Wake Up farewell: “We did it with heart”
"We didn't always get the numbers but we always did it with heart," said James Mathison & Natarsha Belling.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News, Top Stories
James Mathison was heartfelt and Natarsha Belling fought back tears as they gave their final farewells on Wake Up‘s last show today.
The show ended, where it began, on the balcony of the Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club in Manly.
TEN’s breakfast show was axed by management on Wednesday following disappointing ratings and a troubled launch last November.
But the hosts remained upbeat today about their “interesting and fascinating journey.”
“We didn’t always get the numbers but we always did it with heart and we’ve seen online with this the outpouring of support just how much,” said Mathison.
“We really appreciate how much you’ve cared about this show.”
They thanked the “extraordinary team” who had worked behind the scenes, many of whom were standing alongside them on the balcony.
“It’s been a show where we’ve wanted it to be about unity at home. There are people out there who will try and divide us as Australians. Who put Left against Right, Labor against Liberal, but the truth is we’re all Australians when we have tragedy, or when we give blood or we’re on a jury …. we don’t ask ‘What’s that guy’s ideology?’ We just care that we’re Australians,” he said.
“The important thing is that we just look after each other. That’s been the ethos of this show.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, what age you are, where you’re from…. that you matter and your voice is heard. That’s why we’ve tried to have a diversity of stories from the lives of people who you don’t typically hear on television. That’s always been really important to us.”
Belling was close to tears but optimistic about the future.
“This chapter of our life has closed right now, but I know in my heart there are wonderful, exciting adventures ahead. And a special thanks to my mum who has held my hand over the last two weeks.”
“Let’s hug it out, bitch!” Mathison added.
Share
- Tagged with Wake Up
22 Responses
I’m sorry for all the people out of work over this. I hope they can find work for something that was never their fault.
Sydney2K – well said! Why do people feel the need to be so downright nasty about other people? Does it make them feel better about themselves to belittle others? It really is sad. From James’s comments, it’s clear that at least some of the time, they hit whatever target viewing figure the network wanted them to, so there’s really no need to rip him apart for his choice of words.
I rarely got the chance to watch the show, but like several others here, I enjoyed what I saw of it.
People are being mean because they take no responsibility for what they say, and there is no blowback from anything they say. They can say anything about, say, James Mathison, and expect no adverse reply. On the other hand, unless Mathison reads TVT, none of these comments will ever reach him.
Typo corrected.
We didn’t ever get the numbers ….
This is going to be such a loss, wake up was great the presenters were so real and down to earth. Can’t stand the 7 and 9 alternatives. 6 months was not enough time, they finally got into a grove, Natasha’s laugh and James’s sense of humour worked so well. Channel 10 I’m a fan but your really trying my patience, no wonder the general public have abandoned you get a grip. All the best to the crew of wake up sorry to see you go, back to ABC breakfast!
Unfortunately Wake Up was doomed from the get-go. It had enormous potential and Ten looked like they were willing to make tough decisions to improve the show when they removed Natasha Exelby. But then they seemed to give up. Nuala was certainly the shining light. Natarsha Belling is a great newsreader and I hope Ten keep her on the books, however, with so many newsroom cuts there’s no bulletins left to read.
I will miss seeing Natarsha laugh everyday, such an awesome woman and her and James did work well together. As I have said before, I did like this show and it did have a point of difference. They did need to make some necessary changes such as bring in Nuala to the Manly set, as well as run the show from 6-8.30 so they can start with the rest of the commercial crowd for a better chance of viewership. By 6:30 the main morning TV followers have already flicked between 7&9 to see what’s on offer for the next three hours and decided what they want to see.
Would be good to see James be one of the rotating hosts on The Project, and Tarsh as a regular on Studio 10, as well as return to national news.
When I started watching the first episode of Wake Up, I enjoyed a little bit. This year, I didn’t enjoy this show because some segments are boring. Now that I am glad that this show is gone.
Some really mean comments on here today 🙁 Feel sorry for all the people without jobs. I watched it on occasion and enjoyed it – it’s just a shame 7 and 9 have such a monopoly on the TV landscape at the moment
Oh hindsight is a wonderful thing. Easy to be an expert after the fact. I really enjoyed the show but only got to see it on Monday and Tuesdays due to work. Always thought James is a funny man and Natarsha just shines. Pity 10 didn’t follow through with the changes they were going to make like bringing Nuala up from Melbourne and having a weather presenter. Its a sad day for those out of a job too.
I must’ve been one of the few on here who really liked the show also, it sure was different. For fear of sounding like a broken record, it’s easy for people to forget that neither Sunrise or Today were overnight success stories in the beginning and Wake Up undoubtedly had it’s fair share of hiccups along the way. They had some bloody stiff competition, going up against the other networks and the crew and on-screen staff gave it their all. It’s a shame the network didn’t fully support the venture as they promoted prior to launching, especially with the planned changes as reported on here . All the best to the entire crew in their future endeavours.
Wow, so many commenters here sinking the boot in. I agree that there was no need for another Breakfast show, but the show did have a point of difference, and the presenters did a good job.
Wake Up were a point of difference, compared to the other offerings for breakfast tv. I don’t know why people take to it, or particularly James Matheson, but I guess it’s hard to compete with two long standing breakfast shows 🙁
What a load of….! I’m convinced that 90% of those criticising are not the 30,000 to 50,000 who watched this show on a regular basis.
Yes, the show wasn’t perfect but the network gave up on it about three months ago. Natarsha, James, Nuala and the crew did an exceptional job considering the circumstances they were faced with. Well done to all involved.. you gave it your best. Bigger and better things await..
I never watched the show (or any breakfast television for that matter) but it was good to see Ten offer something unique with a point of difference. Hopefully Ten will remain committed to Studio 10 as that is a quality show with potential for the network.
Mathison is one of the main reasons it didn’t work in the first place. Good riddance.
“We didn’t always get the numbers but we always did it with heart and we’ve seen online with this the outpouring of support just how much,” said Mathison.
Didn’t always? When exactly did you get the numbers? Also David – let us know when Oztam starts measuring the heart factor. Wake Up was commercial failure of an incredible magnitude plain and simple.
I really hope James is not lost to the media world as he has a touch of brilliance about him. When he reviewed movies on Weekend Sunrise he was very funny. It is all about the right role for him. Hosting a breakfast show was not the one for him.
Guess I’m one of the few people who actually watched and enjoyed the show every morning, followed by studio ten. At least it was different, they gave it a good go, and I felt really sad for the whole team this morning. A lot of people now out of work, not a good thing, pity more viewers didn’t turn over and give it a go.
I would say good riddens. While it’s correct to say Ten never recovered when they axed the GMA show and opted to have cheap cartoons for 30 years, they can have another stab at a breakfast show, but it can’t be half assed.
Such a show would need to be on for 3 hours, be on 7 days a week and they’ll have to not be cheap and outspend their competition.
If Sunrise give away 10 000 a day with their cash cow, they’ll have to double it and give away
20 000 a day.
Its a bit sad that James is going out with a big bang speech, that very few will know what he is on about as so few people watched the show. A bit David Brent (Ricky Gervais) like…don’t you think?
Your living in a dream world James it was doomed from day one but there’s nothing wrong with patting oneself on the back