Seven has been rocked by the shock defection of one of its most prominent rising stars just months after giving her a big break in long-form news and current affairs.
The network’s talent political reporter Sharnelle Vella has given her newsroom boss a matter of weeks to line up her replacement before she departs for the national broadcaster at the end of the month.
It comes after the state political reporter was given star billing on Seven’s flagship investigative program, Spotlight, in August after securing 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 to staff members earlier this week while confirming popular Melbourne sports anchor Tim Watson was also parting ways with the company.
The popular reporter, who has spent seven years at the network, plans to spend the coming weeks farewelling her colleagues and friends before taking some time out over the summer and starting in her new role with ABC Radio’s Melbourne.
The switch will see her team up with former Western Bulldogs skipper Bob Murphy as part of an overhaul of the station’s breakfast show, replacing outgoing host Samuel ‘ Sammy J’ Jonathan McMillan who announced he his departure on Wednesday.
‘Hosting Melbourne Breakfast was an unexpected opportunity that became an unexpected joy,’ Sammy J told listeners after five years at the helm.
‘But radio demands all of you and deserves nothing less, and after five years I’m ready to trade the 4:15am alarm for more regular hours.’
Seven’s award-winning state political reporter Sharnelle Vella will defect to the ABC after wrapping up in the network’s Melbourne newsroom at the end of the month
Vella has impressed with her hard-hitting stories on Seven’s Melbourne News, hit podcast Dead Bodies and exclusive interview with former CFMEU boss John Setka
The switch will see her team up with former Western Bulldogs skipper Bob Murphy as part of an overhaul of the station’s breakfast show, replacing outgoing host Samuel ‘ Sammy J’ Jonathan McMillan who announced he his departure on Wednesday.
‘Hosting Melbourne Breakfast was an unexpected opportunity that became an unexpected joy,’ Sammy J told listeners after five years at the helm.
‘But radio demands all of you and deserves nothing less, and after five years I’m ready to trade the 4:15am alarm for more regular hours.’
‘I leave with pride, gratitude, and a litany of cash-for-comment scandals that will be revealed in due course.’
The comedian will wrap up his half-decade reign at breakfast on December 13, while Vella and Murphy will take over in the lead-up to the return to radio ratings early next year.
Vella already had a weekly spot on Sammy J’s show on Wednesday, with radio insider suggesting the ABC was looking to take the show in a harder, news driven direction.
Daily Mail Australia recently revealed Vella had been increasingly winning over fans at rival networks and had previously attracted the attention of the Nine Network.
Vella will take charge of ABC Radio’s Melbourne breakfast show alongside co-host and former Western Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy (pictured)
Seven sources confessed it would be almost impossible to replace the talented reporter in the network’s Melbourne newsroom and that she would be a massive loss to the company.
‘Sharnelle leaves a huge void, not just now but for years ahead,’ one senior executive told Daily Mail Australia.
‘She commands respect and would have been an important part of Seven’s future.
‘She never pulled any punches with her reporting and was always fair and honest – it’s a massive, massive loss.’
Vella remained tightlipped when approached about the switch on Wednesday morning.
‘I’m enjoying saying goodbye to friends and colleagues at Channel Seven and will have more to say in due course,’ she told Melbourne’s Herald Sun.
ABC Radio Melbourne Acting Manager Shelley Hadfield said Sammy J has had a huge impact on audiences.
‘Sammy has asked the questions we never knew we wanted answered,’ Ms Hadfield said.
‘He’s grilled the Prime Minister and the Premier, he broke the news to Melbourne of the Queen’s death, and he’s interviewed musicians, magicians, meat workers and mathematicians.’
‘But it’s Sammy’s connection with the audience which has been a hallmark of his time at 774. You only had to see the listeners turn up at the crack of dawn for his outside broadcasts to understand what an impact he has had on people’s lives.’
Meanwhile, Seven is hoping 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 himself a rising star since joining Nine’s Melbourne newsroom as a sports reporter in June 2022 after undertaking an internship with the network.
Xander McGuire has impressed network bosses since following father Eddie into journalism and it is understood Seven are now keen to sign him for a dual role across both news and sport
The young reporter revealed he was taking a six-month sabbatical from the job in May so he could complete the politics component of his Melbourne University arts degree at the world-renowned University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Although he indicated he hoped to rejoin Nine when he returned to Australia at the end of this month, it is understood Seven has since offered the young gun a dual role at the network across both news and sport in a bid to convince him to jump ship.
Snaring the second generation Nine star would be quite the coup for Seven, with Nine’s chief 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 staple Neighbours almost a decade 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 television gig on Ten’s soap staple Neighbours in 2015 when he was just 12.
He went on to become a series regular as troubled teen Charlie Hoyland, the son of Carla Bonner’s long-running character, Steph Scully.
