TV insiders say Lisa Wilkinson will struggle to find more work in commercial television when her contract with Channel 10 draws to an end ahead of the New Year.
The ex Project host, 64, hasn’t been on the network’s screens for more than two years, but remains on the payroll—for a reported $1.7million a year—until the end of this month.
The Australian claims Wilkinson has ‘absolutely torched’ her bridges at three major networks—Ten, Nine and Seven.
The publication said it was ‘hard to see’ how Wilkinson could have ‘any kind of future in commercial television in Australia’ following the disastrous recent years of her career.
Wilkinson allegedly burned her first bridge at Nine following her shock split from the network amid reports of a salary dispute.
The former Today breakfast show host announced her departure from the program in October 2017 to take an offer from a rival network as host on Ten’s The Project.
Lisa Wilkinson, 64, (pictured) will allegedly be hard-pressed to find more work in commercial television when her contract with Channel 10 draws to an end ahead of the New Year
Wilkinson was said to be the glue that held the Today show together when Karl Stefanovic became ‘a turn off’ for female viewers’.
Wilkinson had seen ‘secret market research’ that showed she was the popular morning show’s biggest asset, media commentator Peter Ford told Kyle and Jackie O days after her sudden exit.
‘Karl had become… a bit of a turn off for women, and she was keeping it all together and was kind of carrying him,’ he said at the time.
Wilkinson quit after Channel Nine were allegedly unable to match her salary to that of co-star Karl, who was believed to be earning close to $3million a year at the time.
A report from The Australian published in 2016 claimed Stefanovic signed a contract worth up to $9 million over three years, depending on ratings.
The report also claimed Wilkinson’s contract was only worth $1.1million per year—just under a third of what Karl could earn.
Sources at Nine told The Daily Telegraph negotiations saw Wilkinson’s salary reach $1.8 million, but Wilkinson reportedly demanded $2million and rejected the $700,000 pay rise.
However, Wilkinson’s move to Ten seven years ago ended in tears in 2022 when she quit The Project, citing ‘the relentless, targeted toxicity by some sections of the media’.
Wilkinson allegedly burned her first bridge at Nine following her shock split from the network when she quit Today amid reports of a salary dispute. Pictured with form co-host Karl Stefanovic
In 2023, she sued Ten for more than $700,000 worth of legal fees after hiring defamation specialist Sue Chrysanthou SC to defend her in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case.
During the civil claim against the network, Wilkinson maintained she was not solely responsible for the Logies speech that derailed Lehrmann’s rape trial in 2022.
Ten and Wilkinson won the defamation case against Lehrmann after Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, the former Liberal staffer raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.
Wilkinson also took aim at Seven in 2023 when she lodged an official complaint with the Spotlight program which ran an interview with Lehrmann.
The television host filed the complaints last June alleging Seven’s broadcast breached commercial television standards.
It comes after reports earlier this year suggested Wilkinson wants to make a return to TV screens following months of inaction and five tedious weeks spent in a courtroom.
The Channel Ten star and former darling of breakfast TV was keen to get back to delivering more ‘blockbuster interviews’ in the New Year, friends told the Weekend Australian.
Wilkinson quit The Project in November 2022 and despite remaining on the Ten payroll until the end of 2024, she hasn’t appeared on the channel for two years.
Wilkinson’s move to Ten seven years ago ended in tears in 2022 when she quit The Project, citing ‘the relentless, targeted toxicity by some sections of the media’. Pictured with former colleagues Steve Jacobs, Sylvia Jeffreys and Richard Wilkins
Despite her lengthy hiatus from the network, Wilkinson has remained in the public eye through her role in the highly-publicised Lehrmann defamation trial.
She was embroiled in a case with Lehrmann who was suing Network Ten and Wilkinson over an interview with Brittany Higgins that was broadcast on The Project and online.
Friends of Wilkinson said her court appearances played in her favour by giving the TV star ‘a constant stream of publicity’.
‘Yes, she’s been off air for a while but I don’t think anyone will have forgotten her,’ former Seven and Nine executive Peter Meakin told the Weekend Australian.
‘I’m sure her loyal followers will remain loyal.’
Network Ten maintained at the time that they were in talks to develop ‘other projects’ with Wilkinson.
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Wilkinson and Ten for further comment.
