Seven has been rocked by the shocking defection of one of its most prominent rising stars just months after giving him a big break in long-form news and current affairs.
The network’s talented political reporter Sharnelle Vella has given her editor-in-chief a few weeks to find her replacement before she leaves for the national broadcaster at the end of the month.
It comes after the state political reporter gained fame on Seven’s flagship investigative show Spotlight in August after landing an exclusive interview with trouble-plagued former CFMEU boss John Setka.
Seven revealed Vella had decided to part ways with the channel in an email sent to staff members earlier this week, while confirming that popular Melbourne sports presenter Tim Watson was also parting ways with the company.
The popular reporter, who has spent seven years at the network, plans to spend the next few weeks saying goodbye to colleagues and friends before taking time off over the summer and starting her new role in ABC Radio’s Melbourne.
The move will see her team up with former Western Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy as part of an overhaul of the station’s breakfast show, replacing outgoing presenter Samuel ‘Sammy J’ Jonathan McMillan, who announced his departure on Wednesday.
“Hosting Melbourne Breakfast was an unexpected opportunity that turned into an unexpected joy,” Sammy J told listeners after five years at the helm.
“But radio demands all of them and deserves nothing less, and after five years I’m ready to trade in the 4:15 a.m. alarm for more regular hours.”
Seven’s award-winning state political reporter Sharnelle Vella will defect to the ABC after ending up in the network’s Melbourne newsroom at the end of the month.
Vella has impressed with his hard-hitting stories on Seven’s Melbourne News, his hit podcast Dead Bodies and his exclusive interview with former CFMEU boss John Setka.
The move will see her team up with former Western Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy as part of an overhaul of the station’s breakfast show, replacing outgoing presenter Samuel ‘Sammy J’ Jonathan McMillan, who announced his departure on Wednesday.
“Hosting Melbourne Breakfast was an unexpected opportunity that turned into an unexpected joy,” Sammy J told listeners after five years at the helm.
“But radio demands all of them and deserves nothing less, and after five years I’m ready to trade in the 4:15 a.m. alarm for more regular hours.”
“I leave with pride, gratitude and a litany of money-for-comments scandals that will be revealed in due time.”
The comedian will conclude his half-decade reign at breakfast on December 13, while Vella and Murphy will take over in the run-up to a return to the radio ratings early next year.
Vella already had a weekly spot on Sammy J’s show on Wednesday, and a radio source suggested ABC was looking to take the show in a harder, news-driven direction.
Daily Mail Australia recently revealed that Vella had been gaining more and more fans on rival networks and had previously attracted the attention of the Nine Network.
Vella will take over ABC Radio’s breakfast show in Melbourne alongside co-host and former Western Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy (pictured).
Seven sources confessed that it would be almost impossible to replace the talented reporter in the network’s Melbourne newsroom and that it would be a huge loss for the company.
“Sharnelle leaves a huge void, not just now but for years to come,” a senior executive told Daily Mail Australia.
‘She commands respect and would have been an important part of Seven’s future.
“She never minced her words in her reporting and was always fair and honest – it’s a huge, huge loss.”
Vella remained tight-lipped when asked about the change Wednesday morning.
“I am enjoying saying goodbye to friends and colleagues at Channel Seven and will have more to say in due course,” he told Melbourne’s Herald Sun.
Shelley Hadfield, acting director of ABC Radio Melbourne, said Sammy J has had a huge impact on audiences.
“Sammy has raised the questions we never knew we wanted to answer,” Ms Hadfield said.
“He has questioned the Prime Minister and Prime Minister, broke the news to Melbourne of the Queen’s death and interviewed musicians, magicians, meat workers and mathematicians.”
“But it’s Sammy’s connection with the audience that has been a hallmark of his time at 774. You only had to watch listeners show up at dawn for his outside broadcasts to understand the impact he’s had on people’s lives. “.
Meanwhile, Seven hopes to bolster the ranks of its Melbourne newsroom by recruiting award-winning young sports reporter Xander McGuire to the network.
The 21-year-old son of Millionaire Hot Seat host Eddie McGuire has proven to be a rising star since joining Nine’s Melbourne newsroom as a sports reporter in June 2022 after interning at the network .
Xander McGuire has impressed network bosses since following father Eddie into journalism and it is understood Seven are now interested in signing him for a dual role in both news and sport.
The young reporter revealed that he would be taking a six-month sabbatical from his job in May so he could complete the political component of his arts degree from the University of Melbourne at the world-renowned University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Although he indicated he hoped to rejoin Nine when he returned to Australia later this month, Seven is understood to have since offered the youngster a dual role at the network, in both news and sport, in a bid to convince him to to abandon ship. .
Landing the second-generation Nine star would be a coup for Seven, with Nine’s top sports presenter Tony Jones describing Xander as “the best young reporter I’ve seen in almost 40 years”.
Xander has been a regular on Australian television since landing a role as Charlie Hoyland on soap opera Neighbors almost a decade ago when he was just 12 years old.
The talented reporter has certainly had plenty of time to get comfortable in front of the camera, having landed his first TV job on Ten soap Neighbors in 2015 when he was just 12 years old.
He then became a series regular as troubled teenager Charlie Hoyland, son of Carla Bonner’s longtime character Steph Scully.