Sunrise host Samantha Armytage recalls the moment she almost quit television

SUNRISE co-host Samantha Armytage has recalled almost throwing in the towel on her television career, in what she calls her ‘Sliding Doors’ moment.

WHILE she’s a big star of the small screen these days, it wasn’t too long ago that Samantha Armytage came startlingly close to throwing in the towel on her television career.

The popular Sunrise co-host recalled the ‘Sliding Doors’ moment in her new book Shine, in which she was just a day away from quitting her job to move to New York.

New York ... Samantha Armytage was just a day off quitting her job in TV to move to New York for a job with a magazine. Picture: Supplied

It was 2001 when the young reporter found herself struggling to crack the cut throat world of broadcast news and considered a jump to publishing.

Having spent three years working at WIN Television in Canberra, her first job, Armytage was yearning for much more — and for life in the big smoke.

HITTING BACK: Sam Armytage silences detractors with her new book

The now 37-year-old tried her luck with every major network in Sydney or Melbourne and after countless rejections began to wonder if television was for her.

Major star ... Samantha Armytage is the co-host of top rating Seven show Sunrise, but nearly went down a very different path. Picture: Supplied

“A family friend had recently married a great girl who happened to be the daughter of the boss of the publishing house Conde Nast in New York,” Armytage writes.

Thinking that a shift to magazines would be for her, she called on the family connection and quickly wound up with an offer to move to the Big Apple.

“It was hastily and very kindly arranged that I would go to New York, maybe start on Architectural Digest and (in my mind anyway) work my way up to Vogue.”

Big break ... after two years as a political correspondent with Sky News, Samantha Armytage landed her big break with Channel Seven. Picture: Supplied

The day before Armytage planned to quit her job, she received a job offer from Sky News for the role of political correspondent in the Canberra Press Gallery.

She describes it as her ‘Sliding Doors’ moment, in which she had to promptly decide whether to stick with TV news or jet off in a new direction to the United States.

“Perhaps astonishingly, I chose Canberra.”

Sliding Doors ... Samantha Armytage faced a tough choice — stick with TV in Australia or go to New York to chase a career in magazines. She chose TV.

The rest, as they say, is history — after just two years at the subscription television news network, Armytage caught the eye of executives at Channel Seven.

She rose through the ranks and proved herself adept at anchoring bulletins, before landing the gig of co-host of Weekend Sunrise in 2007 and eventually replacing Melissa Doyle on Sunrise.

Shine is published by Hachette Australia and is on sale now.