Carrie Bickmore, a founding co-host of The Project, has announced she will leave the Channel Ten show at the end of November after 13 years.
“It’s been the hardest decision of my professional life to make this call, but it’s time for a new challenge, time for the next chapter,” a teary Bickmore, 41, said on Tuesday night’s show.
She did not reveal what her plans are but sources say it will not be to take over from Tracy Grimshaw on Nine’s A Current Affair.
Grimshaw will step down next month after 17 years at the helm of ACA. Both prime-time current affairs shows now have vacant chairs.
Bickmore outlasted her original co-host Charlie Pickering, as well as resident funnyman Dave Hughes, to be the longest-serving panellist on The Project.
.@BickmoreCarrie has been on The Project desk since the day we first launched in 2009 and tonight, Carrie has revealed that she will be leaving the show. Here is the moment she made the the announcement.#TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/a7RkxGl6KH
— The Project (@theprojecttv) October 11, 2022
“There’s so much I’m going to miss, I’m going to miss my best mates on the desk, the job itself, which is so incredibly fulfilling [and] the wonderful viewers over the past 13 years,” Bickmore said.
“It’s no secret this show has become a second home to me and I couldn’t be more thankful to everyone that has been involved on- and off-screen.”
The 2015 Gold Logie winner used her acceptance speech that year to get Australia talking about brain cancer, the disease that killed her husband, Greg Lange, in 2010.
Bickmore’s son with Lange, Ollie, was one when she started on The Project in 2009 and he is now 15. Bickmore, who had two more children with husband Chris Walker, said she wanted to spend more evenings at home.
The executive vice-president of Paramount ANZ, Beverley McGarvey, said Bickmore was synonymous with The Project.
“I know this has been a very difficult decision for Carrie, and although we are all very sad that she will no longer be on The Project, we fully respect her decision and wish her nothing but the best for her next adventure,” McGarvey said.
“Carrie has been a wonderful host of the The Project for the past 13 years, and she has also been a respected, valued and much-loved member of the 10 family for the past 17 years, when she appeared every week as the popular newsreader on Rove Live.
“Her genuine warmth, empathy, passion, humanity and humour have always resonated with viewers. It’s no wonder audiences welcomed her night after night into their lounge rooms and on to their screens.”
The former radio newsreader who began her career on 92.9FM in Perth was awarded the OAM in 2019 for services to broadcast media and to brain cancer awareness.
