Wilkinson failed to disclose lucrative $500,000 contract with vitamins company in book
The former Today host left out important details in her book about a two-year six-figure deal with a vitamin maker that was separate to Nine.
Former Today show host Lisa Wilkinson has omitted important details in her new book about a separate $500,000 contract she had with a vitamins company that was a key frustration for Nine management during her contract negotiations in 2017.
In Wilkinson’s upcoming autobiography, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Like This, the 61-year-old reveals she was “dismissed from Channel 9” after contract negotiations broke down between her agent, Nick Fordham, and Nine.
In the book she discusses numerous times the “gender pay gap” between her and co-host Karl Stefanovic, who she said was earning much more than her, but it is understood she fails to make any mention of a separate, lucrative contract she had with vitamins company Vitaco (owner of health brand Nutra-Life).
Sources told The Australian Wilkinson’s deals outside the network were a problem for Nine because, unlike Stefanovic, it did not have full access to her for a range of duties. Multiple sources familiar with the deal confirmed her two-year contract with Vitaco was worth about $500,000. Stefanovic had agreed not to have any external contracts at the time.
In August 2017, two months before she left Channel 9, Vitaco announced her as its new national brand face and in a press release said: “This is the first time that Lisa Wilkinson, the much-loved 57-year-old mother of three, has partnered with a brand on a major television campaign,”
A national TV campaign started in September 2017 with Wilkinson promoting Kyolic Aged Garlic. The partnership was launched at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden Restaurant with “VIPs, media, celebrities, leading medical researchers and experts”.
Wilkinson’s appeal to Vitaco was her employment with Nine and being co-host on a breakfast program, where the vitamins could be promoted in ad breaks. Sources familiar with the contract said there was annoyance when she left Nine in October that year to go to Ten’s The Project because it had a much smaller audience, which reduced her appeal as an ambassador. She would no longer be appearing on breakfast TV, which was part of Vitaco’s key advertising strategy.
Wilkinson promoted the supplements on social media site Instagram and TV commercials.
At the time of contract negotiations Nine’s then CEO, Hugh Mark, said Wilkinson wanted to be paid significantly more than her male counterpart. “I went to an incredible amount of trouble to build a $1.8m package for her,” he said in 2017. “She wanted $2.3m. It wasn’t a $200,000 shortfall to Karl’s $2m magic number. It was $500,000.”
Marks also vented frustration at Wilkinson’s additional contracts, which limited Nine’s access to her. “She has a number of commercial rights with other parties,” he said in 2017. “Her arrangement with The Huffington Post restricts our ability to engage with her digitally.”
Wilkinson does discuss her “offer” to work with the Huffington Post in her book and said she received approval from Nine management to take up the deal.
The book will be released next month. Harper Collins and Wilkinson were contacted for comment but did not respond.
More Coverage
Pro-Israel lobbyists fail in contempt bid over Lattouf case
A group of pro-Israel lobbyists who campaigned for Antoinette Lattouf’s dismissal from the ABC have failed in their bid to have the Nine newspapers prosecuted for contempt of court.
ABC’s frequent flyer: Chairman’s booming travel bill revealed
Kim Williams spent almost eight times as much in his first 14 months in the top job as his predecessor Ita Buttrose did in over two-and-a-half years, it has emerged.