Frontrunners tipped to replace Tracy Grimshaw as host of A Current Affair after TV icon quits
Deborah Knight, Georgie Gardner, Brooke Boney and Sylvia Jeffreys are among the frontrunners who could replace Tracy Grimshaw as the host of A Current Affair.
The TV icon announced she is stepping down from the show on Monday evening, saying she was ‘a bit tired’ after ‘doing shift work’ for 26 years.
Insiders at Nine told the Daily Telegraph the network ‘will not rush to fill the role as it’s ‘one of the most coveted positions’ at the network.
Deborah Knight (left) and Georgie Gardner (right) are among the frontrunners who could replace Tracy Grimshaw as the host of A Current Affair
Today entertainment reporter Brooke Boney, 35, is also tipped to be a frontrunner
Deborah Knight, 49, is among the frontrunners to replace Grimshaw.
She currently hosts A Current Affair on Friday and Saturday – and was previously a host of Today and Nine News Sydney. She also replaced Steve Price as a host on 2GB in January.
Also in the running is Georgie Gardner, 52.
The Sydney-born anchor is a weekend presenter on Nine News Sydney and previously hosted Today.
Today Extra co-host Sylvia Jeffreys may also replace Grimshaw
Leila McKinnon, 49, who has also hosted ACA, is also believed to have thrown her hat in the ring
Today entertainment reporter Brooke Boney, 35, and Today Extra co-host Sylvia Jeffreys are also among the names touted to replace Grimshaw.
Former Sunrise co-host Sam Armytage, 46, who left the show in March to spend more time with her family, has also been named as a possible replacement alongside Karl Stefanovic – although it is believed Nine executives are looking for a female journalist to fill the role.
Leila McKinnon, 49, who has also hosted ACA, is also believed to have thrown her hat in the ring.
Grimshaw shared the news with viewers she was leaving the show during Monday’s episode of the popular Nine Network program
Grimshaw shared the news with viewers she was leaving the show during Monday’s episode of the popular program.
‘Normally right about now we’d be telling you what to expect tomorrow night but lately I’ve personally been thinking longer term, and I have some news that I wanted you to hear from me before you hear it from anyone else,’ she began.
‘I’ve decided to finish up with A Current Affair this year.
‘I’m not too old, I’m just a bit tired. And for the record both the boys and the girls have asked me to stay,’ Tracy she said
‘It’s been a big decision and before the gossip websites start telling you rubbish, I want you to know it’s been my decision alone and I’m not being shoved out the door by the boys’ club because I’m too old.
‘I’m not too old, I’m just a bit tired. And for the record both the boys and the girls have asked me to stay,’ Tracy continued.
‘But I’ve basically been a shift worker for 26 years, driving to work before dawn for nine years on the Today show, and the past 17 years driving home after dark here on A Current Affair and it’s time for less of that daily obligation.’
‘I was just a kid in 1971 when Mike Willesee started it and in our family it was required viewing each night as Michael either forensically dismantled some politician or maybe laughed along with Hoges.
‘Back then, I was going to be a vet or a flight attendant so if you’d told me that one day I’d sit in this chair, let alone occupy it for 17 years, I’d have thought you were mad. Well lucky me.
‘You’ve let me indulge my love of interviewing here,’ the Channel Nine veteran continued.
‘I’ve talked to people who’ve made us all laugh and cry, who’ve shared their triumphs and their challenges and their wisdom and despair.
‘And because it’s your show not mine and you get to vote each night with your remote control, you told us you wanted more of that.
‘I’ve basically been a shift worker for 26 years, driving to work before dawn for nine years on the Today show, and the past 17 years driving home after dark here on A Current Affair and it’s time for less of that daily obligation,’ she explained. Pictured at the Logies in 2018
‘So thank you for that opportunity. Thank you for your loyalty. I hope I’ve repaid it.’
Tracy concluded: ‘I’m around until November then I’m going to take a long holiday, but it’s business as usual until then. See you tomorrow night.’
The official Twitter account for A Current Affair also shared the news on Monday night.
‘After 17 years in the hosting chair, our very own @tracygrimshaw has announced she will be stepping down from presenting A Current Affair at the end of the year. Thank you, Tracy,’ the post read.
In January 2006, Grimshaw took over from Ray Martin as host of A Current Affair, her most well-known news role.
‘She put me to shame,’ Martin said. ‘She’s so good. I love what she does and I love watching her.’
In January 2006, Grimshaw took over from Ray Martin as host of A Current Affair, her most well-known news role. Pictured in 2006
A young Grimshaw started her career as a reporter in Nine’s Melbourne newsroom in 1981.
The journalist then began hosting National Nine News from 1995 until 2005, before starring on The Midday Show.
In that same year, Grimshaw began to work on the Today show with Steve Liebmann, which he described as a ‘great professional marriage’.
A young Grimshaw started her career as a reporter in Nine’s Melbourne newsroom in 1981
The journalist then began hosting National Nine News from 1995 until 2005
Significant stories Grimshaw has reported on over the years include the Thredbo landslide, the death of Princess Diana, and the Beaconsfield Mine collapse.
The beloved television journalist celebrated 40 years at Channel Nine in October last year.
Her colleague Brady Halls paid tribute to her to mark the milestone, saying: ‘You are an outstanding journalist.
In 2005, Grimshaw began working on the Today show. Pictured on Today
‘You are a wonderful colleague to all of us in the office, and a really good friend.’
Tracy’s notable ACA interviews included her sit-downs with former NRL player Matthew Johns and disgraced TV host Don Burke.
Her interviews with former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson were also heavily praised.
More recently, Grimshaw was given the opportunity to talk with Prime Minister Scott Morrison about the rape allegations made by former political staffer Brittany Higgins.
It was the first interview Mr Morrison had sat down for regarding the allegations and the effect it was having on his government.
In May, she made headlines for a heated interview with Morrison in the lead up to the federal election.
Grimshaw delivered a scathing assessment of Morrison‘s leadership skills.
She didn’t mince her words, outlining the Prime Minister’s numerous failures and embarrassing gaffes in her eyes in recent years.
‘You said on Sunday that you saved the country, (but) you didn’t hold a hose (during the bushfires), you weren’t in your tinny plucking people off rooftops (during the floods in NSW and Queensland), and you didn’t do 16 hour days in PPE on Covid-19 wards,’ she fumed.
In May, she made headlines for a heated interview with Morrison in the lead up to the federal election
‘You (also) didn’t have enough vaccines, you didn’t get enough RAT tests so we could finally have a holiday interstate for Christmas and China are set up, based in the Solomon Islands.
‘Do you think maybe you slightly over edged the part about saving the country?’
Morrison managed to keep his composure before informing the fired up Grimshaw it was ‘quite a long list you’ve been able to pull together.’
The PM then launched a detailed response, highlighting his achievements as the nation’s leader.
Grimshaw quickly pointed out the PM had failed to mention other major criticisms about his leadership, including notoriously saying, ‘I don’t hold a hose mate’, after coming under fire for going on holiday in 2019 to Hawaii while Australia was in crisis.
The on-air clash proved embarrassing for the former PM, who went on to lose the federal election to Anthony Albanese.
While she is known as a fearsome journalist with a no-nonsense attitude, there is a lighter side to her, too.
In 2018, Grimshaw was up for the Gold Logie for the first time – and while she did not win, she was genuinely delighted to be nominated.
Grimshaw delivered a scathing assessment of Morrison ‘s leadership skills. Pictured: Scott Morrison visiting bushfire-hit Sarsfield in Victoria
‘I still can’t quite believe it. I never quite imagined myself in this space,’ she told AAP. ‘It’s a great honour and it’s a thrill, and it’s a pleasure.’
That same year a longstanding Logies rumour, dating back to the late ’90s that revealed a very different side to her personality, reemerged.
The respected broadcaster was famously locked out of her hotel room completely nude at the 1998 Logie Awards during a tequila-fuelled evening.
While the incident was for years regarded as just a rumour, Tracy acknowledged in 2018 that it was 100 per cent true.
Previously, details had been scarce: Tracy had been drinking tequila shots with her friend James Packer until around 4am. She apparently wanted to have a shower but somehow ended up in the hallway naked.
Tracy spilled the beans in an interview with Stellar Magazine.
‘I locked myself out of my hotel room starkers. It was 3.45am and there was no-one in the hallway,’ Tracy said.
In her drunken state, she had mistaken the entry door for the bathroom door, thus explaining how she ended up in the hallway without her keys.
Tracy said she immediately covered her modesty with the newspaper.
She then walked to the next door down (past the room she’d stolen the paper from) and knocked on that door, before running back to stand in front of her locked room.
‘She put me to shame,’ former ACA host Ray Martin said of Grimshaw last year. ‘She’s so good. I love what she does and I love watching her’
The guest opened the door, saw Tracy and a Crown Melbourne staff member soon came to let her back in.
Tracy explained that when she later arrived on set of the Today show, she told co-host Steve Liebmann about the incident when the cameras weren’t rolling.
‘He was wearing a microphone so it went straight to the control room in Sydney… Of course, everyone heard it!’ she added.
Source: | Dailymail.co.uk
