‘Really sad’: The latest former Project host to mourn show’s axing

Peter Helliar is the latest former Project host to share his views on the show’s axing, two-and-a-half years after he quit on-air.

Peter Helliar is the latest former The Project star to speak out about the show’s axing, which was announced yesterday.

Helliar appeared as one of the show’s hosts from 2014 to 2022, before quitting as part of a mass exodus that saw colleagues Carrie Bickmore, Tommy Little and Lisa Wilkinson all leave the show in the same year.

This morning on Nova 100’s Jase & Lauren, Helliar shared his reaction to the news The Project would come to an end on June 27, after 16 years on-air.

He called the news “really sad” but praised the show for lasting as long as it has when “very few shows get to the second season.”

Helliar also warned that he didn’t think audiences “realise what they’ll miss out on now,” and praised The Project for providing a platform for those in the arts and entertainment.

Peter Helliar was a Project mainstay for eight years.

“The amount of comedians and musicians and filmmakers who have said to me over the years, The Project was the reason we sold tickets. And that’s missing now.”

Helliar said he’d been in touch with some of the team still working on the show, and said it had been “a really hard day, because a lot of people lost their jobs yesterday.”

Helliar’s former co-host and arguably the biggest star The Project produced during its 16 years on-air, Carrie Bickmore, shared similar sentiments on social media yesterday.

Calling the cancellation “such sad news,” she wrote that: “Regardless of how you felt about the show (everyone seems to have very strong opinions about it both ways) it changed the way news was delivered.”

“I am so proud of what the show and everyone involved in making it achieved. You’ve never met a more passionate and engaged bunch.”

Carrie Bickmore also quit The Project in 2022, having been with the show since the very first episode.

After days of mounting speculation about The Project’s future, Network Ten yesterday issued a statement confirming the show will finish for good at the end of June.

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 10’s one-hour 5pm local news bulletins.”

The Project’s creator Craig Campbell, Creative Director at Roving Enterprises, acknowledged that the end of the program would be a difficult time for those working on the show.

“We have an extraordinary team making this show every day and I know this news will hit them hard. It’s been a privilege to work with them and the hundreds of others that joined us along the way,” he said.