Kate Ritchie announces she’s joining Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa

After a months-long hiatus from the airwaves, Kate Ritchie has gone on radio this morning to reveal she’s jumping ship to a different show.

Kate Ritchie is officially joining Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa.

The 44-year-old Australian personality, who stepped away for a break from Nova’s national drive show Kate, Tim & Joel in October, made the announcement on-air this morning with her new co-hosts Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald and Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli.

“It is so nice to be here, it’s been a long time and I’m excited to be back in the studio making radio,” Ritchie said.

“A bit of time off has made me realise I love doing a bit of broadcasting, and I’m now looking forward to doing it with you guys.”

Ritchie is co-hosting the show for the remainder of Friday morning, before officially joining the team from Monday when the show will be known as Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie.

Kate Ritchie is joining Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa.

It comes after a Nova revealed yesterday that Ricki-Lee Coulter – who had been filling in for Ritchie with Joel Creasey and Tim Blackwell – would be taking on the role permanently going forward.

Ritchie’s departure from drive, which was only a rumour up until Thursday’s announcement, was briefly mentioned at the bottom of the press release, despite the actress having co-hosted the timeslot since 2014.

Ritchie added in the release, “I’ve had an incredible eight years as part of Nova’s Drive team, and I wish Ricki-Lee all the luck in the world.”

It seems the move happened fairly quickly, with Ritchie declaring in mid-January that she’d be back on-air with Creasey and Blackwell in “a few more weeks”, which ultimately never eventuated.

Kate Ritchie is leaving Kate, Tim & Joel.

Nova’s move to reposition Ritchie may also help explain the absence of long-serving Fitzy & Wippa co-host Sarah McGilvray, who has been absent for the past three weeks.

Ritchie’s career change comes after a difficult 2022 for the former Home And Away star, which led her to step away for a break in October.

She had been featuring irregularly on her radio show with several lengthy absences throughout the year, and then copped a drink driving charge in August, for which she publicly apologised.

“As some of you may have heard from me on the show today, this past year has been hectic for my family and I. I have had much change, like many of you, in a short space of time and it has taken its toll,” Ritchie wrote on social media in October.

“So I’ve made the decision to take a short break to have more time for myself and my family to re-energise.”

Originally published as Kate Ritchie announces she’s joining Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa