Nine News Adelaide anchor Kate Collins has been axed from the network after 19 years.
The newsreader was reportedly told her contract would not be renewed and was mysteriously absent from Monday night’s bulletin.
The decision came as a ‘huge shock’ to Collins, who is said to have been ‘absolutely blindsided’.
‘She’s heartbroken … she loved the job so much and she never took the privilege for granted,’ an insider told The Advertiser.
The shock move came less than three days after she hosted the network’s Christmas Pageant coverage.
Collins joined Nine in 2006 as a reporter and landed a role as fill-in news presenter on the weekends the following year.
Nine News Adelaide anchor Kate Collins (pictured) has been axed from the network after 19 years
She replaced Rob Kelvin in 2011 and hosted the local edition of A Current Affair.
The news came after it was reported that Nine were looking to slash up to 50 jobs from the television unit.
Staff reportedly received an email from the boss of streaming and broadcast, Amanda Laing, informing them a consultation period with staff would begin.
It comes as Amber Sherlock’s future at Channel Nine is also hanging by a thread, with the TV presenter making a mysterious absence from Monday evening’s broadcast.
The long-time 9News anchor and weathergirl, 49, was replaced in her usual slot by reporter Sophie Walsh with no explanation given for Sherlock’s no-show.
Newsroom insiders insist she is ‘gone’.
Sherlock, who has been with Nine since 2007, is thought to have been one of dozens of staffers axed as the network enacts its latest, brutal round of redundancies.
A network insider told Daily Mail on Monday that Sherlock’s hefty pay packet could factor into a decision to dump the journalist from her plum weather role at Nine.
The newsreader was mysteriously absent from Monday night’s bulletin, after being reportedly told her contract will not be renewed
It comes as Amber Sherlock’s (pictured) future at Channel Nine is also hanging by a thread, with the TV presenter making a mysterious absence from Monday evening’s broadcast
‘She’s paid loads of dough so it makes sense,’ the source explained.
‘She was meant to do the afternoon weather but then Soph (Sophie Walsh) suddenly filled in.’
Nine did not deny that Sherlock was out of a job when approached by Daily Mail on Monday.
A spokesperson said that the network will not discuss the employment status of any individuals at this stage, as the media giant cuts 50 roles.
Nine did, however, confirm a restructure was underway in order to drive ‘commercial growth’.Â
The company expected to cut jobs in newsrooms across the country, including its Queensland bureaus. A high-profile Adelaide newsreader is also rumoured to have been axed.
