up team, all of them who work their guts out every night, six nights a week to get us on air.”

Monday night guest host Steve Price said he doesn’t know how he’s going to get by without his role on the show.

The panel appeared noticeably more tense than usual as they addressed the elephant in the room. Picture: 10

“This is the best crew of people I worked with. I was 55 when I started here. I’m now 70, that’s 15 years. How an old fat guy like me can survive, I don’t know.” said the outspoken star.

“Melbourne has lost an incredible investment in its culture. People who come out with music bands and have written books and were actors, they will lose the opportunity to be able to talk about their products. It won’t be able to be done anywhere else. I’ll miss it. I don’t know what I’ll do on Monday nights.”

Network Ten confirmed that the last day on air will be Friday, June 27.

The network also revealed its reshuffled evening line-up, with game show Deal or No Deal moving to 7pm and “the launch of a new national one-hour 6pm news, current affairs and insights program six days a week to complement 10s one-hour 5pm local news bulletins.”

“As a result of the changes, The Project will air for the last time on Friday, June 27, ending an incredible run of almost 16 years and more than 4,500 episodes,” Ten said in the statement.

The network’s detailed statement also praised the long-running current affairs show for its Logie wins and campaigning on various social issues.

Originally published as ‘Lost’: The Project stars Sarah Harris and Waleed Aly awkwardly bid farewell to the axed Channel 10 show