Last night, Today host Lisa Wilkinson made a shock announcement that she was departing the beloved morning show effective immediately.
In a statement from Channel Nine, the network revealed they had been “unable to meet the expectations of Lisa Wilkinson and her manager.”
The news came just one day after The Sunday Telegraph reported that Lisa was holding out on re-signing with the network until she was granted “pay parity” with Karl Stefanovic. The report also suggests that Karl is “rumoured to be on twice as much.”
The Daily Telegraph reports that Lisa left to join Network Ten for a larger pay packet. According to the publication, The Nine salary offer was up to $200,000 short of her co-host’s salary.
Lisa has been hosting the Today show alongside Karl for just over 10 years.
Karl Stefanovic has since addressed her departure, saying this morning on-air: “It all came as a bit of a shock to us yesterday.”
Shortly after her initial announcement, Lisa shared the wonderful news on Twitter that she will be joining Network Ten in a senior and editorial role, and is set to appear on The Project, in 2018.
“Lisa will join the team of Ten’s award-winning news and current affairs program, The Project, in a hosting role,” said the statement. “She will work alongside The Project’s hosts Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly and Peter Helliear, as well as hosting The Sunday Project.”
Ten also revealed that more projects with Lisa would be announced in the coming months.
Meanwhile, fans of the popular show have been left to wonder who will ‘replace’ Lisa as co-host, with news.com.au reporting that Sylvia Jeffrey’s is the current frontrunner.
Sylvia also made an emotional statement on the show this morning, telling viewers: “Seeing is believing for young girls and what they see in Lisa is a strong, influential, fun and compassionate woman at the very top of her game. That’s a powerful thing.”
One thing is for sure, Lisa will definitely be missed on morning television.
Congratulations to her on this exciting new endeavour with The Project, we officially can’t wait for 2018.
This article originally appeared on InStyle Australia
