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Wake Up drops Natasha Exelby

Natasha Exelby is gone from TEN's new breakfast show in only its third week.

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2013-10-15_1056TEN has dropped Natasha Exelby from Wake Up in a shock move announced this morning, leaving the show to Natarsha Belling and James Mathison.

The move comes in the show’s third week on air and after much publicity about the trio’s chemistry.

TEN CEO Hamish McLennan said today the show still needed some changes.

She will remain with Network Ten’s News division.

Network Ten Director of Morning Television, Adam Boland, said: “It’s important we get Wake Up right.

“I have said repeatedly that chemistry is everything at breakfast and, right now, I don’t think the balance is correct. It’s up to producers to fix those things.

“I rate Natasha, Natarsha and James extremely highly individually, otherwise they wouldn’t have been there in the first place. I also saw genuine spark during show rehearsals, but sometimes, that doesn’t translate on air. That is nobody’s fault, except mine,” he said.

“Natasha is a dear friend. She is also genuinely talented and will remain a key part of Ten into the future.”

TEN says the are no changes for new morning show, Studio 10.

56 Responses

  2. Adam bowland has a lot to answer for ,the wonderkid has failed miserably .there is no chemistry with the chosen three ,why is it the audience picked this up straight away and adam did not in rehersals? Nula reading the delayed news is also a terrible decision and to read it delayed with that disgusting melbourne backdrop was also a bad decsiison.what was adam thinking .exelby had to go that is a good move but the news needs to be read live in the studio.bring kerrie ann keneraly into the show as the main anchor .the only thing they got right was the beach backdrop.if they really wanted to do something different kyle and jackie with breakfast with the stars radio show would have worked better

  3. I’ve been thinking this needed to happen for the past week, she didnt quite fit with the other 2 and often dragged the conversation down.

    Natarsha and James are very comfortable and good chemistry will follow, another sidekick on the show might be helpful someone they can cross to in studio or live on the beach…

  4. Nuala was Dux of her school…graduated from a Law degree and was admitted to the bar…and also completed a Psychology degree after leaving Seven…why is she reading news…?!?

  5. I can’t see the Melbourne backdrop going away in a hurry. I believe the Victoria government have paid plenty of money to Ten in return for the Melbourne exposure.

    I think what needs to happen is all news is live and notional from Melbourne. With a local news bulletin at 8am that’s is pre recorded.

    Good move on dropping the third host. Two’s company, three is a crowd. Three hosts never work. Can anybody name a show that has worked with three?

    Next move is for slow mo James to go and Andrew Rochford in

    But hope the show works in the long run.

  6. Poor Natasha Exelby. That said, the writing was always on the wall for her. She’s a talented female working at a commercial network. Of course she had to be sacked! What did she expect? Allowed to retire at the ripe old-age of 68, at a time of her choosing, like one bloke at TEN is doing? Sorry ‘luv,’ but the sexual revolutions haven’t reached Australia’s comm-nets yet.

  8. So they should. She was terrible, the first promos with her saying what’s cracking Nuala, you just knew she would be bad.
    Matt Doran and Tarsh Belling i’d be happy with. Too late now though, you’d think they would get it right this time after what happened with Breakfast.
    And yeah they should fix the news segment. Nuala basically says..this happened in Adelaide, now the national news, pointless. Perhaps do a national bulletin, then each city cross for a local segment.

  9. As disappointing for Natasha this is, I have to agree it was needed. She was a very bizarre choice in the first place. James Mathison also needs to go. He is a snorefest. Natarsha Belling is the pick of the three but she needs Matt Doran with her.

    Natasha would be better suited to a roving reporter role.

  10. I have only just had a chance to view Channel Ten’s “Wake Up to a Dog’s Breakfast” after a few weeks out of the country. It is simply appalling with no chemistry between the presenters and no ability to engage with guests who appear (often mercifully) briefly. All the presenters mumble out non sequiturs and awkard half phrases, stumbling from one segement to the next, usually with an inappropriate “fantastic”. I was glad to note that I was not the only one to see Exelby as the most awkward (and with quite a bogan style). Belling seems to be popular but all she does is give a constant “winning smile”, enunciate every word excessively and introduce everyone as “the lovely…”. It is anyone’s guess as to how Mathison has remained on TV for so long. Granted I have only seen short grabs of the show over a couple of days, but the Manly studio seems pointless as it appears as if…

  11. I’ve enjoyed watching it on the morning commute via TenPlay. I reckon it would work well if they could embrace social media to help update public transport locally and would be a point of difference to a ‘traffic report’.

    Also, horse has bolted I think on the opportunity to produce it out of Melb (Fed Sq has a stage they could have used) but with McCafe infrastructure built in, they won’t relocate that in a hurry. Us Melburnians will flock to anything and the visitor centre us a central location for passerby interest (a la Martin Place).

    It’s a shame Tash has gone already, but better that than string things along if there’s “research” suggesting 3 hosts aren’t working.

    It needs time. Doesn’t have to be a world beater just a credible competitive option.

  12. Nibble Nibble!!,
    Why didn’t Ten bite the bullet and dump Matho as well, as surely he must be the next one who needs to go.
    But it certainly doesn’t help matters when the CEO is almost upstaged after announcing that Ten and the morning format are in it for the long haul.
    Does this translate into, that for Ten ” 3 weeks Is A long Haul?” ( unless you’ve been hand picked by Lachlan and your name is Paul Henry)
    Seeing that Ten is becoming very reliant in recycling the recyclables, ” Wake Up” could have been renamed ” Wake Up with Natarsha and ?????, with viewers only finding each monday morning who the mystery Co Host for the week will be, the promos could feature Natarsha and “” ? “”.
    The added advantage is that the real viewer numbers of those desperate for a change may emerge, but who presently do not like the same old same old?

  13. @bettesreeep2008 – I would watch it because Andrew Bolt is a politics person while Sarah Murdoch was good on Sunrise and I will bring Kath onto the set as well

  14. This is really sad news, I really liked Natasha, She was great, I agree there was something a bit off about the presenting, I think the chemistry was fine but it’s sad to completely see her go would’ve loved to see her stay on with the show.

    @Darcey09 that fact that you even get local news In the morning is good enough, regional Australia just gets the capital city news, for me in the ACT we get Sydney news and our regional broadcasters only offer 2 min local news updates through the whole day and then we get local capital city ‘national’ news at night, so I wouldn’t be worried if I was you 🙂

  15. I think it was the right decision given that 2 hosts are enough but 10 should not be over ambitious with this show. They seem great but competition and arrangement are the things rolling them back. They should also have the news somewhere else in Melbourne. It does not look good when its just in front of Flinders Street Station and trams gliding by. The news section should be at the same place as the main studio. Maybe have a male doing sport reporting like Bretts does and a weather person that goes around the country. It will be better for the show.

  17. i think its a good move the chemistry was just not there between the three of them. but the other big change that needs to be made is nula with the news . the delayed news doesnt work . the backdrop where nula is reading the news is stupid looks like a prison . the news reader needs to be live in the studio reading the news live . i would think a sandra sully type person would be more appropriate.and a weather person and sports presenter.then i will watch .love sarah harris think she would be good as a news reader and third co host something like natalie barr does on sunrise.gettting the right combo is so important . i think exelby could fill the role of sports presenter well .she has that blokey feel about her .

  20. Curious timing, today we should be talking about Ten’s plans for 2014, then they announce this and we are back to talking about what’s wrong with Wake Up again.

    Now they are down a host, can Nuala split local news duties with Matt Doran in the Pyrmont studio. It is so rushed. Maybe he could cover Sydney and Adelaide, while she does the rest.

  21. It is never a nice thing to lose your job, it will take a few months just to recover from that. All the very best to you Natasha Exelby – TV executives tend to be very harsh on their female personalities, and offer no support or guidance – this is just my personal observation.

  22. I think a better move would be to have Natasha read the news in the studio or even on the beach at times. Having a news reader in Melbourne makes the show too fragmentised. I will really miss Natasha. I did suggest on this blog many months ago when the rumours were on about TEN doing a breakfast show that they should offer Sam Armitage a million dollars. Her and James would of fired..

  23. Next they need to fix up the news segment. Firstly, it’s too short – news,sport & weather done in two minutes? Secondly, the Melbourne backdrop just doesn’t work for local news in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth nor Adelaide.

  24. Makes strategic sense . . .she’s still a viable asset to Ten. They do need to fix the local news thing, it’s glitchy – Neula is always rushing through it like she’s on a countdown clock and they rush through the 2-3 local news stories + I like to know what’s happening nationally. One thing The Project is good at is covering local stories on a national scale (metro whip around etc). I also am finding Wake Up has way too many crosses to reporters in studios. Neula is presenting the news, yet they constantly switch to Matt in the newsroom and reporters in the newsrooms etc.

  25. I do think that Wake up needs to be in one city. There is a disconnection with the news being in Melbourne and the overall show in manly.

    Either move everything to Manly (the backdrop is nice) or move it to Melbourne at Federation square. Maybe that’s why Sunrise works, because they are located at Martin Place and they sort of promote the show to the visitors they get.

    But it doesn’t necessarily have to be at Fed square, it could be on the Southbank promenade. They could have done it at the Opera House in Sydney or Bondi. I feel like the show needs to be on location rather than the studio, that would be the point of difference. But I guess you have to factor in the budget for the show as well.

    It will take time, good luck to them.

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