Angela Bishop and Denise Scott will replace Jess Rowe and Ita Buttrose on the Studio 10 panel, Channel 10 has confirmed.
Just hours after Buttrose shocked viewers by revealing she’d be leaving the chat show immediately, the network has lined up her replacements – with renowned entertainment reporter Bishop, 50, and popular comedian Scott, 63, taking the top spots alongside Sarah Harris, Denise Drysdale and Joe Hildebrand.
Network Ten announced the news on Twitter with a photo of the new team posing together. They wrote: “@channelten is pleased to announce that TEN’s respected entertainment reporter Angela Bishop @AngelaBishop and renowned Australian comedian and actress Denise Scott @_denisescott will join @Studio10au as regular co-hosts from Monday 30 April at 8.30am.”
They’ll start on the show from Monday as regular co-hosts, and both women expressed their happiness at their new posts.
“I am so excited to join this amazing team,” Bishop told the Daily Telegraph. “I love the idea of mixing the unpredictability of live television with my entertainment reporting from red carpets and hotel rooms around the world. I can’t wait to start.”
Meanwhile, Scott – who will alternate weeks with Drysdale – added: “I’ve always wanted to host a morning television show and now it’s happening at 63.”
She went on: “As I always say kids, hang on to your dreams. If it doesn’t happen in your 20s, it’ll happen in your 60s”.
While it means Drysdale won’t appear as often, she reportedly insisted she was happy to share her role – having worked with Scott in the past. It comes after she revealed she won’t be missing Buttrose on the morning show, while speaking to 2DayFM Breakfast with Em, Grant and Ed just hours ago.
“The show as we know it is not the same any more, with Jess [Rowe] going. Jess and I hit it off really, really well. And now Ita going, well — it’s a different show. You’ve got two totally different people that have gone … I’m sure we’ll pick up,” she said.
Presenter, Grant Denyer asked if Drysdale was going to miss her fellow colleague — a question that was met with an immediate “no”.
According to several reports, tensions between the pair were rumoured to have erupted late last year, when Drysdale threw a brussels sprout at Buttrose during the taping of a Studio 10 christmas song. However, Drysdale said her behaviour was due to a mix of tiredness and champagne consumption.
“Look, I threw that Brussels sprout because I’d got up at four in the morning to come in and do the Christmas song,” she explained. “And at about four o clock in the afternoon, [after] we’d had a couple of champagnes for lunch, I was feeling … The Christmas party was that night, so I’d had my party in the afternoon!”
On Tuesday afternoon, Channel 10 issued a press release stating Buttrose would be departing the hugely popular morning show, Studio 10. The network said Wednesday would be her last show, news that has shocked both fans and her co-hosts alike.
Buttrose revealed she wanted to spend more time with her five grandchildren, as well as on her writing, but had nothing but praise for the talk show.
“I have had a long involvement with Network Ten, stretching back many years. I’ve had five great years on Studio 10, but it is time for me to move on and focus on other parts of my life, including spending more time with my grandchildren and writing,” she said.
As the show came to a close, Buttrose also revealed despite her departure coming as a shock to fans, she handed in her notice before Rowe quit on air last month.
“I resigned two days before Jessica did, but given her announcement, I left mine until it was more convenient because I think didn’t you wanted two of us to go together,” she said. “I didn’t really ‘spring it’.”