When her contract with Network 10 came to an end at the end of 2024, Lisa Wilkinson found herself without a TV role for the first time in years.
But rather than give up on resuscitating her career, New Idea has learned that Lisa, 65, is hitting the phones in the hopes of landing a lucrative new TV gig – ASAP!
In late January, the former The Project host was seen in a deep phone conversation while out in Sydney. An insider confirms to New Idea that Lisa’s reaching out to her many contacts in the industry to see what’s going on – but there have been no bites so far.
Before leaving Ten, Lisa had already been off-air for two years following her involvement in a controversial interview with Brittany Higgins and the subsequent Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial.
Prior to her stint at Ten, Lisa spent a decade as co-host of Channel Nine’s Today show. She left in 2017 amid contract negotiations when the network declined to pay her equal to co-host Karl Stefanovic.
Now that Lisa is back on the TV job hunt, our source says reconnecting with Karl, 50, was “top of the list”. But with Nine recently wooing former Seven star Samantha Armytage, there’s likely to be limited wiggle room for another costly big-name signing.
The source says Lisa “must be a bit miffed” that Sam has been able to “waltz straight back into” plum roles at Nine, with the upcoming The Golden Bachelor and as Today’s summer fill-in host.
Furthermore, the source notes that Sam, 48, appears to have made herself right at home at Nine. She palled around with Allison Langdon at the Australian Open last week, proving just how quickly she has entrenched herself at Nine.
With her experienced and polished on-air style, Lisa is a consummate professional who would undoubtedly be an asset to any commercial network. Our source claims the star is also scoping out opportunities at Sky News Australia and SBS, but has ruled out the ABC for now as it’s helmed by Hugh Marks – her former boss at Today.
“She’s leaving no stone unturned,” New Idea’s source added.
A determined Lisa signaled her intentions for 2025 by recently sharing an inspirational quote on Instagram. It referred to “protecting my energy”, “focusing on my goals” and “surrounding myself with genuine people”.
She told her followers she hoped that the “beautiful, empowering words … mean as much to you as they do to me”.
