Viewers were shocked when the face of Seven News in Queensland, Sharyn Ghidella, was abruptly sacked earlier this month.
And her fans were stunned when the beloved 58-year-old TV veteran disappeared from the screens without offering a “goodbye” on air.
Now Sharyn has revealed that she passed up the opportunity to say goodbye to her large and loyal audience.
In a moving confession, the journalist said that after 17 years on the news desk she simply wanted to remain “professional” during her last bulletin.
“I think it was the emotional side,” he confessed on Friday. The courier mail.
‘I wasn’t sure I could control my emotions. I didn’t want to be on the air, trying to communicate the news, which is a very serious matter, if I wasn’t completely calm.
“If I’ve made mistakes, if my voice is shaking, that’s not professional and our viewers deserve better than that.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Sharyn said she considered viewers “friends.”
Viewers were shocked when Queensland’s Seven News face Sharyn Ghidella was abruptly sacked earlier this month. (Pictured)
“Family, really,” he added, continuing: “When you’re in their living rooms at 6 p.m., five days a week, they have to trust you.
‘They created a connection with me, that connection has now been broken and I feel a little lost.’
This comes after Ghidella confirmed the news of her firing in an impassioned Facebook post earlier this month.
Her former co-presenter Max Futcher spoke of her with emotion and passion on air when he presented the 6pm bulletin solo after her premature exit.
“The first thing she did tonight was not want to say goodbye and she is too humble to want us to make a fuss about it. But we would like to thank Sharyn Ghidella for her wonderful 17 years behind the desk here at 7News Brisbane,” she said.
‘A true professional, a consummate journalist and, to us all, a friend and mentor. And a good colleague.
‘We know that Sharyn has also been a big part of your lives and we know that she sees that role as a great privilege.
“Sharyn leaves with our respect, our admiration and our wishes for a wonderful future. We love you, Shaz.”
Ghidella said in her post that her “tap on the shoulder” finally came while she was in the salon, admitting it was a “relief” of sorts after several anxious weeks over media job cuts.
“When you work in television for as long as I have, not a day goes by that you don’t expect a tap on the shoulder… After 38 years, I finally got a tap on the shoulder,” Ghidella began.
Now Sharyn has revealed that she turned down the chance to say goodbye on air to her large and loyal audience. In a new interview with the Courier Mail, she said that after 17 years in the newsroom, she wanted to remain “professional” during her final bulletin.
‘It wasn’t exactly how I expected it to end up at Channel Seven.
‘I was sitting in the salon for work when I got a call telling me that after 17 years at the chain, my time was up.’
She said her recent time at the network had been “miserable” and she was glad to be walking out the door.
“While I am a little saddened by this decision, I also feel a certain relief. As has been widely reported, the past two weeks on television have sadly been a miserable affair,” he wrote.
Sharyn said she was unsure if she could control her emotions and wanted to remain professional. She had been on the news desk since 2007.
‘A long list of talented, loyal and dedicated employees have been shown the door, in what seems to have been a never-ending process of slowly ripping off the band-aid when it comes to removing what has been deemed excess stock.
“These people are some of the best content creators in the industry. They’re good people and it’s been heartbreaking to watch.”
Sharyn added that she didn’t like the network’s rebranding of its news programming, with comedian Mark Humphries doing regular sketches and an astrology “report.”
“I’m also not one to like the evening news with humor and horoscopes, so to be honest, it’s time for me to go,” Ghidella joked.
He ended his post by bluntly thanking the many friends he had made throughout his long career at the network.