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“Thank you for your company. Good night.”: Tracy Grimshaw signs off ACA.

A classy sign-off from A Current Affair anchor Tracy Grimshaw in a show that nods to the battlers she has championed.

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Walkley-winning journalist Tracy Grimshaw has signed off from A Current Affair ending a nearly 17 year run as anchor.

In a classy sign-off at the show’s conclusion, she thanked producers, crew and especially viewers for their feedback.

“Thank you to our incredible team who’ve made 17 years feel like no time at all. This is such a good place to work. It’s the kind of office where people walk around beaming when we’ve rebuilt someone’s house or helped jailed a monster who molested them, or helped save their business or forced a bank or a telco to scrap a ridiculous bill that was the company’s own mistake in the first place, or made an insurance company cough up the money people pay their whopping premiums for,” she told viewers.

“A Current Affair‘s critics are the ones who don’t watch it and they reminisce about the good old days when Mike Willesee would shred some hapless politician, and the program we’re told was supposedly ‘highbrow.’ They forget this is the same Mike Willesee who got Hoges on once a week in his stubbies to taste test meat pies or interview a beauty queen.
Now, we haven’t always got it right over the years. A few years ago, we fell in love with bra stories. Yep, let that settle on you for a second. I hated them. And now we don’t do bra stories anymore. It was a struggle to stop the power going to my head on that one.

“But seriously, I remember when I started on ACA, my bosses at the time didn’t like interviews that ran longer than four minutes, because they thought you’d be bored. And now look at us. Interviews can run the entire show because you’ve told us you like that. Thank you for watching them. You have let me indulge my own love of a chat and if you hadn’t watched, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.

“We are your show and the million of you who watch every night know that. Thank you. Without you there would be no us. To our reporters, producers, editors, camera crews, unit manager, the lawyers, the studio teams, hair and makeup and wardrobe -thank you .To the handful of producers I’ve worked with closely on those interviews over the years -thank you. To the five executive producers I’ve worked with over 17 year: I’ve learned something from all of you. Thank you. I finally scored a woman EP four years ago and what a bright light you are Fiona. To the old timers like Carmo, Marty and Brady who’ve outlasted me, I salute yo. To Daria who’s been doing my autocue since the Today show days. -thanks for being my barometer. I listen to you groaning or laughing or outrage over there in that dark corner and I know that’s what’s happening in people’s lounge rooms and we’ve hit the mark for the night.”

The final episode also focussed on the “battlers” that ACA considers part of its DNA, includeing a follow-up with victims of NSW floods in Eugowra NSW, a look back to “Rescue Renovations’, and glowing packages from reporters nodding to interviews with Bert & Patti Newton, the Irwins, Bob Hawke, Olivia Newton-John, Reg Grundy… and a Rodger Corser pash.

Tributes came from Leigh Sales, Sam Newman, Hamish Blake, Anthony Albanese, Socchi amango, Peter Hitchener, Kyle Sandilands, Ita Buttrose, Luke Mangan, Andy Lee, Josh Frydenberg, Steve Liebmann, Tony Jones, Peter Overton, Amanda Keller, Jeff Kennett, John Howard, Tottie Goldsmith, Ray Hadley, Nick Giannopolous.

Tracy added, “Soon you will all find out who’ll be in this chair next year. Please make them welcome. Thank you for your company. Good night.”

8 Responses

  1. I haven’t watched ACA for years but I remember when I first moved to Australia, she was in Today. Back then, I was still learning to master the English language and I felt that she has always been very calm and collected. Hopefully she will appear on our TV screens every now and then with some interesting assignments.

  2. Must admit I used to criticize ACA a lot but I think in the last 5 years they’ve had a lot more credible stories, I think before that the lawyers were getting a bit expensive for Nine. But Tracy herself probably didnt get to pick the stories & she has actually done a lot when it matters, genuinely trying to get a fair go for the little people so to speak I can’t really think of anybody who will do the job as well as she did, but I also think these sort of shows ratings will be plummeting in the next few years as viewers tastes change. And so will they bother paying and cultivating someone else to be as good as Tracy, time will tell.

  4. Thanks Tracy, I don’t think this will sink in for a while how much of a constant she has been in my life. Despite the fact I think ACA is pretty ordinary journalism most of the time she has always been a strong host and has a fantastic personality.
    All the best Tracy, I am sure like Leigh Sales we will see you again in the near future!

  6. Tracey finally watch you and it’s is your loyal viewers who should thank you for all the happy, sad, devastating and uplifting stories you have told us all throughout the years. You’ve helped countless people, sorted nasty people and made people aware of things they probably hadn’t even thought were happening. Sit back and enjoy life wherever it takes you. Job well done.

  7. I thought her ending monologue was fantastic, should’ve been longer if allowed! But the very very end was a bit rushed and awkward, her autocue desk operator for (what 20 years?) “Daria” who she acknowledged glowingly and she briefly popped onto set to deliver the flowers (with make-up on for that too Tracy said) Tracy wanted her to come onto camera more and you saw it briefly turning but then it went back to Tracy and as it faded Tracy was gesturing her to come over to her and they cut to ARIA Awards. I’d love you to try and find “Daria” for an interview David, the stories she could tell! 🙂

  8. Oh no I’m kicking myself now for reading this because we up here in “sunny Queensland” the show hasn’t started yet, but thanks for the minder to watch like now!

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